In this undated photo, a visitor uses his mobile phone while passing by the stand of Huawei during an industry expo in Beijing. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Huawei Technologies officially released a new version of its self-developed operating system on Friday, as the telecom equipment and smartphone maker attempts to reduce its reliance on foreign technologies and build a software ecosystem of its own. 

Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group, said, the number of devices equipped with the HarmonyOS operating system has reached 700 million, and the popularity of the brand has increased from 78 percent to 85 percent in the past 12 months through June. 

The level of satisfaction for HarmonyOS in terms of privacy security is higher than the other two major operating systems, according to He Gang, chief operating officer of Huawei’s consumer business group

Meanwhile, 2.2 million developers are developing mobile applications for smartphones, tablets and smart watches based on the operating system, Yu said on Friday at the Huawei Developer Conference 2023, in Dongguan, Guangdong province. 

Citing a line from a popular poem of ancient poet Li Bai, Yu said HarmonyOS has “climbed lots of mountains”, referring to the difficulties that it has overcome since its launch. 

HarmonyOS 4 is 20 percent more efficient than the previous version, and can increase battery life by 30 minutes, the Shenzhen-based company said. 

ALSO READ: Huawei unveils new Pangu version

The new version is equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities, which will give consumers a more intelligent user experience, it said. 

Security and privacy protection is the “primary principle” for all the company’s innovations based on AI, Yu said, pledging to use AI in a “responsible” way.

The level of satisfaction for HarmonyOS in terms of privacy security is higher than the other two major operating systems, according to He Gang, chief operating officer of Huawei’s consumer business group. 

While 76 percent of users said they were highly satisfied with the privacy protection offered by Huawei’s operating system, the percentage for iOS and Android was 75 percent and 69 percent respectively, he said, citing a survey by market research firm Ipsos. 

HarmonyOS debuted in August 2019 after the US government restricted Huawei’s access to Google’s Android operating system. Huawei said the operating system is not a replacement for Android, but a next generation operating system designed for the era of the internet of things. HarmonyOS’ share in China’s smartphone market has been growing. According to a report published by research firm Counterpoint in May, 8 percent of all mobile devices sold in China in the first quarter were using the operating system, up from 3 percent a year earlier. 

ALSO READ: Huawei unveils latest iteration of LLM

AI is expected to have a profound impact on the interaction between humans and machines, and drive innovative transformation of intelligent terminal devices and the whole industry chain in the long run, according to research by China International Capital Corp. 

Other smartphone vendors, including Honor and Vivo, are also devoting more attention to the development of AI, with its introduction into smartphones a focus of their research