Yesterday, Huawei revealed its major H2 flagships, the Huawei Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro (Android Authority). As expected, they arrived without Google services. 

This marks a turning point for the company, and perhaps Android itself, as the second-biggest smartphone maker in the world launches phones without Apple or Google app store access. Here’s what we saw at yesterday’s event. 

The Huawei Mate 30 Pro

• Before talking about what the Mate 30 Pro is missing, let’s take a look at the hardware it delivers:

Display: 6.53-inch curved OLED (with notch), 2,400 x 1,176 resolution
Chip: Kirin 990
RAM: 8GB 
ROM: 128GB / 256GB 
Rear cameras: 40MP f/1.6, 40MP f/1.8 ultra-wide, 8MP f/2.4 3x telephoto, 3D depth sensor
Front camera: 32MP, 3D depth sensor
Battery: 4,500mAh 
OS: Android 10 (and EMUI 10)

• These characteristics put the Mate 30 Pro squarely at the most premium end of the smartphone spectrum.
• Looks-wise, you can’t miss it: it has a large, boxy body with a notch at the top and an unmissable circular camera cutout on the rear. 
• Speaking of cameras, the four rear sensors — including two huge 40MP sensors — will surely help put this among the best smartphones for camera quality (expect some critics to crown it the best).
• It can also shoot ultra-slow motion at a ridiculous 7680fps at 720p.
• But it lacks a headphone port. Boo.
• Huawei showed off a Mate 30 Pro 5G model too, as well as a variant with a vegan leather rear.
• The Mate 30 Pro will start at 1,099 Euros, the Mate 30 Pro 5G starts at 1,199 Euros, but Huawei didn’t talk release date or markets.
• Here’s a hands-on video with the device from Android Authority (YouTube).

From a hardware standpoint, it looks like a beast. There’s just one problem…

The app situation

• The Huawei Mate 30 series doesn’t support apps like YouTube, Maps, and Gmail, and it can’t run the Google Play Store. 
• This is a result of the ongoing trade ban the U.S. has imposed on Huawei. It isn’t of Huawei’s own volition. 
• Mate 30 owners will have to rely on Huawei’s own marketplace called AppGallery if they want to download apps instead. 
• Little is known about this yet, but it won’t house anywhere near as many apps as Google Play, though WhatsApp and Instagram have been confirmed for it (BBC).
• Huawei said there may be a way to sideload Google apps onto the phones in the future, but details are murky.
• In a group interview, Huawei’s Richard Yu said Google services could potentially be rolled out to the Mate 30 “over one night,” should the trade ban be lifted.

What about the standard Mate 30?

• The regular Mate 30 model is a lower-spec’d, less expensive version of the Pro model. 
• Oddly, it’s slightly bigger than the Mate 30 Pro overall, but also with a slightly smaller battery capacity at 4,200mAh, and a smaller notch.
• Its camera setup isn’t as high performance, with lower resolution sensors on the front (24MP vs 32MP) and back (40MP + 16MP + 8MP vs 40MP + 40MP + 8MP), and no 3D face unlock.
• But it does have a headphone port. 
• Otherwise, it’s very similar to the Pro model, with essentially the same resolution display, same chipset, and up to 8GB RAM.
• The Huawei Mate 30 starts at 799 Euros.

Will anybody buy these phones?

• Huawei is in an unfortunate situation, being forced to launch a new phone range with what Western consumers will see as a crippling caveat. 
• The big question is whether the Mate 30 series does enough to justify the lack of Google Play and Google Services access. 
• For me, that would be a no.
• Huawei can’t spring to life an app store like Google Play, and the Google Play Services are far too important to overlook, despite great hardware.
• As my colleague David Imel put it in his hands-on for Android Authority:
• "On one hand, it’s a beautiful, powerful Android flagship that makes almost no compromises in terms of build quality and hardware. On the other, it’s hobbled by the absence of Google’s apps and services, which are a major part of the Android experience."
• It may not be a big deal for Huawei in China, where it doesn’t rely on Google services anyway, but for the Western world, I think most people will see it as a deal-breaker.