Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, Huawei to build HarmonyOS-based Alipay app amid growing adoption of home-grown operating system

Chinese financial technology giant Ant Group is building a new version of mobile payment app Alipay based on HarmonyOS, the self-developed operating system of Huawei Technologies that is seeing growing adoption on the mainland, as the telecommunications equipment and smartphone maker reduces its reliance on Google’s Android.

The collaboration between Ant, the fintech affiliate of South China Morning Post owner Alibaba Group Holding, and Shenzhen-based Huawei is expected to benefit consumers who use Alipay and the Chinese tech firm’s devices across different scenarios, according to a statement by Ni Xingjun, president of Alipay China business group and chairman of Ant’s technology strategy committee.

“Huawei’s digital coverage in the field of Alipay mini-programs is also conducive to improving the operating efficiency of merchants on the two ecosystems,” Ni said on Thursday.

The strategic cooperation between Ant and Huawei underscores the growing momentum of HarmonyOS’ adoption in the world’s biggest e-commerce and smartphone market, which also has the largest number of internet users at 1.08 billion as of June.

The success of Alipay, along with Tencent Holdings-owned rival WeChat Pay, in China has made the country a global model for the shift to digital payments, as cash has all but disappeared from many shops and street stalls in recent years.