Donald Trump’s blacklisting of Huawei in the escalating trade war between the US and China is now starting to cause significant issues for the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer.
Alongside US chip manufacturers, Google has been forced to comply with the US government’s ban on the supply of technologies to Huawei.
What has happened?
Google has ceased providing software and support to Huawei as part of Trump’s blacklisting of the company and affiliates.
What does that mean?
The Android used on smartphones and tablets is made of multiple layers of software. In the west, broadly speaking these software layers are stacked from top to bottom like this:
User interface, which is the part users interact with, called Emotion UI (EMUI) for Huawei or Magic UI for Honor.
Google services – Google Play and the various Google apps (Gmail etc).
Android operating system.
System software that controls the various bits of hardware of the phone.
Google has been forced to cut off Huawei from the Google services part of Android for new devices, which also includes earlier access to software updates.
Does that mean Huawei can no longer use Android at all?
No. The underlying Android operating system is open source, called the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), and can be used by anyone. AOSP is updated in step with Google’s version of Android, on which it is built.
But it does mean Huawei has to supply its own updates from AOSP to the version of Android running on its phones, rather than Google’s updates. This is what the company has to do for its smartphones sold in China, which do not have Google’s various services.
It also means all the new additions Google has steadily been making to Android via its Google Play Services framework will no longer be available to Huawei for its western phones.
Fast-growing Huawei is arguably China’s first global multinational. The Shenzhen-based company makes mobile phones, base stations and the intelligent routers that facilitate communications around the world.
But its success increasingly concerns the US, which argues Huawei is ultimately beholden to the Chinese Communist party and has the capability to engage in covert surveillance where its equipment is used.
Huawei is by some distance the world’s largest supplier of telecoms equipment with an estimated 28% market share in 2019. It was also the second largest phone maker in 2019, after Samsung and ahead of Apple.
But Australia banned Huawei from 5G in 2018, with its spy agencies declaring they were worried the company could shut down power networks and other parts of its infrastructure in a diplomatic crisis.
Trump banned US companies from working with Huawei last year and has strenuously lobbied others to follow suit, venting “apoplectic fury” in a phone call to Boris Johnson after the UK agreed to allow the Chinese company into 5G.
The company had successfully targeted the UK early on. It has supplied BT since 2003 and gradually expanded to the point where it agreed to create a special unit in Banbury, known as the Cell, where the spy agency GCHQ could review and monitor its software code. Vodafone is another key customer.
Britain’s intelligence agencies said in January that any Huawei risk could be managed as long as the company was not allowed to have a monopoly. As a result, Boris Johnson concluded Huawei’s market share should be capped at 35% for forthcoming high-speed 5G networks.
In July 2020 the UK position changed, and it was announced that Huawei is to be stripped out of Britain’s 5G phone networks by 2027. Oliver Dowden, the UK culture secretary, also announced that no new Huawei 5G kit can be bought after 31 December 2020 – but said that older 2G, 3G and 4G kit can remain until it is no longer needed.
Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor
Do I need to stop using my Huawei phone?
No. If you already have a Huawei smartphone, it will continue to operate as normal. “Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally,” Huawei said in a statement.
Will I lose access to Google?
No. Google, Google Assistant and the various Google apps will continue to operate on existing smartphones.
Will I no longer receive app updates?
No. App updates are delivered by Google Play in the west, and will continue to be so on existing smartphones. Google said:
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
What about security updates?
Huawei said it would continue to deliver security updates for its existing smartphones. It can do this via the AOSP. Huawei has a middling track record for delivering the monthly security updates made available by Google, so it is likely users will receive a similar level of service, with security updates delivered at about the same pace.
What about Android version updates?
Here is where things get a bit trickier. Huawei will be able to deliver Android version updates via the AOSP, but it will lose early access to the updated versions provided by Google, such as the current beta of Android Q.
Huawei modifies the standard Android experience with its EMUI/MUI and delivers it several months after Google ships the next version of Android to its Pixel smartphones, so whether users will be able to see a noticeable delay in Android version updates remains to be seen.
What does this mean for Huawei?
The firm shipped more than 59m smartphones in the first quarter of 2019 – all running Android. China represents approximately half of Huawei’s smartphone sales, which means half of its consumer business is now at risk. Huawei’s consumer business accounted for 45.1% of the firm’s revenue in 2018.
What can Huawei do?
Huawei has long said it has a “plan B”, and it has been working on its own operating system, which is already in use on its smartwatches. But a smartphone without Google services and apps will be an incredibly hard sell to consumers outside of China.
The ban is also likely to cripple Huawei’s computer business, including the MateBook line of laptops, which not only use US-made chips from Intel and others, but Microsoft’s Windows. Microsoft will be in a similar position to Google on software supply, except that no material part of Windows 10 is open source.
