Huawei might have been able to deploy Android 10 just in time for its Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro releases, but, thanks to a looming U.S. imports ban, Western markets will not be able to use Google apps and services on those phones... at least out of the box. We've been expecting a couple of twists to come out of the company in order to accommodate those Google-dependent customers and they have certainly come — right out of the CEO's mouth.

Huawei CEO Richard Yu spent some time with the press in Munich yesterday to talk about the Google apps situation. Apparently, the key message was that users can't sideload Google Play services and apps onto the devices and that consumers would either have to settle for Huawei's native services or putting in third-party apps from Amazon and other sources.

Later on, Yu sat down to talk with Android Authority. When pressed about how the company's approach in bootloader policy has shifted from open to closed over the past couple of year, he framed it as a matter of offering customers "more security."

"But this time we will leave more freedom for the consumers so they can do more customization by themselves," Yu went on to say.

Despite all the verbal maneuvering the CEO has had to do in the past couple of days, the good news is that the Mate 30 devices' bootloaders will be unlockable. For ROM hackers, that takes a lot of the upfront work off of getting Google apps loaded onto a device, so you'll probably have an easier time sideloading them on than you would otherwise.

All we're waiting for now is when we'll be able to buy the new Mates to give this a try.

UPDATE: 2019/09/22 10:21am PDT BY CORBIN DAVENPORT

A Huawei spokesperson has confirmed that the Mate 30 will not be bootloader-unlockable. See this post for more details.

Source: Android Authority