Earlier today Huawei launched their new Mate 70 series smartphones that can run on the company’s latest self-developed operating system, as the Chinese giant continues its push toward technological independence in the wake of U.S. sanctions.

The Mate 70 is the successor of the Mate 60, which was released last year and sent shockwaves through the tech and political worlds. It contained a semiconductor that many had thought Huawei and China would find difficult to produce, given the widespread the U.S. restrictions that have looked to cut off the world’s second-largest economy from leading-edge chips. Huawei was separated from Google’s Android operating system in 2019, forcing the Chinese tech giant to develop its own software.

Huawei did not mention what chip the phone was running, but Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer and auto businesses, said that the Mate 70 can operate on HarmonyOS NEXT — the company’s first fully self-developed mobile operating system.

Huawei is hoping that the OS can become a viable alternative to Android and Apple’s iOS in China. The company’s early versions of HarmonyOS were built using open-source Android code.

The Mate 70 series comes in three varieties — the Mate 70, Mate 70 Pro and Mate 70 Pro+. The Mate 70 starts at 5,499 ($759) Chinese yuan, while the Mate 70 Pro+ starts at 8,499 yuan (US$1174). For more, read the full CNBC report.

HC Newsroom adds that while introducing this new device, Huawei Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Consumer BG Yu Chengdong announced that the Mate 70 Pro Plus has become the industry’s first high-gloss basalt body smartphone.

Compared to the previous generation, the new model doubles the drop resistance and up to 5 times increase in wear resistance. The impact resistance also improved 5 times aluminum.

This phone has second-gen Kunlun glass, which enhances the drop resistance for front protection.

Furthermore, the device is IP68 certified with up to six meters of water resistance, IP69 high-temperature resistance, and high-pressure water spray resistance.

The Pro model uses a quad-curved 6.9-inch OLED, LTPO screen with a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate and high touch sampling rate. It equips triple-front punch holes to house a selfie camera and 3d sensors for face unlock and air gestures.

The standard phone has a 6.7-inch straight screen with a single hole, low bezels, and a flat frame.

The Pro model equips a 5700mAh battery, upgrading from 5000mAh in the previous lineup supporting 100W/88W wired charging.

Huawei Mate 70 series launched with generative AI and Large Language Model (LLM) technologies to power up the voice assistant. AI is also embedded into generative images, video editing, and more.