The ongoing dispute between the US and China has resulted in some real strife for Huawei and its devices, making it difficult for the Chinese smartphone giant to work with American companies like Google.
While things started looking up recently when Huawei was offered a 90-day reprieve from this ban, Google has now told Reuters that Huawei’s upcoming Mate 30 flagship handset “cannot be sold with licensed Google apps and services”.
The reprieve offered by the US Government only applies to existing products and deal partnerships that Huawei has with US companies, meaning that any new product or deal would not be eligible for collaboration of any kind.
While there is currently no word on whether it will happen, it’s possible for Google to seek an exemption from this ban for specific products. It was recently revealed that over 130 such applications have been submitted to the US Commerce department, although none of them have yet been granted.
At present, Huawei is still considered the world’s second-largest smartphone maker, coming in behind Samsung. Although, with the future of its Google support in jeopardy, it could severely impact its hold on the Western market.
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Speaking to Reuters, a spokesperson for Huawei said the company would “continue to use the Android OS and ecosystem if the US Government allows us to do so [...] otherwise, we will continue to develop our own”.
Huawei has been developing its own operating system for some time now, with Harmony OS becoming official in early August, but it would take considerable effort for this alternative to reach the same ubiquity of the Google ecosystem, which includes the likes of Google Maps, Photos, Gmail and more.
The Huawei Mate 30 range of smartphones is rumored to launch some time in late September, with availability to follow, however we'll now have to wait and see if the US-China trade strife causes any delays.
