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It is safe to say that the past couple of months have not been great for Huawei and Honor with the Trump trade ban which blocked off all American companies from trading with the Chinese company. Trump claimed that this was due to national security with him claiming their equipment could be used to spy on other countries and companies. No proof was ever provided, unlike the NSA planted Cisco backdoors.
This news was particularly bad timing for Honor, who launched their Honor 20 series within a couple of days of the announcement. This has led the Honor 20 Pro launch date to be pushed back as it had not been Google Play certified.
Things seemed to go from worse to worse, each day a new company announcing they can’t deal with Huawei anymore, with companies like ARM being a particularily large blow.
Huawei had originally, either confidently or arrogantly announced they would be the largest smartphone maker in the word by 2020. Amid this crisis, hey had to rollback such ambitions with the company announcing that the US ban would cause them $30 Billion in lost revenue with oversees smartphone shipments predicted to drop by 40%.
Funder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei assured that Huawei’s output will be “rejuvenated” by the year 2021 after a period of adjustment.
Continued Huawei and Honor Updates
Following a turbulent few weeks, but as expected, both Honor and Huawei have come out with official announcements stating that they will continue to update all their current phones with security updates, and all phones continuing to have access to the Play Store.
This also includes Android Q updates, and Huawei, in particular, has an extensive list of Android Q phones due for an update covering phones dating back almost 2-years and for both mid and high-end models. The list includes:
- P30 Pro
- P30
- Mate 20
- Mate 20 Pro
- PORSCHE DESIGN Mate 20 RS
- P30 lite
- P smart 2019
- P smart+ 2019
- P smart Z
- Mate 20 X
- Mate 20 X (5G)
- P20 Pro
- P20
- Mate 10 Pro
- PORSCHE DESIGN Mate 10
- Mate 10
Huawei Answers has an extensive post covering most of the concerns you make have about the current situation.
Similarly, Honor has announced a commitment to updating their phones, with all Honor phones continuing to receive security patches and Android updates. Their commitment to Android Q appears to be focussed on the new series at the moment and with all devices in the Honor 20 series guaranteed to get access to Android Q. I would expect most other phones they have launched in the past year will also get it.
Trump Back Tracks
While May was a particularly bad month for Huawei, the tides turned a little in June. Huawei regained membership with the SD Association and Wi-Fi Alliance. Then Science publisher IEEE reversed its week-old ban on Huawei scientists reviewing technical papers. Then later in the month both Intel and Micron started selling back to the company again using some trickery about how goods are labelled. Then Microsoft decided they were allowed to continue working with the company providing Windows software updates to customers with Huawei laptops.
In the past couple of days, Trump has started to backtrack and ease up on Huawei. It is too early to say exactly how this will play out but on 29th of June Trump agreed to lift restrictions on US companies selling to Huawei.
This has then been followed up by a slightly ambiguous statement that the easing of restrictions only applies to widely available products. Nobody appears to have commented on what widely available products are. My best guess is the technology that has already been developed and available to competing companies, with technology still in R&D being off limits.
Unfortunately, some US senators are not happy about this and there is likely to be some pushback within the American government.
I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.
As a fitness fanatic who loves running and cycling, I also have a keen interest in fitness-related technology, and I take every opportunity to cover this niche on my blog. My diverse interests allow me to bring a unique perspective to tech blogging, merging lifestyle, fitness, and the latest tech trends.
In my academic pursuits, I earned a BSc in Information Systems Design from UCLAN, before advancing my learning with a Master’s Degree in Computing. This advanced study also included Cisco CCNA accreditation, further demonstrating my commitment to understanding and staying ahead of the technology curve.
I’m proud to share that Vuelio has consistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of the top technology blogs in the UK. With my dedication to technology and drive to share my insights, I aim to continue providing my readers with engaging and informative content.
