Facebook bans Huawei from preinstalling its apps on phones

While some may say Facebook just did Huawei users a favor by banning its apps, including the main Facebook app, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, from being preinstalled on Huawei’s smartphones, the move will hurt Huawei’s bottom line as smartphone makers often receive compensation for preinstalling apps.

Reuters is reporting Facebook’s ban is the result of the U.S. forbidding American companies from supplying parts and software to the Chinese smartphone giant. For now, Huawei users won’t be stopped from using Facebook’s apps though. They will still be able to independently download Facebook’s apps via the Google Play store, and Huawei smartphones that have already left the factory with Facebook’s apps preinstalled will still be able to receive automatic updates for those apps.

However, unless there is a reprieve from the U.S. ban on American companies providing parts and software to Huawei, by the end of the summer Google will be forced to remove the Google Play store from future versions of Huawei phones, meaning those Huawei users will have no legitimate means of getting Facebook’s apps on their smartphone.