One thing everyone is aware of is the fact that there is a fight going on between the nd China which started as a trade war and has become more than that because of the Coronavirus pandemic. While most of the US and Chinese companies have remained unharmed, Huawei has had to face the worst of this war-like situation between the two countries. That’s because the US has not only banned Huawei from selling their phones inside the country, they have also been barred from operating inside the country and not doing operations with any of the US companies.
And as we know, Google is a US-based company and it also runs Android which means Huawei’s Android phones will be under threat. For Huawei, it is good that Android is open-source which means they can still run Android on their phones without Google support which includes Android updates along with Google services.
However, Huawei’s phones shipped with Google’s version of Android all this while until last year and those phone owners are now in grave danger. Because the US administration has not renewed the license for Huawei to get the ly of Android from Google. Until now, the US officials were temporarily renewing this license so as to give respite for owners of the current Huawei phones.
Now that this license has not been renewed, the Huawei phones running Google’s version of Android will be stuck on the same version as they can’t get any updates until and unless there is again a temporary renewal of the Android license.
On the other hand, Huawei started shipping their phone from this year with AOSP-based version of Android which comes with any Google services and bare minimum Google apps. Those phones, including the Huawei P40 Pro, will be able to get Android 11 update as when Google releases that update and then makes it available for AOSP branch.
Also, Huawei’s phones inside China which come without Google services will also get its updates to Android 11 so the only problem is for those who were using Huawei phones running Android from last year.
At the moment, we don’t know if Huawei is even talking with the US administration regarding renewal of their Android license and if the US will oblige with their request. It is fair to say that things look bleak at the moment for previous Huawei owners and the options left with them are either to switch phones or root their devices and install custom ROM.
