On The Verge
The users least impacted by losing Google services are on Huawei’s side here
By Chaim Gartenberg@cgartenberg May 20, 2019, 4:43pm EDT
Huawei had its Android license cut off by Google over the weekend thanks to a US government order. But Chinese users appear to be rallying around the company, with social media posts on Weibo and Douyin showing strong support for Huawei, according to What’s On Weibo.
The debate over Huawei and national security was thrust back into the spotlight over the weekend, when, as part of a US government order, Google revoked Huawei’s Android license, which cuts the company’s phones off entirely from most Google apps and services. It’s less of a problem for users in China, given nearly all Google services don’t function in China anyway, but the move is far more problematic for Huawei’s efforts to expand beyond its Chinese customer base to places like Europe and the US.
Per What’s On Weibo’s report, Chinese customers are posting in support of Huawei with declarations that they’ll continue using their Huawei phones or to purchase their next device from the company in the future. Hashtag campaigns for “Huawei Doesn’t Need to Rely on America for its Microchips” (#华为芯片可以不依赖美国供应链#) and “Huawei’s Self-Developed Operating System Hong Meng” (#华为自研操作系统鸿蒙#) were also trending on Weibo, highlighting that Huawei already develops many of its own components for its phones, as well as the in-house operating system that Huawei has been developing for just this sort of circumstance.