Honor 50 Google apps support is still uncertain

By JC Torres/

When Huawei got slapped with severe US sanctions, it took down its many subsidiaries and business with it. That included Honor, which was expected to be a rising star before that fate befell its parent company. Late last year, Honor officially and legally cut its ties with Huawei, which freed it to make partnerships that the larger company couldn't. That seems to be true with Qualcomm, whose Snapdragon chip will power the upcoming Honor 50 series. Whether that phone will also see the return of Google Play apps and services, however, is still up in the air.

When Huawei was added to the US' Entity List, it didn't only lose access to hardware components and manufacturing materials but also to software products as well. In the context of smartphones, that meant it couldn't officially and legally install Google's proprietary apps and services even if it still had access to the open source Android operating system. Of course, those restrictions also applied to its sub-brand Honor who suffered the exact same fate as Huawei.

When Huawei sold off Honor, the latter's doors were opened to partnerships with US companies. Just last week, it announced that its upcoming Honor 50 Series would be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset. Previous Honor phones, especially the notable ones, ran on Huawei's Kirin silicon.

Naturally, that raised questions on whether the phones will also have access to Google Play Store now that Honor is free from Huawei's fate. At first, it gave hope when the company's Germany Twitter account replied in the positive. Unfortunately, that response was later removed even though the Internet never really forgets.

This removal could either be because Honor Germany spoke too soon or that it was mistaken in raising hopes. Either way, fans of Huawei and Honor phones will probably be keeping a closer eye on the Honor 50 because of this, even though there is no concrete date yet on when it will launch.

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