What’s going on with Huawei in America?
You’ve probably seen it pass by: America and China are engaged in a trade war. Back and forth they argue, and the smartphone industry also gets hit hard. In recent months, it has been mostly Huawei versus America. This blog explains what China’s largest smartphone maker is accused of and the associated consequences for consumers and Huawei itself.
Accusations against Huawei have been more the rule than the exception in recent months. For example, Huawei is suspected of building spying software into their phones. For this reason, at the behest of the US, a top Huawei financial executive was arrested the other day. In addition, Trump made another push in late May. He caused Google to be forced to revoke the Android license on all Huawei phones. As a result, Huawei’s new phones can no longer run on the developed Android operating system. Apps such as Google Drive, Photos and Gmail can then no longer be used. A day after the aforementioned sanctions, America nevertheless met Huawei again: they are allowed to borrow Google’s license back for the next three months. To top it off, all Huawei phones may not even add themselves to the list of smartphones that will be equipped with the 5G network. All these sanctions are obviously a huge blow to the Huawei company.
It seems that Trump is doing this to protect his own economy. By banning Huawei, he not only blocks the chance of Chinese espionage. He is also ensuring that other companies, including Apple, gain a larger market share in the smartphone industry.
All these sanctions against Huawei have a very big impact on the company’s continuity. Not only does this cost thousands of people their jobs, the positions of power in the smartphone industry become unbalanced. Of course, the allegations are denied by Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei. At the same time, he accused the US of breaking into the Chinese smartphone manufacturer’s mail server.
Which country is actually hacking and spying we won’t soon find out. What we do know for sure is that this trade war in the smartphone industry is not good for the prices of our beloved devices.
