With 1.38 billion monthly active users, WeChat has become a go-to digital tool for users in mainland China, making it essential to Huawei’s goal of breaking the dominance of Google’s Android and iOS of Apple in its domestic market.
Tencent tasked an experienced team last March to lead the development of the HarmonyOS version of WeChat, the company announced on Wednesday. The team has been responsible for creating various versions of WeChat over the years, including for Nokia’s Symbian mobile operating system.
Huawei has rebuilt its consumer devices business after U.S. sanctions decimated sales of its smartphones. Barred from accessing US-sourced technology, the Chinese tech giant has stepped up efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign software and hardware.
