Huawei Phones Can No Longer Ship With Facebook's Apps
It seems the punches just keep on coming for Huawei. After Google cut ties with Huawei and announced that it would soon begin withholding access to some key Android OS and software updates, other companies began following suit. That very same day, companies like Intel and Qualcomm stopped supplying Huawei with hardware, while Microsoft removed Huawei laptops from its retail stores a few days later. Now, it looks like its Facebook's turn to sever ties with the Chinese company.
Facebook has reportedly stopped allowing Huawei phones to ship with its apps pre-installed on them. That means no Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram pre-installed on these phones out of the box, and while that may not be quite as severe as the actions taken by other companies, it's still another setback on a list that's only getting longer.
Reuters reported today that this ban applies to all Huawei phones that haven't left the factory yet, so for the time being at least, no new Huawei device will have Facebook's apps pre-installed. Of course, users can still download those apps and use them as much as they want, assuming their Huawei-made phones have access to the Google Play Store.
Facebook tells Reuters that customers who already have Huawei phones can continue using its apps and will keep receiving updates for them, but it declined to say when this ban was put into place. Huawei declined to comment on the matter altogether, but when you're dealing with being blacklisted by the US government, there probably isn't very much to say.
What's an annoyance now could turn into a major problem down the road. Google currently has a 90-day grace period in place with Huawei, during which it will still deliver app updates and honor licensing agreements for Android and its first-party apps. Once that grace period expires in August, though, new Huawei phones will ship without major Google services and apps – including the Play Store – unless Huawei can reverse the US government's decision to blacklist it. We'll see what happens from here, but for now at least, Huawei's woes on the international stage keep getting worse.