Does buying a OnePlus phone carry a risk of Huawei-style lack of access to services in the future?

[TwoCarrotSnowman]

I’m in the market for a new smartphone. I like the look of the soon-to-be-released OnePlus 7T, which has flagship features at a midrange cost.

OnePlus is a Chinese company. As far as I know, they haven’t yet been affected by the US government clamping down on Chinese access to US tech. However, another Chinese manufacturer, Huawei, can no longer install Google apps and services (such as the Play Store) on new handsets, and I’d hate to have that happen to a phone I’d just bought.

I’m no expert on the terms of the current US-China trade war - how much of a risk is there that OnePlus may end up in the same situation as Huawei, with restrictions on access to Google services?

[Frankenstein_Monster]

I haven’t tried any Chinese phones personally, but for all the ones I have seen (“Better” ones, maybe) that don’t come with Google Play Services it is very easy to install them yourself.

Often you can install them right from the manufacturer’s own apps marketplace.

That is, Google doesn’t allow those manufacturers to bundle Google Play Store with the phone but neither does it block them from running it if you install it yourself.

I would think they could, but I have never heard of them trying to.

Furthermore, nobody has ever said that Google Play Store would be blocked retroactively when a manufacturer’s license to bundle it is revoked.

IOW if the phone comes with Google Play Store it will keep working.

Again I’d imagine they could block it retroactively but I haven’t heard of this ever being threatened as part of the license or trade war. Once it works, it keeps working.

So it seems you’re safe even with Huawei. But no guarantees.

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

You can always use the Amazon app marketplace too, which carries many of the same products for Android that the Google Play store does. But in any event, US phone manufacturers are using mostly Chinese-sourced components so if a crackdown comes, you may not be safe with any of them.

[Frankenstein_Monster]

Will Users of Chinese Phones Lose Access to Gmail, YouTube and Chrome Apps?

No according to this article.

That means smartphones manufactured by the Chinese company will lose access to Google’s Android operating system, when the U.S. tech giant launches the next version of the software later this year.

Current Huawei models running Google apps would continue to do so, and updates were expected to be available like always. Huawei users could still use the version of the Android operating system available through an open source licence.

“We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications,” a Google spokesperson said, according to Reuters. “For users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices.”

[Frankenstein_Monster]

I saw this bit of news only today:

Huawei Mate 30 phones apparently lose backdoor access to Google apps

So that confirms there WAS a backdoor.

But this is the first time I heard of Google blocking the backdoor.

Should not be applicable to the OnePlus 7T. AAUI it comes with Google Apps and once it works, it keeps working (this would be true even for Huawei).

[Bassman]

I very much doubt this will end up affecting OnePlus. Even with Huawei, you can still use Google services on existing phones. Even if something happens to OnePlus, you can still flash LineageOS or something on the phone and add the Google services through it.

The OnePlus phones look great and I got to play with the 6T some last year. Really good software. I’ll probably end up getting one once they release a model with wireless charging. Enjoy your phone and don’t worry about the Google services!