"I don't believe Baidu has to make their own operating system," Shen said. "They can use Android as platform for their products."

Baidu currently has an 80 percent user share of China's search engine market, according to CNZZ.com, an analytical Web research site. Google is a distant second with 8 percent of the market.

Other Chinese firms are also aiming to expand in China's market with their own mobile operating systems. In July, a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group launched a smartphone running its . The operating system is Linux-based, and can run Android apps.

In the same month, mobile carrier China Unicom, also that used a Linux-based software developed by the company and several of its partners.

At this stage, Baidu's new Yi platform doesn't appear to be a true mobile OS, said Sun Peilin, an analyst with Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. Rather than focus on an operating system, the company wants to push their products through this platform, he added.