Huawei launches Mate 70 phone series with Android rival HarmonyOS Next

Chinese phonemaker Huawei unveiled its latest flagship smartphone series, the Mate 70, on Tuesday. The phones, pre-installed with the company's own HarmonyOS Next operating system (OS) that is no longer compatible with Android apps, carry many people's hopes for a ground-breaking change in the smartphone market.

At the launch event in south China's Shenzhen, Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei's consumer business, told the audience that the only phone that can be better than a Mate is a new Mate.

Yu didn't reveal the system-on-a-chip (SoC), the most important chip in a phone, of the new series, just like in the previous few launch events.

Instead, Yu emphasized a lot on Mate 70's AI abilities, including photo and video enhancements, recognizing strangers looking at the screen, and translating phone calls realtime.

Starting at 5,499 yuan (about 0), the new series has attracted over 3 million pre-orders on the company's online store.