Home Technology Huawei’s new Mate 30 removes Google’s App store

Huawei’s new Mate 30 removes Google’s App store

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So, we saw the leaks coming out on what the new Huawei Mate 30 might look when it is officially launched by the company. Well, that launch was yesterday, and it turns out the phones look exactly as the leaks predicted. I won’t go into the detail of some of those hardware specifics, but needless to say that these new Huawei devices are going to be real powerhouses with some remarkable processing power and even better cameras that should please anyone who is looking for tier phone to pair as an exceptional camera (Darryn has a good write-up over here).

We always knew that the hardware would be impressive and that was not the big focus of the reveal. That detail belonged to the software where Huawei confirmed that the new phones will not be coming with Google’s Android Apps. As Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei’s consumer products division confirmed:

We cannot use the Google Mobile Services core; we can use the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) core. Today that’s because of a US ban that these phones cannot preinstall the GMS core, it has forced us to use the HMS Core running the Huawei app gallery on the Mate 30 series phones.

So, while that means the new phone cannot use the Google Play Store and any apps on it, it is still making use of the latest version of Android which the company says they can still use due to the open-source nature of the operating system. This should salve users who feared the loss of Android entirely on their Huawei devices. 

The mobile giant has actually been working on their own Huawei Mobile Services app store for several years now, with iterations of it already on current Huawei devices (thanks to China not having access to the google play store for years already). The company claims that there are over 45,000 apps already integrated with the new service.

So while most popular apps should be available on the new platform Huawei will have to work hard to ensure that more apps support the new ecosystem in future. According to The Verge, the company is reportedly investing  $1 billion into its software ecosystem split across a development fund, a user growth fund, and a marketing fund all with the intention of trying to ensure consumers make use of the new service. History has not proved kindly to companies that have challenged the dominance of Google and Apple’s app monopoly, but hopefully, with Huawei’s clout, we will finally see somebody stand up and make a dent in that space.

Huawei also confirmed the different designs of the phone on offer including the Porsche edition plus confirmed that the processors where exactly what the rumours predicted. Additionally, Huawei also gave details on the batteries of the devices with the Mate 30 Pro having a larger 4,500mAh battery, compared to 4,200mAh in the Mate 30. Both phones support fast charging up to 40W wired, or 27W when wirelessly charging.

The Huawei Mate 30 will be available with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and will start at €799 (R13 000), while the Mate 30 Pro increases the internal storage to 256GB and starts at €1,099 (R18000) for the 4G model or €1,199 (R19500) for the 5G model. As for the Porsche Design edition, it pretty much matches the exclusivity of the cars as these will start at €2,095 (R34000) and will come with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage. Local pricing has not been officially revealed yet, though expect these devices to be even more expensive once import duties are thrown in. Keeping up with cutting-edge technology has never been cheap.

Last Updated: September 20, 2019

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