Huawei has announced it is developing a new operating system called HarmonyOS.

Axar.az reports citing BBC.

There had been speculation that Huawei was planning to replace the Android operating system which powers its smartphones and tablets.

In May, Google suspended the company's Android licence after the US government put Huawei on a trade blacklist.

However, Huawei said HarmonyOS would first be used in devices such as smart speakers and watches, rather than replacing Android in its phones.

"HarmonyOS is completely different from Android and iOS," said Huawei's Richard Yu, who announced the project at the Huawei Developer Conference in Dongguan, China.

He said the operating system would let developers create one version of their apps and then "flexibly deploy them across a range of different devices".

Graphics displayed during his presentation did include depictions of smartphones as well as watches, cars and televisions.