Buying Huawei phone is ‘real risk’
● Trump’s ban means mobile giant faces crisis
Consumers have been warned that buying a Huawei phone would be a “real risk” after Google imposed restrictions on the Chinese firm using its software following an order from US president Donald Trump.
Industry expert Tristan Rayner said: “We now know that future devices cannot be loaded with the Google Play Store, or those Google apps like Gmail or Google Maps.”
Huawei’s executive vice president in the UK Jere - my Thomson branded the move a “cynically timed” measure to hurt China in its trade war with the US.
“It’s unacceptable for consumers to be left without adequate security on their mobiles”
KATE BEVAN Editor, Which? Computing
Buying a new Huawei phone poses a “real risk” to consumers in the wake of Google’ s restrictions on the Chinese firm using its Android software, industry experts have said.
The Chinese phone giant has been blocked by Google from receiving updates for the Android operating system it uses to power its devices, as Google complies with a US executive order restricting access to American technology.
The order, from President Donald Trump last week, prevents “foreign adversaries” from accessing US technology without government approval.
Jeremy Thompson, Huawei’s executive vice-president in the UK, said the move was a “cynically timed” measure to hurt China in its trade war with the US.
Industry expert Tristan Ray n er, senior editor with the Android Authority news website, said the block means security updates to Huawei phones from Google will stop, and, as a result, future devices may lack the reliability of other Android phones.
“Future Huawei devices will be significantly affected. We now know that future devices cannot be loaded with the Go ogle Play Store, or those Google apps like Gmail or Google Maps,” he said.
“Play S er vices will also not be available, which is a core set of features responsible for many underlying operations on modern Android devices. That makes buying a Huawei phone today a real risk.”
He warned that current Huawei device owners could also face some issues.
“Existing Huawei device owners will be significantly impacted,” he said.
“Whether it’s someone with a brand new Huawei P30 Pro, which was unveiled last month, or the owner of an older Huawei Mate device that’s a few years old, it’s now clear that their Android operating system will no longer receive important security updates.”
Huawei is currently the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, behind Samsung.
Kate Bevan, editor of Which? Computing, suggested that some recent purchasers of Huawei devices could consider returning their phones.
“It’s unacceptable for consumers to be left without adequate security on their mobiles and Huawei owners will be seeking urgent reassurance that the safety of their devices will not be compro - mised,” she said.
Google said yesterday it was “complying with the order and reviewing the implications”, but assured Huawei users that their current phones would continue to work.
Critics of the company have said using Hua wei equip-ment in key communications infrastructure poses a risk to national securit y because of alleged links between the firm and the Chinese state. Huawei denies the claims.