Huawei will release more phones without Google in Europe and beyond

The Honor 9X Pro will come with Huawei Mobile Services -- and without Google Maps

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A woman walks past a Huawei store in central Kiev, Ukraine, on November 11, 2019. (Picture: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

Published: 9:00pm, 18 Feb 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Huawei has been spending a good chunk of time polishing its replacement for Google services ever since the US blacklisted the company last May. Now it looks like China’s top smartphone brand is ready to bring the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystem to more new phones sold overseas.

Huawei’s budget sub-brand Honor is set to introduce its latest 9X Pro handset in a live-streamed event next Monday, president George Zhao wrote in a Facebook post.

Phone makers have been taking launch events online after this year’s Mobile World Congress was canceled over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. Honor’s new phone will come with HMS -- which includes Huawei’s own app store and cloud storage, among other apps and services -- as well as Huawei’s own Kirin 810 chipset.

Huawei has been selling its flagship Mate 30 series without Google apps and services preinstalled since it launched last September -- a challenging task that hurt its overseas sales, according to research firm IDC. Huawei’s regional websites are warning customers that the phones may not come with the usual apps they expect, such as Google Maps and YouTube.

“The Huawei Mate 30 Pro uses the EMUI interface and Huawei Mobile Services (HMS),” a message on Huawei’s French website reads. “This means that Google services and apps are not integrated with Huawei Mate 30 Pro and that some of the most popular third-party apps are not available for download.”