Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, unveils the HarmonyOS, or Hongmeng in Chinese, during the Huawei Developer Conference held in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 9, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Huawei has filed a number of trademarks related to its HarmonyOS in China, giving rise to speculation that the operating system (OS) the high-tech company has been developing to replace Google's AndroidOS is making significant progress.

Information from business data query platform Qichacha showed the Chinese tech giant applied for multiple trademarks including HUAWEI HarmonyOS, HarmonyOS Connected and HarmonyOS Linked on June 19.

Industry analysts said the Huawei Mate Watch could be the first smart-watch to use HarmonyOS, and that the OS is expected to be tested on more devices such as watches and computers before it can finally be used on Huawei smartphones.

"It's likely that the OS, which features low-power consumption, might be used in Huawei's watch series for the next stage [of development]. It can greatly increase user experience and is a good test for the new OS," Ma Jihua, a veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Ma noted that Huawei already uses many of HarmonyOS' functions for its P40 series, though its phone series are still using Google's AndroidOS.

However, Ma said HarmonyOS was still not fully ready, as it was forcibly released under the US crackdown on the firm, and there are still many issues yet to be fixed before it can be used on smartphones.

Huawei said its application for trademarks related to HarmonyOS "is of normal business process."

The move came amid an intensified US crackdown on the Chinese tech firm. In May this year, the Trump administration moved to block global chip supplies to the already blacklisted Huawei.

Huawei released HarmonyOS in August last year. It is widely considered as a backup plan to replace Google's Android OS amid the US crackdown. The company said that Huawei can "use its own OS anytime if needed."

Huawei has also unveiled its first product equipped with HarmonyOS - a new smart TV under its Honor brand.