Huawei-Google’s Apple HomePod Competitor Scrapped Ahead Of Trump’s Ban

Chinese tech giant Huawei was reportedly working with Google to create a new smart speaker but had to scrap it "right before" U.S. President Donald Trump's ban.

According to The Information, Huawei, in partnership with Google, was working on a smart speaker that would’ve taken on Apple’s HomePod, Amazon’s Echo and others. The said speaker, which Huawei planned to reveal during this year’s IFA Trade Show in Berlin in September, was canceled right before U.S. President Donald Trump restricted the Chinese tech giant’s access to U.S. tech firms.

“We worked on this project with Google for a year and made a lot of progress. Then everything suddenly stopped,” a Huawei employee who refused to be named said.

Nothing is said about the speaker except that it would’ve carried the Huawei brand, it was aimed at markets outside China, that Huawei hoped to sell it online in the U.S., and that it would be powered by the Google Assistant.

Other projects

The project shows that Huawei and Google enjoyed a partnership closer than most people knew, the report said. The two companies have worked on a variety of projects together for the part few years, including the Nexus 6P device that carried Huawei’s name on its back, as well as Huawei smartphones and smartwatches that run on Google’s Android and Android Wear, respectively.

People knowldgeable about the matter also said that aside from working on the aforementioned devices, the two companies were also talking about making Huawei smartphones compatible with Android Auto, a Google-made program that connects cars with smartphones. This app mirrors features from an Android phone to a compatible car or aftermarket stereo with display.

All these, however, came to a stop when President Trump prohibited U.S. tech firms from selling technologies to the Chinese tech giant, which is now the world’s second largest mobile phone maker in terms of global shipments.

Cause and effect

Because President Trump’s decision was based on national security concerns, the only way Huawei can communicate with U.S. firms is via calls or meetings with lawyers making sure that conversations or any form of communication complies with the sanctions indicated, sources said.

The U.S. President recently eased his stance on Huawei and allowed Huawei to purchase widely available tech from U.S. firms. Yet despite this, a Huawei manager said Google and Huawei’s relationship might never return to how it used to be as Huawei has already ramped up its efforts to strengthen ties with non-U.S. tech firms, as well as in developing homegrown chips.