Huawei products have been officially been banned from the USA, but this move will have a global effect for those using Huawei smartphones running the Android Operating system. Following a blacklist order last week from US President Trump, Google is reportedly ceasing business with Huawei entirely. According to the report, future Huawei devices won’t have access to any Google services, including the Play Store, Google apps and Android updates
According to Reuters Google will “immediately” cease business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware and/or software products. This means that the Google Play Store, Play Services, and collaboration within the Android operating system itself will no longer be available to Huawei.
Apparently, specific details are still being discussed by Google internally, but this effective ban would limit Huawei solely to using the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). For future Huawei devices, the Play Store wouldn’t be supported, and Google’s own apps such as Gmail or Chrome won’t be available either.
Alphabet Inc’s Google has suspended business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware and software products except those covered by open source licenses… Huawei Technologies Co Ltd will immediately lose access to updates to the Android operating system, and the next version of its smartphones outside of China will also lose access to popular applications and services including the Google Play Store and Gmail app.
Huawei will continue to have access to the version of the Android operating system available through the open source license that is freely open to anyone who wishes to use it. But Google will stop providing any technical support and collaboration for Android and Google services to Huawei going forward, the source said.
Current Huawei devices not affected
Google confirmed that the Play Store, Play Protect, and other services “will keep functioning” on existing Huawei devices. Eventually, though, this could affect devices that have already been sold, as future Android updates – such as the promised Q updates – could see trouble with Play Store access.
In any case, losing Google’s various services as well as its support in Android is going to be a major blow to Huawei’s smartphone business. The company has previously mentioned that it has an operating system in the works that could replace Android on its devices, but even that would be a major drawback for customers. After all, it was called a “worst-case scenario,” and now it looks like it’s come true…
