According to Reuters, informed sources revealed that Google announced that it would suspend some of its business dealings with Huawei. Google will no longer conduct business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software products, and technical services, except for those within the scope of the open-source license agreement. Previously, the US government listed Huawei as an “entity list”, making it almost impossible to provide services to existing US customers.
Google's move may affect Huawei's overseas smartphone business, as Huawei will not be able to immediately update Google's Android operating system. Huawei's next-generation Android smartphones will also be unable to use popular services including Google Play Store, Google Play Store, Gmail, and YouTube. The source also said that Huawei will only be able to use the public version of Android, and will not be able to obtain proprietary applications and services from Google.
The USA President administration listed Huawei on the “entity list” and immediately implemented restrictions to make it extremely difficult for the company to do business with US customers. But the US Commerce Department said it is considering reducing restrictions on Huawei to "prevent existing network operations and equipment disruptions." It is not clear whether Huawei's mobile software access service will be affected.
The extent to which Huawei will be affected by restrictive sanctions by the US government is unclear as its global supply chain is assessing impact. But some chip experts began to question Huawei's ability to continue operations without the help of the United States.
According to sources, Google is still discussing the impact of Huawei's suspension of some business dealings on its specific services. A Huawei spokesperson said that the company's lawyers are also studying the impact of the "entity list" and declined to comment further. The US Department of Commerce did not immediately comment.
Huawei will continue to acquire the Android operating system through an open-source license agreement called the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which allows anyone to use the open-source Android system for free. According to Google's data, there are about 2.5 billion active Android devices worldwide.
However, sources said that Google will stop providing access, technical support, and cooperation related to its proprietary applications and services to Huawei in the future.
However, Huawei pointed out that in the past few years, the company has been preparing a contingency plan to develop its technology to avoid the impact of being banned from using Android. The company said that some of these technologies are already used in products sold in China.
In an interview, the rotating chairman of Huawei said that the company had expected US companies to take retaliatory actions. But he said that no matter what happens, the Android community does not have any legal rights to prevent any company from accessing its open-source licensing technology.
Popular Google apps, such as Gmail, YouTube, and Chrome, will disappear from future Huawei phones because they are not protected by an open-source license and require a commercial agreement with Google.
However, users of existing Huawei devices can still download application updates provided by Google as long as they can access the Google App Store. According to sources, applications such as Gmail are updated through app stores, while handset manufacturers and telecom operators are often responsible for operating system updates, and "entity manifests" may affect updates to these operating systems.
Huawei's second-largest market, Europe's business, may be affected, as Huawei's services in Europe need to be licensed from Google. Vice president of research at CCS Insight, a research firm, said that smartphone manufacturers must have these applications competitive in regions such as Europe.