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Even though President Trump has put Huawei (HONOR’s parent company) on the Entity List, barring it from doing business with any US companies, HONOR’s newest series of smartphones will be getting Android Q.
This is coming from a trusted internal source, stating that the entire HONOR 20 family (the HONOR 20, HONOR 20 Lite and HONOR 20 Pro) will get updated to Android Q. Though, there is no word on when that might happen. Considering the fact that Android Q is still in the beta stage – not to mention it doesn’t even have an official name yet – it’s likely not coming anytime soon.
Android Q is the next version of Android, which is set to start rolling out to Pixel smartphones (and likely the Essential PH-1) in August. There’s no official name for this version of Android yet, we’ll likely get that in August, just before the update starts rolling out in a stable capacity. But it is going to be Android 10, which is a big deal for the platform.
After Huawei had been placed on the Entity List last month by President Trump, many feared that there would be no more updates for Huawei and HONOR smartphones. This is because shortly after, Google had revoked Huawei’s Android license. This was Google complying with the US government’s request, not Google throwing its partner under the bus. By revoking its Android license, that means that you won’t get any help from Google, you also won’t get Android releases ahead of time. As you’ll need to stick with AOSP.
But shortly after many companies announced that they had cut ties with Huawei, the US government granted it a temporary license to work with these companies for the next 90 days. This was good for Huawei, as it is going to be able to work with these partners and find a path forward until the ban officially goes into effect in August.
The HONOR 20 lineup was announced at a pretty bad time for HONOR and even its parent company Huawei. It was just about a week after Trump banned the company and Google revoke its Android license. Which meant that a lot of people were on edge as to whether or no they should actually buy the HONOR 20 Pro, which is unfortunate, since it is a really good phone. While it does have Google services available, how long would they be available?
It does look like, if this source is accurate, that HONOR and Google have worked something out, ahead of when the ban will officially go into affect next month, to get Android Q to those devices. That’s good news for those that want to buy the HONOR 20 Pro, as you do know that you’ll get Android Q on your smartphone. Even though Huawei is working on its own mobile operating system to replace Google’s Android, this is going to be a good bridge for HONOR 20 users.
Android Q isn’t slated to start rolling out til the end of August, so it would be surprising to see HONOR roll it out before the end of the year.