Huawei says their new phones might not have popular Android apps like Facebook or Twitter.
The uncertainty comes from last year’s US government ban on commercial agreements between American companies and Huawei. The ban was due to surveillance concerns that Huawei has strongly denied.
In an interview with Business Insider, Huawei Consumer Business Group Southern Africa’s vice president, Zhao Likun said that due to the ban, the Chinese manufacturer may not be able to use Android with Google’s Mobile Service (GMS) on future devices. Instead, Huawei intends to use Huawei Mobile Service (HMS) which is built on top of Android’s open-source code.
Huawei’s alternative Harmony operating system will only be used in the long term. The first Huawei watches are expected to run it in 2021, Likun said.
This would mean future Huawei devices will not come pre-installed with the Google Play Store – which contains most popular applications or Google services such as maps, email, or voice assistant.
