Huawei's Next Flagship Phone Will Come Without Google Apps

The trade war between the U.S. and China is about to take its biggest bite out of Huawei yet, after Google confirmed the upcoming Huawei flagship phone won’t have licensed Google apps, according to Bloomberg.

The Chinese giant is expected to unveil its new Mate 30 Pro next month, making it the first top-line phone launch since the company was blacklisted by the U.S. and forbidden from trading with American partners. Google has now said its licensed apps won’t be on the next device. For Huawei, this effectively sinks the Mate 30 Pro in markets outside of its native China.

Android’s core appeal is its ecosystem of apps, both first-party from Google and third-party from a universe of app developers and service providers. Without the ability to ship devices with Google’s own YouTube, Chrome, Gmail or Google Maps, Huawei’s hardware offering suffers. More importantly, without the Google Play Store, which is itself a licensed Google app, the Mate 30 Pro loses access to the diversity of Android’s app ecosystem and is thus rendered much less useful.

China is the exception, as Huawei already operates without Google apps in its home country due to Google’s absence there. Huawei has developed its own mobile app store and additive services, and the Chinese market is also very different because of the dominance of WeChat, which for many people has taken over as the de facto operating system. So Huawei’s ascendancy and leadership of its home smartphone market look set to be extended with the introduction of a fresh device.

Even with U.S. accusations that it presents a security threat, Huawei has enjoyed strong growth in other international markets, notably Europe. Customers there, however, expect a full app ecosystem, whether it be the iOS App Store with iPhones or the Play Store on Android, and so the Mate 30 Pro is likely to struggle to appeal to that audience without a wealth of apps.