Some of the biggest US tech supplies, including Google, have severed their ties with Huawei on President Trump’s orders. The Chinese tech giant was already at a war with the US government as it was being blacklisted from the international market over some allegations.
“Huawei … 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.” – https://t.co/pdQXpmOz8W
— Justin Duino (@jaduino) May 19, 2019
Google’s restrictions on Huawei include the transfer of hardware, software and technical services. As you all may know, Huawei phones run on Google’s Android OS, which can affect the company greatly. Although Android and most of Google’s services are open source and Huawei will have access to them regardless of the ban. However, major apps like Maps, Gmail and even the Play Store will not be available for Huawei.
A Google spokesperson shared some details regarding this issue. He said, “We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications. For users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices”. He also later added that, “Huawei will only be able to use the public version of Android and will not be able to get access to proprietary apps and services from Google”.
This probably means that things may not be as bad as they seem for the Chinese manufacturer or its loyal customers. The existing devices will continue to get all the services so that they won’t be rendered useless. Also, the Commerce Department, which blacklisted Huawei in the first place, gave a 90-day grant to the company that allows transactions to support their current devices. As per the grant, Google would continue to provide Huawei handsets security for those 90 days.
However, Google’s restrictions are just one of the series of unfortunate events for Huawei as major chip makers are also shying away from the smartphone manufacturer. Intel, Qualcomm, and even Infineon announced that they won’t be dealing with Huawei until further notice. This may prove to be another huge blow to the company since many of its hardware components are sourced from companies like these. If other US manufacturers follow suit, Huawei could end up in a massive production hell.
Will this affect Huawei’s future business dealings? Possibly. Time will tell if this ban will be permanent or not. If it is, Huawei just might lose the Honor (pun intended) of being one of the largest smartphone manufacturers. Either that or it may even grow bigger owing to its loyal customer base and alternative hardware and software options. I guess time will tell.