When Huawei was placed on the U.S. Commerce Department’s blacklist of entities, the company was issued a temporary general licence (TGL) to give vendors and users time to find alternatives to Huawei equipment. However, as we reported, this licence has just expired—which could potentially affect future Android updates on existing Huawei devices.
This was reportedly confirmed by a Google spokesman, who explained that the TGL gave Huawei and Google the leeway to push security updates to devices that were released before the trade ban was implemented. Huawei has continued to maintain that it can continue to succeed regardless, with alternatives to Google Mobile Services such as Huawei Mobile Services being aggressively developed since the ban.
However, the Chinese tech giants have now issued a response on Twitter, assuring users that the licence expiration will have “no impact on existing devices”.
A spokesman further stated to Huawei Central that Google apps and Google Play apps on GMS-certified, older Huawei devices will continue to receive updates. And of course, HMS devices will continue to get updates via the Huawei App Gallery—thanks to the “strength of our open-source community” and “advanced R&D capabilities”.
At the present, there is a degree of confusion regarding future updates for previously Google-certified Huawei devices. While Huawei assures customers that devices won’t be affected, no explanation or clarity has been provided to help assure users. From what we know, it was the TGL that allowed Huawei to work with Google on security updates for existing GMS Huawei devices.
Newer devices equipped with HMS shouldn’t have any problems with updates, with Huawei already providing its own alternative to GMS and the Google Play Store. However, with regards to security patches and updates for older devices such as the Huawei P30, things aren’t so clear.
A possibility is that Google apps that are on GMS-equipped Huawei phones will continue to work, although Google might not support any changes that are specific to the Huawei UI or app build. Access to Android isn’t the issue—Android in itself is open source—however, access to GMS and Google’s suite of services are impacted.
For now, we’ll have to wait for more clarity on the situation. Do you own a pre-ban Huawei device? Let us know what you think about the situation in the comments section below.
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