Wanted to buy the Huawei Mate 30? You'll probably struggle in the West

Huawei Mate 20
(Image credit: Future)

If you were thinking of buying a Huawei Mate 30 series smartphone as your next device, you may struggle to get one. A new report suggests the whole family of phones won't be launching in the UK, as well as a number of other European countries.

Huawei is announcing the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro (plus two other rumored handsets) tomorrow (September 19) at an event in Germany, but sources close to Huawei have apparently confirmed a Europe-wide release won't happen for any of these devices.

This comes from two Huawei insiders speaking to LetsGoDigital, claiming the devices won't be coming to “Central Europe”. That's expected to include France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK.

The canceled release stems from the political issues Huawei is having in the US. After being placed on the 'entity list' in the US, Google has revoked Huawei's license to use its apps such as Gmail, YouTube, and perhaps most importantly, the Play Store.

It's thought there will still be ways to install these, but Huawei won't be able to advertise those methods, making it difficult for the average person to get the full Android experience on the Mate 30 series.

According to the anonymous sources, this is the reason Huawei has decided to not release the phones in certain European markets where it would struggle to gain traction without access to Google services.

Huawei doesn't release its smartphones in the US so the Mate 30 range was never expected to land there, and current plans for Australia are up in the air.

We're set to learn everything directly from Huawei tomorrow (September 19) at an event in Munich, Germany where TechRadar will be reporting live on everything the company reveals on stage.

Via Phone Arena

James Peckham

James is Managing Editor for Android Police. Previously, he was Senior Phones Editor for TechRadar, and he has covered smartphones and the mobile space for the best part of a decade bringing you news on all the big announcements from top manufacturers making mobile phones and other portable gadgets. James is often testing out and reviewing the latest and greatest mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets, virtual reality headsets, fitness trackers and more. He once fell over.