Chief Security Officer of the United States of America

Chinese tech giant Huawei this week took an important step in its ambitions to become the world’s largest smartphone maker, launching its first device with HarmonyOS, an operating system developed in-house.

But Huawei USA security chief Andy Purdy said the company still hopes to reunite with Google (From googleAndroid operating system.

“Our promise is that we want to get back to Google,” Purdy told Yahoo Finance Live. “But we are redoubling our efforts to try to increase our ability to live without American supplies because we should expect not to get those supplies.”

Huawei is not authorized to use Google OS from the US Department of Commerce Chinese company blacklisted In 2019, US companies were not allowed to sell their components under the guise of national security concerns. The Trump administration doubled its export controls last year, preventing Huawei and its suppliers from using American technology and software.

The restrictions have taken a heavy toll on consumers facing Huawei, which relied on Google’s Android operating system for its devices. As a result, the company developed its own operating system and first introduced the software for the Mate X2 foldable smartphone.

“It was a really tough fight,” Purdy said. “But we have a very long term approach, and that helps us prioritize the most important products and ingredients we have.”

US pressure has radically changed Huawei’s global footprint, both on the consumer side and in the networking sector. After becoming the second largest smartphone maker in the world after Samsung, Huawei’s shipments fell 42% in the last three months of 2020. That puts the company behind both Samsung and Apple (AAPL) In Xiaomi.

Huawei has acted aggressively to increase its autonomy in order to counter US sanctions. HiSilicon Technologies, the chip design arm, ramped up production of advanced Kirin portable processors just after Washington’s restrictions. But the ban on the use of American technology severely limited these efforts. Business He is said to be in talks with various Chinese chipmakers For potential investments that can fill gaps in the semiconductor supply chain.

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Closing the void left by Google’s lack of software has proven to be even more difficult. While Google services are banned in China, the use of Android allowed Huawei to attract users to regions like Europe, before the United States imposed sanctions. The company’s HarmonyOS works on all devices and offers AppGallery instead of GooglePlay. It has over 500 million active users but lacks major names like Facebook (FB) And WhatsApp, not available for direct download.

“The sooner we decide to go back to using Google, the better,” Purdy said.

Akiko Fujita is a broadcaster and reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter Embed a tweet