U.S. Temporary General License, which allows Huawei to manage its existing telecom network and smartphone software updates now came to conclusion. This new news will surely increase the existing troubles for Huawei and a huge doubt for its device users as well as their future.
In an emailed statement to the WashingtonPost, the U.S. Commerce Department confirmed that Huawei’s Temporary license has expired. Following the U.S. Entity List announcement last year, Huawei had been given continuous reprieves.
“The license had provided an opportunity for users of Huawei devices and telecommunications providers to continue to temporarily operate such devices and existing networks while hastening the transition to alternative suppliers.” wrote U.S. Commerce.
In February 2019, the U.S. Commerce Department screwed Huawei by adding it to the U.S. Entity List. Huawei alongside ZTE, another Chinese company, made their entry to this list of U.S. banned companies because of the allegations of being a national security threat and being under the control of the Chinese Army.
What’s Entity List?
The U.S. Entity list bans U.S. companies from doing business with U.S. companies such as Google, Qualcomm, and more.
After the Entity List, the U.S. Commerce Department initiated the first temporary license for 90 days, allowing Huawei to maintain existing customers in the country and send software updates for its smartphones operating on Android OS.
But the problems started right after Entity List announcement because major chip suppliers had stopped selling their chipset to the company, these chips are required for both its smartphones and the telecom equipment.
Google Mobile Services (GMS):
Meanwhile, a major setback was caused by the removal of Google Mobile Services also known as GMS from new Huawei smartphones. This stops Huawei from certifying new Android devices with GMS and pre-install applications such as Youtube, Gmail, Google Maps, and more.
This caused Huawei to launch its first major flagship, Huawei Mate 30 in 2019 without the official Android and GMS. The company then forced to introduce the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) platform, which is currently miles away to compete against the Google Play Store.
Kirin Gone:
Moving further, this year, the U.S. government expanded the reach of its Entity List to overseas markets and barred one of the core chipmakers in Huawei circle, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
TSMC prints Huawei’s chipset designs but Huawei Consumer BG head confirmed that the Chinese company will no longer be able to print new Kirin chipsets due to the curbs imposed by the U.S. government. Therefore, the Huawei Mate 40 series, which may launch in around Sep-Oct, will be the last flagship phone to feature a high-end Kirin processor.
Software updates:
Now, with the already big mountain of troubles, another major cloud of problems has just busted on Huawei and brings potential halt on its software update for its smartphones.
Following the Entity List announcement in 2019, Google has announced that it’ll be able to send software (security patches) for the Huawei devices launched before May 2019. Therefore, the ban will only be applicable for devices launched after the US Entity List.
Meanwhile, Huawei has not published any response to the termination of its Temporary General License but it may come in some time.
From this mountain of problems, we found that Huawei has no Google Apps in its new smartphones, no new Kirin chipset for high-end devices, and now with its U.S. business license has also expired for the software updates.
The future of Huawei doesn’t seem too bright and it’s time for its current device owners to consider 10 times or even more before buying new phones and probably switch to other brands.
