Huawei, China’s giant smartphone, will soon no longer have the right to access certain services from Google and the Android mobile operating system.
It was Reuters that, on Sunday night, dropped the bomb. Google has suspended business relations with the Chinese giant Huawei new technologies. This decision is part of a broader conflict between the government of Donald Trump and the Chinese authorities. Although the restriction was suspended Monday by the US government until August 19, it is only a three-month stay for the Chinese manufacturer. Why such a clash? And what consequences for consumers of Huawei smartphones?
● What has Google announced?
Following the publication of an article from Reuters, Google has confirmed that it will suspend its business relationship with Huawei. This Chinese company specializes in telecom equipment and smartphones. And they’re equipped, like the vast majority of smartphones around the world, with Android, Google’s mobile operating system. Huawei was using a modified version of the software so far. Its users also had access to Google Play, a platform that allows users to download Google-approved apps to run on Android. It is unclear when this change will be exactly applied.
● What will this change for consumers?
According to Google, this change should affect Huawei phones, and therefore their users, in different ways. The biggest difference is that the new smartphones of the Chinese brand will no longer have access to Google Play. This is potentially a huge problem for Huawei. The company is now the second largest smartphone seller in the world, ahead of Apple and behind the South Korean Samsung. However, Google Play is the leading mobile app store in the West, and often the only way for users to download their favorite services, such as Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. Huawei could compensate for this lack by installing its own app store. But still it will be necessary that its catalog is as rich as that of Google Play. The US web giant has said that current owners of a Huawei smartphone will still have the right to use his shop and will benefit from the usual security updates. Only future phones will be private.
In addition, Huawei will no longer have the right to equip its future devices with its customized version of Android. It will only benefit from the “public” version of the software, accessible to all for free, and with far fewer options than the one currently used by the Chinese giant of new technologies. Finally, Google said future branded devices will no longer have access to its default services, most likely its YouTube video platform, maps of Google Maps or its search engine, which are extremely popular services on the Internet and the mobiles. For Huawei, the risk is that Western consumers decide, in the future, to opt for another brand in order to take advantage of all the services usually offered on Android smartphones.
For many months, Donald Trump has publicly attacked Huawei, accusing him of facilitating spying operations in Beijing through his telecom equipment. Huawei is one of the best positioned players in the 5G market, a crucial sector for the future of new technologies and mobile communications. China, for its part, says that the “pretext for national security” is a way for Donald Trump to prevent Chinese companies from competing with American companies in the midst of a trade war between Washington and Beijing. time that the US abuses its power to deliberately discredit Chinese companies and push them back at all costs, which is neither fair nor respectable, “commented last week Geng Shuang, bearer speech of Chinese diplomacy in the United States.
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