Honor confirms it! The Google Mobile Services version of Android returns with its new line

Back last November, Huawei announced that it had sold its Honor sub-brand to a consortium that valued the company at $15.2 billion USD. With Huawei already reporting a drop in shipments, there were some who wondered why the beleaguered manufacturer would erase more shipments by getting rid of Honor. The reason why Huawei jettisoned Honor actually makes a lot of sense.

As long as Honor was owned by Huawei, it was subject to the same restrictions that the U.S. had placed on the latter. With a ban on the use of U.S. hardware and software (without a license), Honor could not use the Google Mobile Services version of Android or ship smartphones with the cutting-edge chips produced by foundries that use U.S. technology. The only way for Honor to escape these restrictions would be for it to divorce itself from Huawei which indeed took place.

Now that Honor is an independent company, its new phones, starting with the Honor 50 series, will feature Google's apps and mobile services. The company made this known on Twitter (via XDA) and responded to a question about Google Mobile Services (GMS) by confirming the use of the latter. The upcoming Honor 50 series will be the first from the manufacturer to include GMS since Huawei was first placed on the Entity List by the U.S. in May 2019.

Honor also mentioned that the upcoming units will still use Magic UI although there will be some new features added to the user interface. Besides Google, Honor also is restarting partnerships with U.S. firms like Qualcomm and Intel. For example, the Honor 50 series will be powered by the new Snapdragon 778G chipset.

There will be three different models in the Honor 50 series each with an AMOLED display and a 120Hz refresh rate that updates the screen 120 times per second. The handsets will come with a triple rear camera setup and dual front-facing selfie snappers.

Late last year, the Nikkei Asia Review said that Honor could deliver 100 million handsets this year and could possibly outship Huawei.