As we highlighted above, Huawei basically aimed to outdo themselves again with the Mate 30 phones, successors to last year’s Mate 20 series which were some of the best devices to come out of 2018. In fact, the Mate 20 was personally my favorite phone of last year, despite not having a headphone jack! The Mate 30 series also doesn’t disappoint when it comes to new features, though we will admit that some of these are more aesthetically pleasing than actually useful(looking at you waterfall display). You can see a spec sheet below if you hadn’t already checked them out in the video above.

However this year all the hardware improvements Huawei made and even a few software ones all seem to be rendered moot by the fact that these phones will not have an official, Google-licensed version of Android, as well as a lack of Google play services, which essentially mean no Google Maps , Chrome, Play protect and most importantly, the Play Store itself, which is how most people get (and should get) their Android Apps. It’s a huge blow for Huawei, and while the company is certainly trying to hold its head high and even trying to convince people it’s App Gallery alternative is enough to replace the play store, they’re certainly not in a cheerful mood as far as the US is concerened. In fact, perhaps most surprisingly about the Huawei Mate 30 event, no US tech magazines, blogs or even independent YouTubers were invited. And yes this is also likely because US media was pretty much told not to directly engage with Huawei, and in turn the company doesn’t even bother with inviting them anymore, but the simple gist is that there was no American presence at this launch, and it even hurt the amount of publicity around the Mate 30’s launch. The tech community in the world may be international, but we would all be lying if we said America doesn’t have the loudest voice as far as that community goes. If you want proof of this, just compare the Mate 30 buzz to the Galaxy Note 10 or the iPhone 11. It’s another inadverted blow that the company didn’t need, but one which it has to deal with in a growing list of elephants in the room.

We’ve already talked about the adverse effects of the US-China trade deal, the ban, and even the adverse effects it could have on the whole tech community’s products and commodities.  And as you could see from the event Huawei has steered clear of mentioning the US while aiming prices at Europe and China, with obvious expansion plans for areas like Africa and India as well. But of course the value of the Mate 30s and any other Huawei phone will be significantly undermined even in markets like ours . If apps aren’t available in Huawei’s App Gallery (which they likely won’t be) it would mean downloading an Apk file then installing manually, which is not only unsafe as we’ve recently gone into detail about, but it’s not exactly convenient or easy for everyone either. Then there’s the fact that other American companies can further distance themselves from Huawei too though thankfully that hasn’t been the case, but imagine if WhatsApp , Facebook or Instagram suddenly have to get pulled too as they’re manufactured by American companies and the US decides to somehow tighten the squeeze on Huawei even more. The situation keeps getting worse for the company and in all honesty it becomes a shame that two of their latest, greatest devices will have to get torn down by the bloody situation this whole trade war has become. And this is not to say Huawei is a completely blameless company , after all just about a month ago even here in Africa they were causing issues as Huawei employees in Uganda were violating people’s privacy for politically motivated agendas. And in fact acts like that make even us at TZP walk back some of the more defensive statements we may have said for the company. But even with Huawei being a villain in many stories, the Mate 30 Pro and it’s little brother are both amazing phones, that will likely always be plagued by the political atmosphere of their launch. There is still slightly some hope, after all rumors of a special deal for the devices are still circulating so they can get Google play services. But that’s just a rumor and arguably blind hope, and we all may just have to agree that Huawei will be in deep uncomfortable water from this point on. The real question beynod this is how China may retaliate.

Do you like the Mate 30 Pro ? Tell us what you think of the Huawei Trade ban and if you would still buy the mate 30 without the Google Play Store? Tell us your thought in the comments or on social media?

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