The next Huawei flagship, the highly anticipated Mate 30 Pro, which looks gorgeous in renders which leaked recently, is to be unveiled in a matter of days. That is why this recent confirmed report is so devastating. Huawei has just confirmed that the Mate 30 will launch without any Google apps. Instead, it will reportedly come with third-party alternatives running on a bespoke version of Android 10.
This is big news. For those who don’t know, the Google apps suite includes some fantastic tools like Google Maps, Calendar, Google Drive, Google Assistant and Gmail. At the IFA conference, Dr Wang Chenglu, Huawei’s president of consumer software, said the company was in the process of developing alternatives to Google apps and services, including GPS navigation.
Despite the loss of Google apps, it appears the Mate 30 will still be running on the latest version of Android, seeing how Android is an open source operating, meaning anybody can use it. In other words, the company’s much-touted HarmonyOS won’t be making its debut on the Mate 30, and presumably so with the Mate X if the reports are to be believed.
The new report, from Nikkei Asian Review, states that the Mate 30 series would be the first phone to ship without Google’s services. The Mate X, Huawei’s foldable smartphone, will be the second device to come without any Google apps. According to analysts, Huawei’s smartphone sales will see a drop of at least 10 million units in 2019.
This is a bitter pill to swallow for Huawei fans and is sure to have an impact on global sales. While the Android ecosystem isn’t as fenced in as Apple’s iOS, apps like Google Maps and Gmail are essential to most users. Expecting customers to use third-party alternatives or implement workarounds to access these apps is a very big ask.
We’ll hopefully know more when the phone launches against the odds on September 18. Based on these developments, things aren’t looking good for the Huwaei Mate 30, but we’re optimistic Huawei has some sort of workaround that will help them overcome this. We’d hate to see a promising device like the Mate 30 fail because of something like this.
With the Trump administration taking a hard line on Huawei, the company’s crisis appears far from over. Huawei faces a “live-or-die moment,” founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said in a company memo on Aug. 20. It seems this applies now more than ever, which is a shame.
