Huawei’s struggles with Google are far from over, but not even the Android ban is stopping the Chinese device maker from pursuing the runaway Samsung to the crown of the top smartphone vendor in the world by market share.
The launch of the Huawei Mate 30 series without Google Apps and Services might not be a big deal back at home. Still, Huawei hasn’t looked back and not long ago, it opened sales of the devices in Europe, where Google Apps and Services have long come preinstalled on Huawei devices.
Huawei says it would only take “over one night” to turn on Google Apps and Services on the Mate 30 devices if given the go-ahead by the U.S. government, but until then, those who buy the phones will make do with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and not the usual Google Mobile Services (GMS).
The trade ban doesn’t affect devices running Android Pie and before out of the box. The list is huge owing to the fact that Huawei pumps a flurry of phones into the market annually, led by the Huawei P30 series and the Mate 20 series.
Not long ago, the Mate 10 series also joined the party alongside the P Smart 2019, P Smart+ 2019, Honor 20i & Honor 10 Lite in China. Today, the same EMUI 10 beta update is now headed to the Huawei Enjoy 10 Plus, Maimang 7 and Nova 4e.
The Huawei Enjoy 10 Plus and the Huawei Y9 2019 have a lot in common and in typical Huawei fashion, the former is limited to the Chinese market while the latter is sold globally. The story is also true for the Maimang 7 and Mate 20 Lite, respectively.
Huawei is currently looking for owners of the above devices to begin testing EMUI 10 beta based on Android 10. The recruitment is currently limited to China, which is where beta testing for Huawei devices begins. In a couple or so weeks, the global variants should also gain access to EMUI 10 beta.
We knew this was bound to happen after Huawei updated its EMUI 10 roadmap with 33 new devices, among them the Huawei Enjoy 10 Plus, Mate 20 Lite and Nova 4e. These three had been scheduled to get Android 10 closed beta in early October 2019, which is right on time.
There are a total of 2,000 slots available for each device, but the initial batch is limited to 500 slots while the remaining 1,500 slots will be put up for grabs when the beta program opens up to the public.
The Enjoy 10 Plus (STK-AL00, STK-TL00) must have EMUI 9.1.0.110 currently installed to make the cut while those on the Nova 4e need version 9.1.0.220 (MAR-AL00) or 9.1.0.167/9.1.0.220 (MAR-TL00). On the other hand, the Maimang 7 (SNE-AL00) aka Mate 20 Lite must be running EMUI 9.1.0.212 to be eligible.
The beta recruitment kicked off a couple of days ago and is set to go on until mid-October. It is after Huawei verifies the beta applications that the actual EMUI 10 beta firmware will be pushed to these devices.
As noted earlier, the fact that EMUI 10 beta recruitment is live in China means that it won’t be long before the global variants of these devices are allowed into the beta testing program.
NOTE: For more Huawei-related coverage, check out this section. We also have more Android 10-related coverage here.
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