Report suggests that Honor smartphones with Google Mobile Services are coming this spring

With the recent ban on purchasing Intel chips, things aren't looking particularly hot for Huawei. On the other hand, its former subsidiary, Honor, seems to be doing slightly better off, despite the repeated Honor V40 launch delays. Honor is all set to overcome one major obstacle; a lack of Google Mobile Services (GMS) on their devices. While an Android smartphone can run without GMS, the lack of Google Play Store access can prove to be a bit frustrating in the long run.

A company insider has told Russian news outlet Kommersant that Honor is bringing GMS to its upcoming smartphones. The new line of smartphones will reportedly be launched 'this spring,' the report adds. Before things went south for Huawei, Honor-branded smartphones came with both the Google Play Store and Huawei's AppGallery app repository. Since both companies have parted ways, Honor has no reason to ship their phones with AppGallery, although long-time fans would appreciate the alternative.

Honor is still one of the industry leaders when it comes to manufacturing affordable, feature-rich smartphones. The lack of Google Mobile services doesn't seem to have perturbed customers much, as the brand still has a large fanbase in a wide range of markets including the Middle East, South East Asia, Europe and Russia. It'll be interesting to see what operating systems the new Honor phones ship with, as Honor may have lost access to Magic UI upon its split with Huawei. We're probably looking at an entirely new Android fork built from the ground up.