The Chinese smartphone company is already under a 90-day trial period after which it won’t be able to use Google’s Android and services on its new devices. Huawei has also said they are working hard to quickly release their new Android alternative OS, which would most likely be called Ark OS.
A new turn of events has taken place in the Huawei US ban story. According to Financial Times’ sources, Google has warned the US government that banning Huawei could pose a threat to national security.
Google argues that kicking out Huawei would create fragmentation in the Android ecosystem as there would be different variants of the OS: one made by Google and another forked by Huawei.
The search giant thinks that the forked OS is more likely to have bugs. It could become a soft target for the attackers as Huawei devices won’t be able to get software updates and security patches from Google.
The FT report says that Google executives have been in contact with the US Department of Commerce, asking them for an exemption from the ban, or at least provide another extension.
Not just Google, other US companies have expressed concerns over not being able to do business with Huawei. After all, it’s the second largest smartphone maker in the world and losing business means losing lots of money right away.
Huawei smartphones are already banned in the US so it can’t be said how solid is Google’s argument of calling a forked Huawei OS made for the rest of the world a US national security risk.
But as explained by The Verge, a person living in the US could contact someone who is using a vulnerable Huawei device and living outside of the US. Deprived of Google’s software including Play Protect which provides security to the Android OS, the foreign device could possibly have some malware.
The user might unknowingly send some sensitive data outside which could be compromised by the possible malware living on the device. Thus, US national security might get compromised.
Meanwhile, Huawei is not having any direct negotiations with the US government. Per Bloomberg, right now, Huawei is waiting silently, hoping that Google might be able to work out some solution with the US government.
In a situation where Huawei manages to create a compelling alternative OS, surely it could make dent in the Android’s dominance and Google’s control over the smartphone market.
