Huawei has been blocked from using Google software on its phones, dealing a huge blow to the Chinese tech giant.
New Huawei-made phones will not have access to apps such as Gmail, Google Maps and the Google Play store.
Existing phones will still have the apps but users will not be able to upgrade to newer versions of the Android operating system.
Huawei can still use Android’s open-source alternative but it will not include Google’s own-brand apps such as YouTube and Chrome.
Google’s move comes after President Trump banned Huawei from U.S. networks, and the firm said today it was taking ‘steps to comply with recent government actions’.
Huawei has been the subject of Western fears about its possible role in espionage.
Google is said to have cut off Huawei´s licence, meaning many customers will not be able to use Google apps
The move from Google deals a major blow to the expansion of Huawei and is likely to cripple its expansion.
The Chinese firm will have to resort to the Android Open Source Project, a version of the operating system which does not include Google apps, on its new phones.
It is the latest flashpoint in an increasingly bitter trade war between Beijing and Washington, after the Trump administration added Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to a trade blacklist last week.
The measure requires Huawei to obtain U.S. government approval on purchases of American technology.
Trump’s executive order also allows the government to ban the technology and services of ‘foreign adversaries’ deemed to pose ‘unacceptable risks’ to national security.
Last August Trump signed a bill that barred the US government from using equipment from Huawei and China’s ZTE Corp.
The firm’s lawyers are still studying the effect of Trump’s intervention, a company spokesman said on Friday.
Huawei is the world’s biggest supplier of network gear used by phone and internet companies, and is now Europe’s third-largest smartphone maker behind Samsung and Apple.
One Huawei executive, chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (pictured earlier this month), was arrested in Canada last year and faces criminal charges in the United States
Huawei promoters display one of the company’s phones at a product launch in Singapore. U.S. and European officials fear the technology could be used for Chinese spying
But it has been seen by officials in Washington as a front for spying by the Chinese military or security services.
The U.S. worries that China could use Huawei to gain access to private, commercial or other information that could compromise Nato and allied intelligence operations.
Huawei denies involvement in Chinese spying and last week unveiled its first 5G-ready smartphone despite the ongoing row.
One Huawei executive, chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada last year and faces criminal charges in the United States.
Meng’s arrest set off a diplomatic furore and severely strained Canadian relations with China.
Beijing detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor on December 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng.
The state news agency that the pair had acted together to steal state secrets.
A Chinese court also sentenced a Canadian to death in a sudden retrial, overturning a 15-year prison term handed down earlier.
Android issued a tweet from their official account stating ‘services like like Google Play & security from Google Play Protect will keep functioning on your existing Huawei device’
Google’s move comes after President Trump (pictured) banned Huawei from U.S. networks, and the firm said today it was taking ‘steps to comply with recent government actions’
U.S. charges against Huawei allege that the company stole trade secrets, misled banks about its business and violated U.S. sanctions.
As well as its smartphone business, Huawei is a market leader in equipment needed to build next-generation 5G mobile data networks.
In Europe, the UK has been embroiled in a row over Huawei’s possible role building such a network.
5G is expected to begin rolling out this year and will offer mobile internet speeds likely to be at least several times that of 4G, it has been claimed.
Last month it was claimed that Prime Minister Theresa May had given the green light to Huawei’s involvement at a meeting of the UK’s National Security Council.
The claims led to the sacking of defense minister Gavin Williamson, who was accused of leaking details of the meeting, although he denied it.
The U.S. worries that China could use Huawei phones (stock photo) to gain access to information that could compromise Nato and allied intelligence operations
Retired brigadier general Robert Spalding, the former senior director for strategy at the National Security Council, wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the UK ‘must recognise’ the strength of U.S. feeling on Huawei.
He wrote: ‘Other nations must not make the mistake of thinking President Trump’s recent executive order banning companies like Huawei from US networks is merely an afterthought of the trade war.
‘The severity of President Trump’s declaration underscores just how seriously the US views this issue, and the UK must recognise this strength of feeling.
‘To miss the significance of his actions would be a grave misjudgment of how seriously we take our security in an ever-more dangerous world.’
In April, the technical director of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said some of the firm’s products had ‘shoddy’ security.
Dr Ian Levy warned that Huawei’s ‘poor’ engineering was ‘like it’s back in the year 2000’.
WHY DO BRITISH INTELLIGENCE THINK HUAWEI’S PRODUCTS MAY POSE A SECURITY THREAT?
China’s controversial telecommunications equipment maker Huawei openly supports the ruling Communist Party.
Ren Zhengfei, a former People’s Liberation Army (PLA) engineer, founded the company in 1987 and it has risen to rank among the world’s top manufacturers of network equipment.
But his PLA service has led to concerns of close links with the Chinese military and government, which Huawei has consistently denied.
Ren Zhengfei, a former People’s Liberation Army (PLA) engineer, founded the company in 1987 and it has risen to rank among the world’s top manufacturers of network equipment. But his PLA service has led to concerns of close links with the Chinese military and government, which Huawei has consistently denied
Huawei operates in 170 countries and the company says one third of the world’s population communicate using its products in some way.
It is the world’s second largest network equipment supplier behind Sweden’s Ericsson, and has made a large push into consumer products such smartphones in recent years.
Fears around its capabilities to tap into sensitive information stem from rumours of backdoors in in the firm’s software.
Although no such vulnerability has ever been found, allegations for their capabilities range from the ability to tap into encrypted data to knocking out communications facilities.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of GCHQ, has not claimed to find evidence of such vulnerabilities.
However, intelligence experts say they can only provide limited assurances that the Chinese company is not a risk to broadband and phone networks in the UK.