Shenzhen [China], October 21, 2019

Huawei may have introduced its own HarmonyOS, but the loss of Google’s apps is hurting the Chinese tech giant, a company executive told Financial Times.

Joy Tan, Huawei US vice president of public affairs, told the publication that operating without core Google services such as Play Store or apps like Chrome and Maps, is the ‘most challenging part’, Cnet reported. Following the trade ban imposed by the US government, Huawei has been forced to use an open-source version of Google’s Android OS on its latest phones. Tan also said that it will be years before HarmonyOS will be able to match Google’s suite of Android services.