No more Android updates, Play Store, Google apps for Huawei devices as Google ceases business with Huawei

The troubles of Huawei with the US government have taken a dark twist as the Android mothership has now been forced by US legislation to cut ties with the giant Chinese OEM.

This is due to a blacklist order last week from US President Trump. With it, Google is reportedly ceasing business with Huawei entirely. According to the report, future Huawei devices won’t have access to any Google services, including the Play Store.

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.

-Reuter

Huawei will continue to have access to the version of the Android operating system available through the open source license that is freely open to anyone who wishes to use it.

But Google will stop providing any technical support and collaboration for Android and Google services to Huawei going forward, the source said.

Current Huawei devices shouldn’t be immediately affected by this change. Play Store and Google’s applications should still work on those devices. However, future releases even sold outside of China won’t include any of Google’s apps or services.

In the long run, this could affect devices that have already been sold, as future Android updates – such as the promised Q updates – could see trouble with Play Store access.

In any case, losing Google’s various services as well as its support in Android is going to be a major blow to Huawei’s smartphone business.

Sources: Reuters, 9to5Google