Huawei Mate 30 will launch without Google support | TECH(feed)

THE U-S BAN ON HUAWEI IS ABOUT TO GET A LOT MORE COMPLICATED… ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE A HUAWEI PHONE FAN. IF YOU’RE THINKING OF BUYING THE HUAWEI MATE 30 ONCE IT ROLLS OUT… YOU MIGHT WANT TO THINK AGAIN. STICK AROUND.

I’VE SAID IT… A LOT OF TIMES BY NOW, BUT HUAWEI’S PHONES ARE, TRADITIONALLY, POWERED BY THE ANDROID OPERATING SYSTEM. AND THAT SYSTEM IS CREATED BY AND LICENSED BY GOOGLE. GOOGLE IS A U-S COMPANY, WHICH MEANS IT MUST OBTAIN A LICENSE TO SELL TO HUAWEI AND SUPPORT NEW PRODUCTS. YOU PROBABLY SEE WHAT I’M GETTING AT HERE… WHICH IS THAT THE SOON-TO-BE LAUNCHED MATE 30 WILL NOT HAVE ANDROID’S CURRENT OPERATING SYSTEM. YES, HUAWEI CAN VERY LIKELY USE ANDROID’S BARE-BONES OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE, BUT DON’T EXPECT IT TO HAVE ANDROID Q.

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT A HUAWEI PHONE WOULD LOOK LIKE WITHOUT ANDROID SUPPORT. BESIDES THE FACT THAT THE PHONES WOULDN’T COME PRE-LOADED WITH GOOGLE APPS, THEY ALSO WON’T HAVE ACCESS TO THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE. SO IT WOULD BE TOUGH FOR USERS TO DOWNLOAD APPS LIKE WHATSAPP OR TWITTER. AND SINCE THIS PHONE WILL BE LAUNCHING IN EUROPE, ACCESS TO THOSE APPS ARE IMPORTANT.

IF GOOGLE WANTS TO KEEP WORKING WITH HUAWEI FOR FUTURE DEVICES, IT NEEDS A LICENSE FROM THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TO DO SO. WE DON’T KNOW FOR SURE WHETHER OR NOT GOOGLE HAS APPLIED FOR A LICENSE. BUT EVEN IF IT HAS, DON’T GET YOUR HOPES UP. THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT HAS RECEIVED OVER ONE HUNDRED THIRTY APPLICATIONS… AND HAS GRANTED ZERO LICENSES. HUAWEI HAS SOME OPTIONS FOR O-S IN FUTURE DEVICES--WHETHER IT’S ANDROID’S OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE OR HUAWEI’S NEW HARMONY O-S. BUT HUAWEI HAS EXPRESSED INTEREST IN CONTINUING BUSINESS WITH GOOGLE TO KEEP ITS MOBILE ECOSYSTEMS CONSISTENT ACROSS DEVICES.

NOT BEING ABLE TO USE ANDROID COULD CERTAINLY AFFECT HUAWEI’S EUROPEAN SALES OF THE MATE 30. AND IT’S COMING AT A TIME WHERE THIS BAN IS ALREADY SLOWING SALES OUTSIDE OF CHINA. OF COURSE, THERE’S ALWAYS A POTENTIAL FOR THIS BAN TO END DURING TRADE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN CHINA AND THE U-S. THE GOOD NEWS IS, FOR THE TIME BEING, YOUR EXISTING HUAWEI SMARTPHONES WILL RECEIVE ANDROID SUPPORT AND WILL LIKELY EVEN HAVE ANDROID Q.

THANKS FOR WATCHING THIS EPISODE OF TECH FEED. IF YOU LIKED THIS VIDEO BE SURE TO GIVE IT A THUMBS UP AND SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL. AND LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS WHETHER OR NOT YOU THINK IT’S WORTH IT TO BUY THE MATE 30. SEE YOU NEXT TIME.