(Yicai Global) June 3 -- Chinese household appliance giant Midea already has a number of products hooked up with Huawei Technologies’ self-developed Harmony Operating System 2.0 for smartphones that was launched yesterday.

Foshan, southern Guangdong province-based Midea has released 30 smart household devices that use Harmony OS and another eight should be unveiled before the end of the month, Yicai Global learned.

Midea will use Harmony OS in its mid-to-high-end products at first, and gradually expand to other products across a broad price range, Chief Technology Officer Xiang Jiangxu told Yicai Global. The aim is to have merchandise from every product category using the new OS.

The Foshan, southern Guangdong province-based firm aims to partner with Huawei to improve the industry standard of operating systems for smart home appliances, Xiang added.

Another white goods maker Hangzhou Robam Appliances is preparing to release smart smoke extractors and ovens that use the new OS on June 20 and a food steamer and dishwasher in October.

Harmony OS is regarded as the ‘salvation’ of the Shenzhen-based telecoms giant’s mobile phone business, greatly dented by recent US sanctions that prevent key apps, such as Google’s Play Store, Google Maps and Youtube, being accessible on its phones.

HarmonyOS-powered phones will be able to provide a similar user experience to Android devices and can connect with smart home devices, fitness equipment and small household appliances with one tap on the phone, Huawei said earlier.

Huawei has invested hundreds of millions of Chinese yuan, equivalent to tens of millions of US dollars, in the past year to develop its own OS and devices in order to operate independently of US technology after the US government placed Huawei on its so-called Entity List in May 2019 over national security concerns, barring US companies from buying its products and from selling it their hardware and software.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor