In a direct challenge to the long-standing dominance of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, a senior Huawei executive has outlined an ambitious plan for its HarmonyOS to capture one-third of the global smartphone operating system market. Richard Yu Chengdong, Chairman of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, stated in a CCTV interview that the company’s proprietary operating system will be “a strong competitor to Android and iOS by the end of 2025.”

And if you thought for one second the US sanctions managed to build a permanent cage around Huawei by locking it inside China, you haven’t been paying attention. Richard Yu just announced a global takeover plan starting in 2026. They’re not starting in America or Western Europe; instead, they are targeting Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Eastern Europe first. Why? Because these are all places that are sick of being bossed around by the US. For years, America has controlled their technology and spied on their data. Huawei is now giving them a chance to break free.

Huawei’s real weapon is OpenHarmony. By making its core software open-source, they’re handing the blueprints for a new digital world to any country that wants them. Every nation that builds on OpenHarmony is another nail in the coffin of US tech control, creating systems completely insulated from America’s infamous “kill switch.” The plan is to get tens of millions of new users very quickly.

Yu framed the strategy as part of China’s push for technological self-reliance, stating that HarmonyOS provides “a third choice for the world” and breaks the “bipolar structure of mobile operating systems.” It’s a signal to countries in places like the Global South that they no longer have to take orders from Washington on what tech they can use. For a long time, if you wanted a smartphone, you had to play by America’s rules, which meant your data was never truly safe from US spies.

The US panicked because Huawei’s 5G threatened its ability to spy. Their entire campaign was a desperate attempt to preserve their global surveillance network. They couldn’t allow a secure, independent alternative to exist, so they tried to kill it. They wanted to prevent a Chinese company from building network gear and they ended up creating a Chinese company that builds the network, the phones, the laptops, the cars, the chips, and the very operating system that ties it all together.