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Google has suspended Huawei’s Android license

At the weekend Huawei was dealt a massive blow when Google suspended part of its dealings with the Chinese firm.

The bad news is that those dealings include Huawei’s Android license.

For the time being, Huawei users will still be able to download Google apps from the Google Play Store. This will however change as Google apps such as YouTube, Gmail and Drive – among others – will not be available on Huawei smartphones in the future.

Users of the Chinese firm’s smartphones will also lose access to any future Android updates.

The big question we had was why Google decided to not only cripple its customer but that customer’s user base as well.

Google’s decision did not come from nowhere. The decision follows an executive order from US President Donald Trump which gives government the power to prevent companies from buying telecommunications equipment from foreign countries, among other restrictions.

“Although maintaining an open investment climate in information and communications technology, and in the United States economy more generally, is important for the overall growth and prosperity of the United States, such openness must be balanced by the need to protect our country against critical national security threats,” said Trump of the order.

According to a report by The Verge, Huawei still has access to the Android Open Source Project and as such it will still have access to updates through that avenue.

In China Huawei should be fine given that it doesn’t rely on Google applications but outside of China, well, we aren’t sure how Huawei will perform.

In Q1 2019, Huawei held 19 percent of the global smartphone market share, beating out Apple. How exactly the decision in the United States will impact the rest of the world remains to be seen but one thing is for certain, Huawei has been dealt a massive blow and we not wait in anticipation to see how it plays out.

[Source – Reuters]

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