The move follows a declaration of national emergency by Donald Trump.
Huawei, one of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers, have been hit with a major blow as Google announced their phones would not be able to use the Android operating system in the future.
The Chinese tech company currently holds a 15% share in the global smartphone market, compared to 17% for Apple.
Trump’s emergency declaration prohibits American telecommunications firms from installing foreign-made equipment that could pose a threat to national security.
In a brief statement on Sunday, Google said: “We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications. For users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices.”
While current phones are safe, it is expected that Huawei phones will not be able to download future software and security updates. Similarly, it is expected that future Huawei phones will not come with Google apps, such as Maps and YouTube.
This latest move further confirms a state of trade war between the United States and China.
Huawei will continue to have access to the version of the Android operating system available through the open source license, known as Android Open Source Project (AOSP), that is available for free to anyone who wishes to use it. However, Google will no longer provide Huawei users with technical support or access going forward.
In response to Donald Trump’s announcement, Huawei issued a statement which read: “Restricting Huawei from doing business in the US will not make the US more secure or stronger; instead, this will only serve to limit the US to inferior yet more expensive alternatives, leaving the US lagging behind in 5G deployment, and eventually harming the interests of US companies and consumers.
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