Huawei launches new Honor phones, doesn’t mention Android

By Paul Sandle

LONDON (Reuters) – Huawei launched its new Honor 20 series smartphones in London on Tuesday in a presentation that emphasized the Chinese company’s technology but made no reference of a possible rupture with Google.

Huawei, the world’s second-biggest phone maker, runs its devices on Google’s Android platform but the U.S. Commerce Department blocked Huawei from buying U.S. goods last week, throwing future software updates into question.

On Tuesday, the United States temporarily eased restrictions on Huawei, granting the Chinese phonemaker a license to buy U.S. goods until Aug. 19, meaning that updates of popular Google apps like Gmail and YouTube can continue until then.

George Zhao, president of Huawei’s youth-focused brand Honor, told hundreds of reporters, bloggers and analysts that he was “really happy to see so many friends” at the event.

He unveiled the Honor 20 Pro, Honor 20 and Honor 20 Lite, which will retail at 599 euros ($669), 499 euros and 299 euros respectively.

(Editing by Georgina Prodhan; editing by David Evans)