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With Huawei’s sale of Honor, will Honor phones get Play Store access again?

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Huawei’s ongoing harassment by the US government has forced the company to sell off its Honor brand. The company stated that “it is the best solution to protect the interests of Honor’s consumers, channel sellers, suppliers, partners, and employees,” and will “ensure its survival.”

Over the last two years, Huawei has been struggling to maintain its dominance in the smartphone and telecommunications infrastructure segments as more restrictions have been placed on the company by the US government over unsubstantiated security concerns.

The Honor brand, now owned by Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., will no longer deal with the “tremendous pressure” that Huawei has been facing and should be able to flourish under new ownership. 

honor play store access

“This move has been made by Honor’s industry chain to ensure its own survival.”

“We look forward to seeing Honor continue to create value for consumers and build a new intelligent world for young people.”

Established as a cheaper sub-brand in 2013, Honor has expanded its product portfolio from a few smartphones per year to dozens of products that now include smartphones, laptops, routers, fitness trackers and smartwatches, headphones, and more. Based on the latest figures, more than 70 million Honor-branded products are sold each year. 

It’s still not clear what we can expect from Honor going forward, but the company has assured its current customers that it will continue providing security updates and after-sales service for its product.

Will Honor smartphones have Google Play Store support?

While the US sanctions placed on Huawei have caused some disruption for the company’s supply chain, the biggest hurdle that Huawei wasn’t able to surmount was being cut off from official Google certification which removed the company’s ability to load the Play Store on its phones. Since the sale is meant to be a clean break from Huawei, there’s a very good chance that future Honor smartphones will ship with the Google Play Store pre-installed. 

How to install the Google Play Store on any Huawei & Honor smartphone with Googlefier

Since the US government currently doesn’t have any restrictions placed on Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., the Honor brand should have no issues working directly with Google to have their devices certified. Honor pulled out of the US market a few years back, but the brand has performed well across Europe and the Middle East, two regions in which having Play Store access is critical to the success of the brand. 

Enabling access on Honor’s devices that have sold without the Play Store over the past year and a half will be a bit more complicated. Honor would need to work with Google to certify each device. To our knowledge, certifying a phone after it’s gone on sale isn’t something that’s been done in the past. It’s highly unlikely, but Honor could solidify great brand loyalty among its current customers if it is able to pull it off.

Source: Android Authority

Nick Gray
I'm a life-long tech enthusiast who has a soft spot for HTC. After writing about tech for more than a decade, I jumped at the opportunity to take on the role of Editor in Chief at Phandroid. Please contact me at [email protected].

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