Honor is currently negotiating with Google to reclaim its Android license, says the Chinese company’s CEO. Independent of Huawei, the Chinese brand is free to collaborate with American firms. The View 40 is expected to be the first smartphone to benefit from this new partnership.
Freed from Huawei, Honor should be able to pre-install Google’s services and applications, including the must-see Play Store, on its smartphones. Recently, the young Chinese brand announced a new smartphone in China, the Honor V40. It is rumoured that the international version of the smartphone, the View 40, will ship the services of Google.
Interviewed by our colleagues at the South China Morning Post, George Zhao, CEO of Honor, confirmed that the firm was in negotiations with Google to recover its Android license. With this license in hand, the manufacturer will once again be able to rely on THE GMS (Google Mobile Services).
Related: Huawei denies it wants to sell its smartphone division despite sales slump
Honor should pre-install the Play Store on View 40, it’s confirmed
George Zhao hopes that negotiations between Honor and Google will be concluded very soon. In practical terms, it is very likely that the View 40 will enter the European market with pre-installed Google applications and services. At this time, it is not known when the terminal will be launched in Europe.
“Our main mission this year is to manufacture flagship phones that can compete with Apple and Huawei in China,” says George Zhao, half-heartedly confirming the arrival ofa whole new range of Honor smartphones. Unlike the devices sold during the Huawei era, these new phones will be powered by a Qualcomm-designed SoC Snapdragon. Independent of its parent company, Honor can no longer rely on chipsets developed by HiSilicon, the division that produced Huawei’s chips. Unsurprisingly, these smartphones will be compatible with the 5G network.
As a reminder, Huawei sold Honor to a Chinese consortium of 40 companies last November. This maneuver allows Honorto evade the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump in 2019. In any case, Huawei could soon be released from the embargo. Recently elected, Joe Biden is reportedly considering lifting restrictions on the Chinese group.
Source: South China Morning Post
