Huawei was recently put on the US Entity List from the US Department of Commerce. That essentially means that it needs a license to receive technology from US companies...a license that is a default "no" and in this political climate, a definite "no".

Politics aside, what does that mean for Huawei smartphone users? The company has been pushing the P20 and P30 lines of phones aggressively in North America and around the world.

The way forward is murky but it appears that the company will lose access to Google Mobile Services. That's at least 1/2 of the Android stack and really what most users think of as "Android".

No more YouTube, GMail, Google Search, Google Maps, or access to the Google Play store—among other loses—for Huawei devices.

What does that mean for the cybersecurity of these devices?

References:

• Ron Amadeo from Ars Technica on the dispute between the US and Huawei, https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/05/google-reportedly-ends-business-with-huawei-will-cut-it-off-from-play-store/


• Ars Technica on the process of Android updates, https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/05/op-ed-google-should-take-full-control-of-androids-security-updates/


• the Android Open Source Project, https://source.android.com/


• more on Google Mobile Services, https://www.android.com/intl/en_ca/gms/