Huawei’s $1,000 Pura X flip phone runs in-house HarmonyOS

Huawei Technologies Co. unveiled the first flagship smartphone powered by its HarmonyOS 5 software, in another step away from Alphabet Inc.’s Android operating system.

The 6.3-inch Pura X folds in half to a square clamshell with a 3.5-inch display on the exterior and was introduced by Huawei consumer chief Richard Yu at a live event in Shenzhen Thursday. When open, it has a wider screen ratio than most smartphones, which Yu touted as a more pleasant way to read, play games or peruse photos.

The handset goes on sale in China on March 30 for 7,499 yuan ($1,036) and up. The most generous specification takes that up to 9,999 yuan, with 1 terabyte of storage and 16GB of memory.

The Pura X adds to Huawei’s transition to an Android-free operating system developed entirely in-house. Also known as HarmonyOS Next, this software is the most substantial effort in recent times to build a third app ecosystem beyond Google’s Android and Apple Inc.’s iPhone App Store. The company has started rolling it out as an update to owners of existing handsets and it’s going to rely on it for future releases.

Enforced by US trade sanctions that cut Huawei off from working with American partners like Google, the HarmonyOS switch has been years in the making and is showing early promise — though many third-party apps still need to be fully adapted and integrated with the new software.

The Pura series has long been Huawei’s photography-focused lineup, but this year the company is putting the focus on the novel dimensions and proportions of the new handset. The company touted what it calls Harmony Intelligence, for its onboard AI features, and customizations designed to take advantage of the smaller exterior screen, such as providing navigation tips and exercise tracking.