Huawei’s new flagship smartphone ships without Google apps

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  Here you can see the bottom speaker and USB-C port, and you can also see that the screen wraps really far around the sides. [credit: Huawei ]

Huawei has officially taken the wraps off its next flagship smartphone release, the Mate 30 Pro. This phone is interesting not just as the latest device from the world's second-biggest smartphone manufacturer (after Samsung) but also because this is the first big Huawei launch after the Trump administration's executive order banning US companies from doing business with Huawei. As a result, the Mate 30 Pro is an Android phone that doesn't have any Google apps! The company is not even allowed to use the word "Android," which is a Google trademark. It's Huawei's ecosystem or bust.

At the end of a lengthy presentation on the Mate 30, Huawei CEO Richard Yu acknowledged the phone would not be coming with Google's apps and services. Instead, he highlighted "Huawei Mobile Services" as a replacement. Huawei has been using its own app ecosystem in China for some time, as Google Play is not available there, and now this ecosystem will have to come to Europe and the other places Huawei does business.

Does anyone want to buy a phone without Google Play, Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube? How many of your go-to apps will stop working without Google Play Services? It's a scary proposition for consumers. Huawei apparently doesn't think this plan is going to work either, as it's expecting a $10 billion drop in its consumer devices business this year, thanks to the export ban.

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