It’s been a tough and strange few months for Huawei. As its still unable to trade with US companies, its new phones have launched without Google services.
For Western users, this means no Play Store, support for banking apps, and other critical features non-Apple folk have grown accustomed to.
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However, to offer buyers new choices with Google services, Huawei has discovered a workaround.
The firm is able to relaunch older products that are supported by Google, offering the devices as “new” but offering little improvements to choice specs.
So, don’t be surprised when we tell you that the “New Edition” Huawei P30 Lite isn’t very new at all.
The relaunched version of the 2019 smartphone features more RAM and internal storage: 6GB of RAM and 256GB of storage to be precise. That’s a bump up from the 4GB/128GB initially offered on the original P30 Lite.
The phone even sports the same design and colours as its previous version.
Notably, this isn’t the first time Huawei’s done this. The Nova 5T, which was unveiled in November in South Africa, is effectively a rebadged Honor 20.
It may seem a cop-out but it seems that the firm’s still hedging its bets that its US trade ban will be lifted before it unveils the new P flagship.
With that said however, don’t be too surprised if the Huawei P40 is just a “New Edition” P30.
It’s not yet clear if the New Edition P30 Lite will make it to South Africa.
Feature image: the ‘New Edition’ Huawei P30 Lite, by Huawei
