The Huawei Mate 30 launch is just around the corner. But to say that things have been going smoothly for Huawei is a lie. First, they were added to a blacklist that forbade them from purchasing components from US companies. This included Google and ARM. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer also announced its own Operating System called Harmony OS.
Perhaps adding insult to injury, they stated that Harmony OS would not be used in the company’s upcoming smartphones as an Android alternative. So this begs the question; what exactly will the Huawei Mate 30 run on?
What we know so far about the Huawei Mate 30
Similar to its predecessor, the Huawei Mate 30 packs all the bells and whistles that the Mate series flagship devices offer. As such, the flagship Kirin 990 processor is expected to make an appearance, powering both the Huawei Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro. In terms of other specifications, the Huawei Mate 30 Pro is also rumored to have a 6.7” OLED display and support 4K/60fps video recording. Huawei has also suggested that the Mate 30 will be the company’s first 5G smartphone.
While the previous Huawei Mate 20 Pro and Mate 20 packed a triple camera setup, the Huawei Mate 30 lineup is rumored to pack a quad camera setup in the rear. For the Mate 30 Pro, two of these cameras are rumored to be 40MP sensors with one being the primary shooter and the other being used as a 40MP ultra-wide sensor.
The third sensor is rumored to be an 8MP 5x telephoto lens. Giving power to all this is a 4,500mAh battery for the Huawei Mate 30 Pro and a slightly smaller 4,200mAh battery for the regular Mate 30. Both devices will have fast charging of up to 55W and also have fast wireless charging of around 30W as well.
So by the looks of it, the Huawei Mate 30 lineup seems to be sorted in terms of hardware. After all, the Mate lineup represents Huawei’s professional series of smartphones. So it’s obvious that Huawei would pack everything and the kitchen sink into the Mate 30. While all this sounds good, one primary question remains. What about software?
An Android flagship without Google?
While Android and Google go hand in hand with each other, for the Huawei Mate 30, it’s not so simple. While the 90-day temporary license granted to Huawei allows their existing smartphones to be updated with Android, it does not apply to new products. This in turn effectively means that the Huawei Mate 30 cannot be sold with a licensed version of Android or any of Google’s apps installed.
As such, the Huawei Mate 30 lineup might actually not ship out with Google Play Services, the Google Play Store or even some of Google’s basic apps like Gmail and Google Maps.
So how will the Huawei Mate 30 operate?
Well, that’s the big question. So far, there’s nothing clear about it. We know that the Huawei Mate 30 will run EMUI 10 on top of Android Q. But an Operating System is only as good as the apps it can run. If the Huawei Mate 30 ships with no Google apps, that means that users might have to download these apps separately. If the Google Play Store is also not installed, users will have to switch to APK mirroring sites in order to download the APK file of the Google apps they want.
As hassling as this is, it makes things even more hassling if there is an app update. Because you won’t know that there’s an app update, you would have to rely on the app itself to notify you that an app update is available. So you’ll basically have to keep an eye out not only on Google apps but pretty much every single Android app that you use and then download then and install them one by one.
For now, Huawei seems to be going ahead with the launch of the Huawei Mate 30 on the 19th of September in Munich. How they choose to tackle the obstacles of Google Apps will hopefully be seen there. Perhaps that’s why the tagline for the Huawei Mate 30 launch is “Rethink Evolution”.