Google suspends Huawei's Android license

[Arthur]

I thought this probably deserved its own thread following @ZeroHour's post here.

 

Source: Reuters (via The Verge)

 

Following the US crackdown on Chinese technology companies, Google has cut off Huawei’s Android license, dealing a huge blow to the besieged phonemaker. Reuters first reported the news, and The Verge subsequently confirmed Google’s suspension of business with Huawei with a source familiar with the matter.

 

Reached for comment, a Google spokesperson said only “We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications.” The order, in this case, appears to be the US Commerce Department’s recent decision to place Huawei on the “Entity List,” which as Reuters reports is a list of companies that are unable to buy technology from US companies without government approval.

 

Speaking to Reuters, a Google spokesperson confirmed that “Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices.” So while existing Huawei phones around the world won’t be immediately impacted by the decision, the future of updates for those phones as well as any new phones Huawei would produce remains in question.

 

Huawei is now restricted to using the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), cutting the company off from critical Google apps and services that consumers outside of China expect on Android devices. That also means Huawei will only be able to push security updates for Android once they’re made available in AOSP, assuming the company uses its own update system. It’s not clear yet how this will affect the full range of Android integrations that Huawei depends on, but we will update this story when we receive additional clarification about the impacts of Google’s decision.

 

Huawei has been under increasing pressure from President Trump and the US government over fears that its equipment could be used by the Chinese government to spy on American networks. These fears have been under construction for a long time; In 2018, US intelligence agencies warned against using Huawei and ZTE devices, and US politicians have described Huawei as “effectively an arm of the Chinese government.”

 

Huawei maintains that it is not possible for the Chinese government to poison its equipment with backdoors, and it has remained optimistic about the future of its business. But this latest setback from Google poses a grave risk to the future of Huawei’s core mobile business. The company was already preparing its own operating systems in the event of being banned from using Android and Windows, but given US fears about foreign interference, a home-grown OS is likely to face even more scrutiny than Google’s software.

 

https://twitter.com/Android/status/1130313848332988421

 

[TechMonkey]

Not sure if this is the thread for this but has everyone forgotten about the Cisco backdoors on brand new equipment?

[witch]

I have recently upgraded to a Huawei phone and I am now concerned about updates etc. Other articles talk about possible restrictions to YouTube and the like.

I dont change my phone often so would have this one for the next couple of years

[Joanne]

I have recently upgraded to a Huawei phone and I am now concerned about updates etc. Other articles talk about possible restrictions to YouTube and the like.

I dont change my phone often so would have this one for the next couple of years

 

Same.

 

URGH. THANKS AMERICA.

[Andycat]

So that leaves Apple, Samsung, Nokia and Blackberry then??

[LTurner3692]

This annoyed me! i had my heart set on upgrading to the P30 pro, guess ill end up with a Samsung now instead of Iphone.

 

[Arthur]

So that leaves Apple, Samsung, Nokia and Blackberry then??

... and Google, OnePlus/Oppo/Vivo, Xiaomi, Motorola/Lenovo, Sony, HTC, LG, Asus, ZTE (to name a few more).

[Andycat]

... and Google, OnePlus/Oppo/Vivo, Xiaomi, Motorola/Lenovo, Sony, HTC, LG, Asus, ZTE (to name a few more).

 

Pretty sure they're all Chinese?

[Joanne]

Looks like I'll be back on XDA Developers! Hahahah!

[jmak]

So that leaves Apple, Samsung, Nokia and Blackberry then??

Because none of them are made in China?

[Arthur]

Pretty sure they're all Chinese?

Google = American

Sony = Japanese

LG = South Korean

 

The rest are Chinese or Taiwanese, but they haven't been banned (yet).

 

Apple might be moving iPhone production to India and/or Indonesia. However, the smartphones will still be manufactured by Chinese companies (just in another country to avoid tariffs). It all seems a bit pointless.

[djm968]

Absolute joke, I'm sure the only threat from Huawei is to Cisco and other US companies with increasingly widespread deployment of products because the Chinese company is aggressively undercutting prices! Call me cynical, but I'm sure spy-gate is just another US cover-up to prevent the Chinese company gaining any further market share!

[cburrows]

Thanks a bunch Mr Trump, upgraded my Samsung for a Huawei Mate 20 Lite about a month ago. Guess where I am off to for my honeymoon in July / August? Yep you guessed it America!

Although it seems its only for new phones and some of the older ones but some security patches will still come through, to be honest I dont use the google junk that comes with the phone other than the play store.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48330310

Edited May 20, 2019 by cburrows

[Garacesh]

Google = American

Sony = Japanese

LG = South Korean

 

The rest are Chinese or Taiwanese, but they haven't been banned (yet).

Samsung are Korean too IIRC

 

Looks like I'll be back on XDA Developers! Hahahah!

Yarp!

I expect there'll already be a fair amount of ROMs going because there always is, but this'll definitely pick up once the next flavour of Android rolls around.

Thankfully phones are a lot harder to brick now than they used to be.

[Arthur]

Samsung are Korean too IIRC

Indeed they are.

 

I expect there'll already be a fair amount of ROMs going because there always is

Unlocking the bootloader might be an issue though? If you can't do that, how would you install a custom ROM?

 

• xda-developers.com/huawei-stop-providing-bootloader-unlock-codes
   
  

  Today, the news is much grimmer. Huawei (and Honor) will stop providing unlock codes completely.

   
  
• funkyhuawei.club/buycodes
   
  

  Bootloader unlock code availability has ended. We do not have any ETA or any way to tell you when they will be available again.

   
  

 

[JJonas]

...to be honest I dont use the google junk that comes with the phone other than the play store.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48330310

 

Is the play store exempt? I would say it's a Google app so is now unlikely to get updates. If so how long before it stops working...

[bfelton]

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/20/18632234/huawei-android-ban-response-google-security-updates

 

This suggests that existing users will not lose access to the google apps or security updates, it would be unlikely that they will receive the new version of android though.

[PotNoodleTech]

I guess Google Pixel phone sales are not going so well. Cutting off manufacturers one at a time and then blaming "murica" is a great way to boost sales.

[pooley]

I'd love a phone that doesn't come preinstalled with all the google carp apps. Hopefully this is the day that an Android alternative suddenly becomes a lot more viable, since Windows Phone left, there's room for a 3rd ecosystem.

[Garacesh]

I'd love a phone that doesn't come preinstalled with all the google carp apps. Hopefully this is the day that an Android alternative suddenly becomes a lot more viable, since Windows Phone left, there's room for a 3rd ecosystem.

 

You'll want a custom ROM then

Most come with Google Play Services, since you need that for the Play Store, but they don't usually force the Hangouts/Play Games/Play Movies & TV/Play Music apps

[pooley]

You'll want a custom ROM then

Most come with Google Play Services, since you need that for the Play Store, but they don't usually force the Hangouts/Play Games/Play Movies & TV/Play Music apps

 

Havent played with custom roms in a long time, once banking apps took umbridge to bootloaders being unlocked I walked away.

[Garacesh]

Yeah, that's dumb, but I'm not really fussed about banking apps so NBD for me. They're useful, sure, but not essential.

 

The biggest issue I can think of is if Google implement checks against the hardware. It's all good and well for Google just revoke Huawei's license to use Google Play Services, but if custom ROMs can apply them it makes no difference to a tech-savvy user. But if there's hardware checks in place, that's going to be a big issue. Even things like push notifications operate via Play Services IIRC, and as much as notifications can be generated locally (e.g. text messages) I doubt every app maker out there is going code in a custom framework for handling that just in case it's a Huawei user.. Although they are the 2nd most popular handset provider in the world, so the bigguns like Facebook (et al), Twitter, Snapchat, etc might do that.

[Arthur]

U.S. eases restrictions on Huawei; founder says U.S. underestimates Chinese firm

 

The U.S. government has temporarily eased trade restrictions imposed last week on China’s Huawei, a move aimed at minimizing disruption for its customers but dismissed by its founder who said the tech firm had prepared for U.S. action.

 

The U.S. Commerce Department will allow Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to purchase American-made goods in order to maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets.

 

The world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker is still prohibited from buying American parts and components to manufacture new products without license approvals that likely will be denied.

 

The U.S. government said it imposed the restrictions because of Huawei’s involvement in activities contrary to national security or foreign policy interests.

 

The new authorization is intended to give telecommunications operators that rely on Huawei equipment time to make other arrangements, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement on Monday.

 

“In short, this license will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural broadband networks,” Ross added.

 

The license, which is in effect until 19 Aug. suggests changes to Huawei’s supply chain may have immediate, far-reaching and unintended consequences for its customers.

 

“The goal seems to be to prevent internet, computer and cell phone systems from crashing,” said Washington lawyer Kevin Wolf, a former Commerce Department official. “This is not a capitulation. This is housekeeping.”

[Arthur]

Microsoft removes Huawei laptop from store, remains silent on potential Windows ban

 

Microsoft looks set to be the latest in a long line of US-based technology companies that are complying with President Trump’s new executive order to crack down on Chinese tech companies. Google cut off Huawei’s Android license over the weekend, but Microsoft has stayed silent on whether it will prevent the Chinese company from obtaining Windows licenses. The Verge has reached out to Microsoft multiple times for comment, but it has refused to offer any statement on the situation.

[Arthur]

Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as autumn

 

In March, amid a tightening trade war between the U.S. and China, Huawei consumer group CEO Richard Yu told Die Welt that it had a backup OS ready to deploy if it could not use Android for any reason. That reason came last week when the Department of Commerce effectively enacted an import ban against the world's second-largest smartphone brand by volume, blocking millions of phones from receiving software updates. Though the ban has been placed on hold until mid-August, Yu has now laid out a deployment plan for that backup OS.

 

The so-called "spare tire" software comes in the form of one unified OS that will make its way to phones, computers, tablets, television sets, cars, wearables, and other products. It will work with Android apps and web apps as well — an Android app recompiled for Huawei's OS is said to perform 60% faster. The roll-out could begin as early as this autumn and continue through to spring.

 

Reports have circulated about Huawei's efforts to build an alternative OS to Android for at least 3 years at this point. It's not known if the software will be a fork off of AOSP, which the company is free to use in any case under Google's open-source license. Huawei may also elect to use another base and implement an Android runtime as the Unix-derived BlackBerry 10 OS did. In any case, we're all still playing the guessing game.

 

Yu's statements — which were made to a quasi-public WeChat group this morning — followed a media briefing with the company's founder, Ren Zhengfei, on how it will handle its mounting challenges. Both executives have attempted to calm animosity coming from fervent fans and nationalists alike who have been ditching Apple products in favor of the company's, saying that patriots don't necessarily use Huawei products.