Huawei is having a very bad week.
If you haven’t heard by now, Google is suspending all business activity with Huawei to comply with recent US government actions.
How does it affect you?
The move doesn’t mean Huawei phones will lose access to the Android operating system since it is after all an open source project and manufacturers are free to modify and install it on their devices without permission.
Current Huawei or Honor phones will still be able to download apps and use Google services since they have already been certified.
However, security updates will be slower as Huawei will only learn of the updates as they are released officially.
Problems with new handsets
Newer Huawei phones will not be certified, which means they will lose access to Google Mobile Services including apps such as:
- Google Play Store
- Google Photos
- YouTube
- Google Maps
- Google Drive cloud storage
- Google Duo
Other functions that rely on Google Play Services such as specific app notifications and Casting will also be affected.
Huawei phones on Carousell
The news of Google and Huawei fallout has also caused panic among Huawei mobile community.
At the time of this writing, there are numerous pre-loved Huawei P30 Pro phones being sold on Carousell with prices as low as $700 for a 256GB model.
Screengrab of Carousell search for Huawei phones
Huawei trade-ins at mobile shops
Several popular mobile retailers in Singapore has also stopped accepting Huawei phones for trade-ins as reported by AsiaOne.
They include:
- Buy Back New Mobile
- Mister Mobile
- Mobile Square
- Red White Mobile
Buy Back New Mobile
Mister Mobile
Mobile Square
Red White Mobile
Telcos still accepting
You will have better luck trading your phone at telcos since they are still accepted at this moment. However, the price values are presumably lower than what is offered in mobile shops.
Find the trade-in list from M1 here and Starhub here. For Singtel, you can only check the price online during the cart checkout.
What should I do now?
If you have a Huawei phone, Google has assured that services including Google Play will continue to function.
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
If you are planning to buy one, it’s best to hold out and observe the situation.
Google will likely want to resume business with Huawei – they are after all the world’s second bestselling Android phone-maker after Samsung, plus there’s still a chance the US government might issue a license for Google continue business with Huawei or drop the restriction altogether.
Or you can watch Marques Brownlee’s video below explaining the situation perfectly.
