Two Japanese mobile carriers said Wednesday they are delaying the sale of new smartphones from Huawei as they confirm the safety of the Chinese products. Japanese telco SoftBank's low-cost mobile brand Ymobile said on Wednesday it would delay the launch of Huawei P30 Lite smartphone, following the imposition of trade restrictions on the Chinese manufacturer by Washington.
The smartphone from Huawei Technologies was due to go on sale on Friday but a SoftBank spokesman said the telco wanted to be confident it could sell the product in light of the US restrictions. SoftBank spokesman Hiroyuki Mizukami said the company wants its "customers to feel safe using our products."
Japanese telco, KDDI, also indefinitely delayed its sales, initially set for late May. Japan's largest telco, NTT Docomo, said it was considering putting on hold reservations for the Huawei P30 Pro smartphone. The Japanese government has not taken action against Huawei, whose products are relatively popular there.
The US Commerce Department blocked Huawei from buying US goods last week, a major escalation in the trade war between the world's two top economies, saying the firm was involved in activities contrary to national security.
The United States temporarily eased the restrictions on Huawei on Monday, to minimise disruption for customers. The move is likely to allow companies such as Google to continue providing support such as software updates to Huawei smartphones sold on or before May 16.
Alphabet's Google suspended some business with Huawei, Reuters reported on Sunday. The firm's smartphones run on Google's Android operating system.
Written with agency inputs
For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.