BEIJING: Chinese tech giant Huawei on Tuesday launch its first smartphone equipped with a fully homegrown operating system, a key test in the firm`s fight to challenge the dominance of Western juggernauts.

Apple`s iOS and Google`s Android are currently used in the vast majority of mobile phones, but Huawei is looking to change that with its newest Mate 70 devices, which run on the company`s own HarmonyOS Next. The launch caps a major turnaround in the fortunes of Huawei, which saw its wings clipped by gruelling US sanctions in recent years but which has since bounced bacl< with soaring sales.

`The search for a viable, scaleable mobile operating system largely free of Western company control has been a lengthy one in China,` Paul Triolo, a Partner for China and Technology Policy Lead at consulting firm AlbrightStonebridge Group, said. But the new smartphone also powered by an advanced domestically produced chip shows Chinese tech firms can `persevere`, he said.

The Mate 70 is set to be unveiled at a company launch event on Tuesday afternoon at its Shenzhen headquarters. Over three million have been pre-ordered, according to Huawei`s online shopping platform, though that does not require them to be purchased.

The risks are high unlike a previous iteration, based on Android`s opensource code, HarmonyOS Next requires a complete rewiring of all apps on the smartphones it powers. `HarmonyOS Next is the first home-grown operating system, a milestone for China to move away from reliance on Western technologies for software with performance improvement,` Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis, said.-AFP