By now everyone probably knows that Huawei have managed to land themselves in hot water with the US. If somehow you have not heard about it, here is the short(er) version. The US blacklisted Huawei earlier this month, leading to Google, Qualcomm, Intel and others to cease trading with the Chinese Tech giant. The last Chinese company to be blacklisted was ZTE in 2018, this crippled ZTE’s production and many factories had to shut down.
The US has been suspicious of Huawei for many years and was already advising companies to avoid doing business with Huawei and ZTE as early as 2012.
The Chinese knew that there would come a day where they would need to be able to build, run and support their devices without any assistance from US owned companies. Huawei have been developing their ‘Plan B’ for years, and now that Google has pulled their Android license they will need to put it into action. “Hongmeng” as it is reportedly called may be ready to roll out from September 2019. HuaweiCentral reported that Hongmeng would be compatible with all Android applications, including Google’s apps.
If you’ve just bought a new Huawei phone there’s no need to worry according to Huawei. Because of the ban Huawei will only be able to use the public version of Android – Android Open Source Project (AOSP) for its current and upcoming devices. So you won’t receive a platform update, for instance, Android’s upcoming version, Q. But, if you already own a Huawei phone, it will keep working with the current version of the OS.
Huawei has advised that they will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services for all existing Huawei devices, including those in stock awaiting sale. If you are still unsure whether your new Huawei phone is safe, below is a list of devices that are reportedly unaffected by the ban.
Huawei phones not affected by the Google ban
- Huawei P30: P30 Pro, P30 Lite
- Huawei P Smart
- Huawei Mate 20: Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 Lite, Mate 20 X
- Huawei P20: P20 Pro, P20 Lite
- Huawei Mate 10: Mate 10 Pro, Mate 10 Lite
- Huawei P10: P10 Plus, P10 Lite