Huawei commits to Android updates for older handsets with Google Play Services

The last few days have brought the question of Huawei's continued presence in the smartphone market. The company's temporary general license with Google expired late last week, which the US government followed by further curtailing its access to American technology and intellectual property. The former allowed Google and Huawei to provide updates for smartphones that were licensed by Google before US sanctions began last year.

However, Huawei has sought to reassure owners of its smartphones that their handsets will continue to receive software support. On Twitter, for example, the company issued this response to one person who owns a Nova 5T:

...There is no impact on existing devices. We will continue to share security and software updates to our devices, as we always have.

Additionally, Huawei has provided a statement to Huawei Central, which expands upon the tenets of the tweet above. The statement is as follows:

Our customers can keep receiving software updates and services thanks to the strength of the open-source community and our own advanced R&D capabilities.

For phones with Google Play installed out-of-the-box, all apps downloaded from Google Play and other Google apps will continue receiving updates. For phones that do not come with Google Play, new apps and updates can be managed through the pre-installed HUAWEI AppGallery.

While this statement seeks to address the concerns that many owners of Huawei smartphones will have, it does not specifically address more granular issues, like the loss of SafetyNet attestation. If Huawei devices were to lose access to this, then banking apps would cease to function, for example. Equally, Huawei is yet to confirm whether these Google-certified handsets will continue to receive Android 11.

The arrival of EMUI 11 is only a few months away, with Huawei expected to unveil its new OS on the Mate 40 series. Huawei may confirm further details about its ongoing software support for older handsets before then though as it is hosting its annual Developer Conference on September 10.