(Yicai) June 12 -- Huawei Technologies has launched its first smartwatch equipped with the Chinese tech giant's fifth-generation Harmony OS operating system that includes artificial intelligence capabilities, a significant step for the firm in accelerating the deployment of its OS across various scenarios.

The Huawei Watch 5 comes in 42 and 46-millimeter sizes, with its price ranging from CNY2,699 to CNY3,499 (USD375.20 to USD486.40), the Shenzhen-based company announced on its website yesterday. Equipped with HarmonyOS 5.1 and AI assistant Xiaoyi, it supports diverse features, including voice interaction, health data analysis, and smart search.

Huawei launched HarmonyOS in 2019, developing the system in response to US export sanctions. The OS has been installed on over 1 billion devices as of last October, supporting more than 15,000 application services, according to the company.

Huawei products, including phones, computers, tablets, smartwatches, and headphones, have been fully adopting the fifth-gen HarmonyOS since the start of this year, accelerating the comprehensive deployment of the system across various scenarios, He Gang, chief executive of Huawei Consumer Business Group, said at a press conference yesterday.

Since the public beta of the fifth-gen HarmonyOS began last October, it has been updated more than 30 times, introducing over 200 new system features, noted Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei Consumer BG. On average, there are over 400 app version updates a day, while users download or update apps more than 7.2 million times, Yu added.

Huawei has invested more than CNY1.2 trillion (USD167.1 billion) in research and development over the past decade, Yu said. R&D costs topped CNY180 billion (USD25 billion) last year, accounting for around 21 percent of the firm's revenue, with CNY60 billion (USD8.4 billion) for basic research and the rest for product development, Yu pointed out.

On the same day, Huawei launched its flagship smartphone series, the Pura 80, which is also equipped with HarmonyOS 5.1. The handset is priced from CNY6,499, while its premium version, the Pura 80 Ultra, starts at CNY9,999 (USD1,392).

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev