New Huawei Shock: Google ‘Workaround’ For Mate 30 Will Evade Blacklist

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Huawei’s standoff with the U.S. has taken another turn, with the Chinese tech giant hinting the first time that it has developed a blacklist workaround to save its fast-growth international smartphone business from losing access to Google’s software and services. A workaround such as this will likely be viewed dimly in Washington.

 

As I reported two-weeks ago, Google has confirmed that the imminent Mate 30 Series will ship without the officially licensed version of Android, alongside its broad set of software and services, giving Huawei a major sales risk to deal with. Huawei's Mate X foldable phone, expected shortly afterwards, will also ship without official Google software onboard.

 

But now, as reported by Android Authority, the company’s consumer head Richard Yu has told the media at Germany’s IFA tech show that Huawei “might have a workaround on-hand.” At stake is the Play Store, along with default apps like Google Maps and Gmail. And underpinning all of that, are Google’s software and services that differentiate the full-blown version of Android from its open-source alternative.

 

 The launch date for the flagship new Mate 30 Series device has been confirmed for September 19, in Munich, Germany. "Rethink possibilities" was the tagline for the launch. But the only "possibility" being debated is a Huawei smartphone without Google's Android software and services onboard.

 

Huawei has been preparing for life under a full U.S. blacklist for some time. There is an exemption in place for the support and maintenance of existing devices, but that temporary reprieve expires in November and it doesn’t help new devices, such as the Mate 30 Series in any case. And even through the Chinese tech giant has launched its own operating system, HarmonyOS, that is not going to fill the Google gap.

 

Huawei execs have maintained all along that they want to stick with Google for as long as they can, in any way they can. And so it’s little surprise that workarounds are being explored. According to the specialist Android website, Yu said Huawei has been investigating the ability to let Mate 30 owners install Google apps on the AOSP (non-Google) version of Android.” Doing so would maintain access to the world of applications that Android customers outside China now take for granted.

 

Yu claimed the process would be “quite easy” and that “the open-source nature of Android enables ‘a lot of possibilities’, while hinting that third-party developers have been working on such workarounds for some time, given that “Huawei itself is unable to provide Google Mobile Services on new products due to the ban.”

 

I asked Huawei for an official statement regarding Yu’s comments, to be told that the official word from the Consumer Business Group is "we can't comment on that."

 

It has always been feasible for open-source Android users to download non-default apps, including those from Google, through alternative app stores or side-loading. But what is being hinted at here, is some form of more “formal” way that this might work, without such security concerns for everyday users.

 

This is a fine line for Huawei and Google to tread, working around the ban without breaching its restrictions. The devil, as they say, will be in the detail. Despite the latest analysts forecasts suggesting that losing Google could wipe as much as 30% from Huawei’s international shipments, Yu said that Huawei “can still consolidate its top two position,” for global shipments, holding off Apple and with just Samsung to catch.

 

And so September remains a critical month for Huawei. There will be increasing news flow from Shenzhen as the new launch date approaches and we find out exactly how the company plans to maintain its brand under its new reality. In the meantime, we wait to see if there is any response from Google or U.S. regulators to this news.

 

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