Huawei licence: The Commerce Department of the US has now stopped giving temporary licences to Huawei, after continuing to support its customers for more than a year. However, what does this mean for the customers of the Chinese smartphone manufacturer? Well, now, Google and other software developers would not be able to send software updates to Huawei, and so subsequently, its customers. For the users of P30 Pro or any other phone by Huawei which has full Google Services, they would not get Android 11 or other updates for the phone. By extension, Honor devices will also stop receiving these updates.
According to a spokesperson of Google, the temporary licence was the official means through which the Android updates were delivered. The phones that do not have the Google services, like P40 Pro, and many others which are sold within China, could still get updates if Huawei decided to use the open source Android version and deliver updates itself.
The licence had originally been for the purpose of supporting rural carriers and phase out the Chinese networking equipment over fear of surveillance. Theoretically, the hardware could be replaced gradually. However, the licence also came as a brief relief for the consumer devices of the Chinese company, keeping them secure as well as current. But now that the temporary licences are being revoked, the customers would have no way to easily keep the phones updated and therefore, would most likely have to switch in case they wanted one that was up to date.
This is a difficult time for Huawei. The company does not have any way to continue the production of its high-end Kirin chips after September due to tougher restrictions by the US. This would continue to remain the situation unless alternative suppliers become available. With this, Huawei would not only run out of its capacity to support its existing phones, but it would also have a limited ability in producing new flagship ones. Even though Huawei is not facing any financial issues yet, the future seems murky at the moment.
