It turned out that the Chinese company Huawei has found a way to bypass US sanctions and continue to release smartphones with full Android and 5G support. To do this, it cooperates with partner companies, one of which is the state-owned China Postal and Telecommunications Appliances (PTAC), which has the right to purchase components and technologies of American origin.

Image Source: Huawei

According to available data, Xnova (part of PTAC) supplies gadgets under the Hi Nova brand to the Chinese domestic market. Huawei develops and manufactures these devices, while Xnova sells finished products and purchases components that the telecommunications giant cannot purchase on its own due to US sanctions.

The source notes that the gadgets produced under the Hi Nova brand largely copy the devices of the Huawei Nova series. For example, last year the Nova 9 Pro smartphones appeared in the range of Xnova and Huawei. They are based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor, but in the case of the Xnova device, there is support for 5G networks, while the Huawei smartphone only works in LTE networks. The Hi Nova 9 Pro also runs Android, while the Huawei Nova 9 Pro uses the company’s own HarmonyOS 2.0 OS.

Hi Nova 9 Pro (left) and Huawei Nova 9 Pro (right) / Image source: CNews

Hi Nova is not the only partner of the Chinese telecommunications company. After a minimal rebranding, Huawei smartphones are produced, for example, by TD Tech, which is a joint venture between Finnish Nokia and Huawei. Note that Huawei has previously spoken about the possibility of granting licenses for the release of its smartphones to third-party companies. At the same time, Huawei is actively investing in research and development in order to develop its technologies and reduce dependence on Western companies. Last year alone, about $22 billion was spent for these purposes.