It was pretty funny to see people panic-selling their Huawei phones last week, after the Chinese phone maker was put on a blacklist that essentially banned it from buying American chips and software.
Huawei owners were reportedly casting off their phones at fire sales online, while shops were said to have stopped taking in used Huawei models as trade-ins.
Why the rush? The phones in your hands now, and yes, even those that are in the shops, will continue to work as promised. That includes the hardware as well as the Android software that so many are concerned with.
To understand things better, let’s consider the most important part of the ban against Huawei – the latest move in the Trump administration’s trade war with China does not affect existing products from the Chinese company.
In other words, Google will continue supplying Android to current models, including the P30 Pro, as well as the Honor 20 Lite, from Huawei’s sub-brand.
And you will still be able to use your Android apps, from Gmail to Instagram, so there shouldn’t be a worry that your phone will suddenly stop working.
What about future versions of Android? Well, Huawei has just been reinstated on the Android Q beta programme in the past few days, so it is still working with Google for future releases of Android.
This is not to say that Huawei isn’t facing a crisis, because as long as the trade war between the two biggest economies drags on, it will also have to find a way to buy processors – Arm is still not selling to Huawei – and resolve the uncertainty in future products.
However, there remains a chance that a deal might be struck between the governments that will enable Huawei to continue as before. Nobody knows what will happen next, except perhaps Donald Trump or Xi Jinping.
Will Huawei really come up with its own operating system? Or will a deal, like the one that got fellow Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE back on track after a ban, allow Huawei to keep using Android and Arm-based chips in future? Hard to say.
What’s clear is that right now, there is no reason to rush out to sell your existing Huawei phones. Neither is there one to avoid buying a Huawei phone at the stores.
The worst thing that can happen, and this is unlikely given the developments with the Android Q beta, is that your phone won’t get updated with future Android operating systems.
For many users, that is not a deal breaker. As long as they get security updates from either Huawei or Google, they are good to go with the current Android software.
For sure, the pace at which organisations had turned up to (briefly) stop working with Huawei, from the Wi-Fi industry association to Japanese electronics giant Toshiba, made for worrying headlines.
Truth be told, the ban has dealt a huge blow for Huawei. Its ambition to overtake Samsung to become the top phone maker may have to be abandoned for now.
However, for folks who already own the P30 Pro or other Huawei phones, there should be no worry that your devices should continue working. You really should not be junking them at cut-price deals.
On the contrary, if there’s a good deal from the neighbourhood phone retailer or someone on Carousell trying to get rid of their Huawei phone, grab it.
Ban the American product. They have got mad.
Self comforting is NO comfort, ZERO.
Love the 20x. Hopefully the next literation it will be IP std.
Hua wei will go far very very far. They are bold enough to come out a 7.2inches mate 20x. Bold means go beyond and against what research studies and ux ui experts have proven that 6.5inches is the max user hand will handle (and they are wrong) Even a small hand user still fall in love with mate20x.
Mate20x is from another planet.
My next phone will be a Huawei. Currently a Samsung. Gave up on iPhone since 7 yes ago. And as far as possible will not buy any American stuff
i own huawei p6 and huawei y6 and planning to buy huawei p20 pro next month…
Goon du ma
Good news is that, besides Google play, there are still alternative that can be used in Android development. Similarly to Linux, Google Play is just a fork of Android.
ARM permament license on the current architecture can still be used and is still good for the next 2-3 years ahead, after that is can still buy from 3rd party chip or develop its own chip architecture from the current license or other chip architectures.
Yes, Trump move is strangling Huawei. However it will no kill it, it would probably kill a few of its own American chip company and create alternative competition for the American chip technology.
The next 3-5 years will be interesting as we will see a new round of OS dominance competition like Apple vs Microsoft, Apple vs PC.
Hooray.
I brought a Huawei Mate 20X 8 mths ago and had never regret it a single day. I think it the best phone I have ever since cell phone exist.
Ive been using huawei p20 pro since its first launch.. So far it has never give me any problem. It just working good every day. Huawei smart camera is the best. Only need to do something bout the cloud thingy which is not acceptable in Singapore region, it says. So i back up most of photos and videos in the google form.
Instead, I bought a new Huawei 20X. Why worry. There is no need to. Because the 20X IS REALLY first class. Wow good camera, good loud sound, good feature phone, good games. Who care about Gmail, Facebook, Google. I can use Yahoo, Wechat, Baidu…. In fact I treasure, 20x as an excelent phone and camera… The rest not important to me.