Remember Honor phones? The sub-brand was under the Huawei umbrella, and when Huawei, through no fault of its own – perhaps – managed to get itself in the US Entity List, it meant that its sub-brand was under the same sanctions. The biggest pinch of the ban continues to remain, and that is that those phones still do not ship with Google Play Services – meaning all your YouTubes and Google Maps and Photos are out of touch for esteemed customers.
But not so fast. Because Huawei moved quickly. It sold off the Honor sub-brand, and for good reason. First, the company made a lot of money, and it meant that Honor was no longer under the burden of the sanctions.
The new buyers could now make new phones with Google Play Services support, and that is what we have seen today.
The development was revealed during the announcement of the Honor 50 series of phones held in China.
According to the company, global versions of future Honor smart devices will ship with Google services.
For the moment, the company is undergoing Play Protect security review, including a compatibility test of their current handsets.
Furthermore, Honor says that compatible handhelds will receive the GSM badge. However, a spokesperson from the company has not revealed which phones will specifically ship with the admired Google mobile operating software and associated services. Besides, there are other older Honor phones in the market that do not have Google services, so there is a grey area surrounding them, and if they will be viable for the services.
On the other side of things, Huawei appears to have moved on from its tussle with the US government. It has since revealed HarmonyOS, a bunch of new devices running the platform, and a promise that it will move its phones to the new operating system. Doable? Probably yes, unless things turn around in Washington and Huawei is brought back to the Google Play Service side of the world with open arms. Hopefully.
