Ok, can you make the case they've been innovative?

Not sure if it meets your criteria for "innovative" (the word has become practically meaningless anyways), but the HarmonyOS [1] project is very interesting. Microkernel-based OS that runs across laptops, tablets, smartphones and IoT devices. It's great that we're finally getting a true competitor to the iOS and Android duopoly in the mobile space.

1: https://www.harmonyos.com/en/

A crude way to put it would be to create something different that sells before being aped by competitors.

That seems interesting. For proprietary mobile OS I always liked BB (so much for that..), but kind of hoping the linux distros get way, way better.

Two examples:

1. Huawei was the largest contributor to 5G development.

2. The P20 Pro significantly advanced the state of the art in phone cameras. It was hands-down the best phone camera available at the time. Unfortunately, soon after that phone came out, the US started sanctioning Huawei in basically every conceivable way, which made them go from market leader in Europe to basically nonexistent in the West.