If you own a Huawei smartphone, you’ve probably been going through quite the emotional turmoil recently. Your choice of smartphone has seen you placed on the front lines in a trade war and potential futuristic cyber-war between the world’s two prominent superpowers.
The last few days, in particular, will have been particularly upsetting as it has looked like your smartphone could be cut off from official Google support, setting it adrift from the latest and greatest features but also, more importantly, nuts and bolts security updates. So, what exactly has been going on?
Trade wars, national security, and 5G networks
In today’s hyper-globalized world, it isn’t often when your choices in the market can see you fall afoul a global trade war, but that is exactly what has happened to anybody who has bought a Huawei mobile. On Monday, in response to the U.S. Government blacklisting the Chinese technology behemoth, Google suspended all business with Huawei that required the transfer of hardware, software, and technical services.
For anybody unfamiliar with Huawei, the Chinese manufacturer has grown to prominence recently thanks to its competitively priced and impressively featured lines of smartphones. The likes of the P30, P30 Pro, Mate 20 Pro, and others including the budget-friendly Honor range have captured the market’s attention and won a huge global following.
The 5 best smartphones for under $200
Huawei phones come loaded with the manufacturer’s own mobile operating system called EMUI , but, like with almost all other smartphone manufacturers’, Huawei’s mobile operating system is based upon Google’s open source Android . When Google suspended all business with Huawei, it meant that Huawei phones would no longer be able to receive data from Google. Goodbye regular over the air updates. Why though?
Since Trump became the president, he has been pushing hard his “America First” narrative. China has been a major target of these initiatives as Trump sees his base as white American blue-collar workers. All those factory workers in China are doing jobs that, according to Trump, should belong to factory workers in America. He has hit China with tariffs and in the midst of all this, Huawei has become a prominent target for the Trump administration.
It isn’t all about trade though. As well as mobile phones, Huawei also builds other things that annoy the Trump administration; namely 5G networks . 5G is the next generation of mobile telecommunication networks. The increase in data speeds will be so significant that 5G networks will be able to facilitate things that until now have seemed impossible . Smart cities that can record and react to everything that goes on within them are on the horizon and the U.S. government is concerned that it could be Chinese technology that sits at the heart of it all.
The U.S. has been exerting pressure on its allies not to have Huawei install 5G networks in their countries and has even taken drastic measures itself, including putting pressure on Canada to arrest one of Huawei’s top executives to put pressure on the Chinese tech giant.
Why China is winning the race to 5G
This latest move then, might shock due to its severity. Many analysts are saying the move could decimate Huawei’s mobile phone manufacturing business , but it definitely fits a pattern of behavior. Except, well, what about everybody who has bought a Huawei phone? This is where it gets a little complicated.
For Huawei users’ questions regarding our steps to comply w/ the recent US government actions: We assure you while we are complying with all US gov’t requirements, services like Google Play & security from Google Play Protect will keep functioning on your existing Huawei device.
— Android (@Android) May 20, 2019
Over the last couple of days, there have been a number of developments. First off, Google has said, via Twitter , that Huawei phones will still be able to access services like Google Play , even while Google tries to comply with the U.S. government. Since then, Huawei has said itself that it will keep providing security updates to its customers. The best news, however, has come from the U.S. Commerce Department, which has granted a 90-day temporary license to Huawei that restores its ability to provide updates to its customers. This license does not allow Huawei to keep selling new Android phones, however, which shows that there are still major problems underlying the whole issue.
So, if you own a Huawei phone, you’re off the hook for the next few months at least. It doesn’t look like this issue is even close to being over though, so we can expect further developments on this in the future. Remember to stick with us to keep yourself up to date.
Six app settings that are devouring your mobile data
