Huawei unveils operating system for smartphones, other devices

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Huawei announced Friday an operating system called HarmonyOS that can be used with smartphones, smart speakers, sensors and other Internet of Things devices.

The system, called HongmengOS in Chinese, will make its debut with smart televisions later this year but will integrate to more devices over the next three years, including wearables and car head units.

The open-source software will launch in China first but could expand globally.

There's been anticipation for months that Huawei could be developing its own operating system.

Huawei is on the so-called Entity List, a black list that prohibits U.S. companies from doing business with Huawei. That means Google can't supply Hauwei with its version of Android OS. The Trump administration considers Huawei a national security risk.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's consumer division, said it's still "unclear" whether HarmonyOS will work with existing Android products.

"We will switch to [the] Harmony system when we can't use Android," Yu said.

He added that it's "not that difficult" to migrate from Android to Huawei's own system.

He said many device makers "have strong interest" in using HarmonyOS but he didn't name any.

The goal is to create a single software that works across multiple devices from smartphones and laptops to smaller sensors and IOT devices. Ultimately, Huawei could create many different products that use its operating system.