Huawei immediately loses access to Google and Android updates!

Ink

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Google has suspended business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services except those publicly available via open source licensing, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday, in a blow to the Chinese technology company that the U.S. government has sought to blacklist around the world.
The move could hobble Huawei’s smartphone business outside China as the tech giant will immediately lose access to updates to Google’s Android operating system. The next version of its Android smartphones will also lose access to popular services including the Google Play Store and Gmail and YouTube apps.
Read more: Exclusive: Google suspends some business with Huawei after Trump...

"This effectively means no further Android security updates for devices new and old, including the recent P30 and P30 Pro, Mate 20 Pro, and many more."


@upnorth
 

HarborFront

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All these actions just want to prevent the successful launch of 5G and the Mate X by Huawei

Stop using their services like Gmail, Google Pay, Google Public DNS, Chrome browser etc and stop buying its hardware like Pixel handphones, Pixel C tablet, Chromebooks, Nest etc. I don't even access its Play Store to download apps

I don't do the above so can you.

It's time Huawei let users mod its phones
 
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upnorth

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For me personal this might effect the full use of my phone negative. Of course the phone itself will still work but it's the Google security updates and the Google Play Store access that is at risk and especially some specific apps. Right here and right now I still have full access for example to the Play Store but how long, don't know and I will for sure follow upcoming news updates with great interest. Huaweis official statement haven't arrived yet.

@HarborFront has a point IMO as I always did wonder why Huawei has it's own app store on the phone that pretty much is a copy of Googles Play Store in several parts. Also they already use there own in house version of Android called EMUI that I can guess will still get upgraded, but probably just not now with Googles own security patches.

The article on arstechnica I find a bit more augmented as it describes the situation very well.
Reuters details the fallout from Trump's order, saying "Huawei Technologies Co Ltd 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."

Huawei's loss of access "to updates" is most likely a reference to Android Q, which hardware manufacturers get early access to. Since Android is open source, Huawei could resume development once the source code comes out. The real killer is the loss of the Google Play Store and Google Play Services, which unlocks access to the billions of Android apps and popular Google apps like Gmail and Maps. Reuters claims this will only happen to "the next version" of Huawei's smartphones, presumably meaning existing devices with the Play Store will continue to work. Huawei doesn't do much smartphone business in the US, so banning Huawei from selling phones to US consumers won't change much. Huawei has made a few attempts to break into the US market, but pressure from Congress on Huawei's individual business partners, like AT&T and Verizon, have caused them to walk away from deals with the company. Besides smartphones, Huawei is also one of the biggest suppliers of network and telecom equipment in the world, and this ban will keep the company's routers, towers, and other equipment out of US networks. An earlier Reuters report detailed the problem the ban would cause in rural states like Wyoming and Oregon, which have adopted Huawei equipment.

The real change here is the banning of US companies from supplying Huawei with software and hardware. Outside of China, this move is a death sentence for Huawei smartphones in places like Europe and India. There isn't a single viable alternative to Google's Android ecosystem, so Google-less Huawei smartphones would have a tough time in the market. The only company that has sort of made Google-less Android work is Amazon, which sells forked Android tablets that are so cheap and disposable they come in a six-pack. Amazon is also a US company, though, so the Amazon App Store presumably wouldn't be available to Huawei, either.
In Huawei's home nation of China, not much will change. Google doesn't do much business in China, so the Play Store and Google Play Services do not exist there. The app store landscape is pretty fragmented as a result, with most OEMs running their own app store or licensing a third-party app store from other Chinese companies like Tencent or 360 Mobile.

When ZTE faced a similar ban from doing business in the US last year, the company was forced to shut down worldwide operations. According to Reuters, 25 percent of ZTE's smartphone components come from the US, and the one-two punch of being banned from Google's Android app ecosystem and from buying Qualcomm's smartphone chips were too much for the company. Huawei is a lot bigger than ZTE, though, and more independent. Qualcomm has a near-monopoly on high-end Android SoCs and cellular connectivity technology, but Huawei is one of two Android manufacturers (the other is Samsung) with its own chip design division. Huawei flagships all have SoCs from Huawei's "HiSilicon" chip division, and the company even makes its own 5G modems.

If the ban really does stick, a possible future path for Huawei is to ship forked, Google-less versions of Android with the Huawei App Store, extending its Chinese app ecosystem to the rest of the world. Huawei has also done some development work on an in-house operating system, but it's unclear if this would be a better option than forking Android.
 
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HarborFront

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@upnorth

Android is open source.. Huawei can download the source code and compile it for their phones.. Huawei did not lose access to Android..

What Huawei lost is Google certification of the Android system installed in the phone.. this means restricted access to Google play store, restricted access to Google apps, etc.. but you can still run Android and pack all China own app market etc inside..

Most apps are written to take advantage of Google mobile services (GMS). It handles things like location, notifications and updates through play store. That's the real core of android. Without it you have to write a lot of things yourself and that's what Huawei is losing access to.

Android – Google Mobile Services

Note - Above extracted from another forum
 

upnorth

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Not so sure all Huawei users have to forget about EMUI 10 ( Android Q ) because as @HarborFront and the arstechnica article mention, Android is still Open Source, but it's an obvious risk the update plan will be delayed.
 

Akolyte

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Useless trade war between usa and china.

While maybe this will start a trade war, it's not useless. Last year I believe Huawei's CFO was suspected of collaborating with the Chinese government.

It's no secret the Chinese and United States governments have very different political stances, and so I suppose it's just to ensure foreign spying won't take place.

Huawei won't lose access to Android as people have said below, they will just lose access to Google's services, which are part of most android images found on most phones.

They will just have to make their own app marketplace, and their own messaging apps and whatnot. I don't think they'll find it too hard considering they have such a large market share in the phone market.

All these actions just want to prevent the successful launch of 5G and the Mate X by Huawei

Stop using their services like Gmail, Google Pay, Google Public DNS, Chrome browser etc and stop buying its hardware like Pixel handphones, Pixel C tablet, Chromebooks, Nest etc. I don't even access its Play Store to download apps

I don't use the above so can you.

It's time Huawei let users mod its phones

I agree, no harm can come by letting users mod your phones.

I have a P30 Pro and P30 Lite have wife. I waited for the start of beta testing of Android 10. We'll have to forget about it. :cry:

Not necessarily, you will still be able to run Android, you will just have to flash the ROM yourself.
 

Vasudev

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I think users outside China will drop Huawei which is what USA needed because Apple and others are copycats of Chinese OEMs and lack of innovation has hampered US profits and shares.
Anyway there will be an alternative Store w/o Google Apps then again you can install GApps via unknown sources manually.
 

DeepWeb

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Intel, Qualcomm and other US companies canceled them as well. Good riddance. Everyone in this forum said that Huawei spying was just rumors. If it's just rumors, why is the government so determined about this? It's not just politics. They know China's true intentions behind getting a foothold in American technology. Good riddance.
 

HarborFront

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Intel, Qualcomm and other US companies canceled them as well. Good riddance. Everyone in this forum said that Huawei spying was just rumors. If it's just rumors, why is the government so determined about this? It's not just politics. They know China's true intentions behind getting a foothold in American technology. Good riddance.

As far as spying is concerned the US is the biggest culprit in collaboration with those giant tech companies. This nobody can deny.

I believe in HW case the US is preventing her from becoming the leader in 5G. If countries were to use HW equipment then the US will have difficulty in carrying out spying activities. In addition, HW alreday surpassed Apple in becoming the second leader in smartphone and vowed to overtake the leader Samsung. I believe given the current condition of Samsung in mobile devices and its recent failure in the Fold it won't come as a surprise that the US and S Korea/Samsung is finding means to stop HW's march to smartphone and 5G dominance
 
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Akolyte

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Mar 6, 2019
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I hope Huawei creates their own operating system. One that becomes very popular, and thus the duopoly of iOS and Android will end.

It wouldn't be unlike China to do so, they already have their own OS they use for state computers to avoid US technology, they already have proprietary Chinese services because they prevent users in China from accessing networks outside the country.

I'm not hating on China just stating facts, but I can see The Chinese Government and Huawei collaborating on a new mobile operating system and pushing it throughout China like they do with their own chat services and whatnot. China probably will prefer this in the long run.

Intel, Qualcomm and other US companies canceled them as well. Good riddance. Everyone in this forum said that Huawei spying was just rumors. If it's just rumors, why is the government so determined about this? It's not just politics. They know China's true intentions behind getting a foothold in American technology. Good riddance.

Yeah, this is no secret. Lots of people in the I.T security industry already suspected it. Sort-of proof came last year when their CFO was accused of collaborating with the Chinese Government for foreign espionage.

The truth is the United States is open to pretty much everyone, and China is pretty closed off. You don't really know what they're up to, and it's kind of a one-way street with them.

The problem with providing any hardware to suspicious parties is it's not like Android where people can analyze the source code publicly for vulnerabilities, but instead where China theoretically could hire incredibly talented hackers to find flaws in the processor's microcode and start making pretty nasty backdoors. With so many new technologies being mass produced using similar processors from a handful of manufacturers, at some point, it's possible a foreign government could potentially use exploits to compromise foreign government devices. Triggering disputes, rigging elections, or worse.

Here in New Zealand, we tried to postpone Huawei's (admittedly forceful) request to install their 5G equipment and eventually gave in. A lot of ISPs already use their technology and we are in close relations with China so I understand.

As far as spying is concerned the US is the biggest culprit in collaboration with those giant tech companies. This nobody can deny.

I believe in HW case the US is preventing her from becoming the leader in 5G. If countries were to use HW equipment then the US will have difficulty in carrying out spying activities. In addition, HW alreday surpassed Apple in becoming the second leader in smartphone and vowed to overtake the leader Samsung. I believe given the current condition of Samsung in mobile devices and its recent failure in the Fold it won't come as a surprise that the US and S Korea/Samsung is finding means to stop HW's march to smartphone and 5G dominance

Honestly, I understand your point of view, and the points you're trying to make. While it's possible the U.S government is collaborating with smartphone manufacturers to slow Huawei's climb to the top, I find it very unlikely. Trump, while I can't speak on his proficiency as a President I can say his reasoning for suspecting China of relying on Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese based technology companies for spying for the Chinese Government to be reasonable. You should do your own research if you're interested.

You are right about the United States being a very big participant in worldwide spying. That doesn't excuse China though.
 

Moonhorse

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Well huawei is much more than just mobile devices

Trade wars are most stupid thing someone could do

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Intel, Qualcomm and other US companies canceled them as well. Good riddance. Everyone in this forum said that Huawei spying was just rumors. If it's just rumors, why is the government so determined about this? It's not just politics. They know China's true intentions behind getting a foothold in American technology. Good riddance.
I honestly haven't seen any proof besides the USA word of mouth, pretty much the rest of the world discredited the USA claims and went forward to implement 5G with Huawei tech.

USA did exactly the same thing with Kaspersky, they just trying to get rid of competition the worst way possible, I would rather the rest of the world boycott USA (services like Google, Facebook, Twitter and others that spy on users blantly, and I haven't seen any country ban them).

The USA would have an extremely hard time manipulating everyone, if I had a saying in it.
 
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RoboMan

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I hope Huawei creates their own operating system. One that becomes very popular, and thus the duopoly of iOS and Android will end.
If this happens, and Huawei OS ends up gaining the mobile OS market, I can't find it being less intrusive and spyware than Google's Android.
 

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