Google has reportedly applied for a license with the US government, to be able to work with Huawei once again.
This comes after the company was placed on the US Entity list last year. Which meant that Huawei could no longer work with US companies. And that includes software companies like Google and Microsoft.
The government is allowing companies to apply for licenses to be able to work with companies on the Entity list, like Huawei. Which is what Google has reportedly done. Microsoft has already been granted one, which is why its new laptops announced earlier this week, are running on Windows 10.
The big question is whether the US government will grant the license
Now, just because Google has applied for this license, doesn’t mean that the government is just going to give the license to them. It could be denied for some reason, or another. So it’s not a done deal.
However, if this license is approved, Huawei will be able to work with Google again. And that means that its smartphones will be able to use Google services once again. As that is the biggest issue with its newest smartphones, like the HONOR View30 Pro, since it doesn’t have Google services many in the West won’t be interested in it.
Google needs Huawei more than Huawei needs Google
Google applied for this license because it knows that it needs Huawei more than Huawei needs it. Huawei is a huge company, and has a huge base in China – its home country. In fact, after being put on the Entity list last year, Huawei continued to ship record numbers of smartphones, because the Chinese were standing behind Huawei and buying their phones. So Huawei doesn’t really need the US or even the west.
However, Google does need Huawei. Huawei is in the top five biggest smartphone manufacturers, and depending on the report you look at, they are ahead of Samsung or Apple. Which means they are huge. And that’s a big part of Android. Without Google services on Huawei’s products, that means a lot of users that Google won’t be able to reach. And that also means less advertising revenue for Google.
So it’s clear that Google needs Huawei. But Huawei would likely be fine without Google. Especially since it has rolled out Huawei Mobile Services.
But we’ll see in the very near future what the government decides and if Google does get the chance to work with Huawei again.