A made-in-China operating system rises to take on Android and iOS

COS, short for China Operating System, is government-backed and designed to appeal to the patriotic consumer

An advertisement for COS, calling it a "made in China operating system." Photo: SCMP Pictures

In an effort to compete with Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, China has unveiled a mobile operating system of its own, simply dubbed COS – China Operating System.  

Designed for use on mobile phones and tablets in the mainland, COS is a government-backed operating system based on Linux code that has been developed by technology company Shanghai Liantong and the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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