🥀 The end for this smartphone giant?

🌞 Good day all! It’s a busy, busy day here at Android Authority preparing for Galaxy Unpacked and the Samsung Galaxy S23 launch later. We’re expecting a full flagship smartphone lineup that could include a new Galaxy Book, too. Be sure to tune in at 1:00 PM ET today for the latest.

In the meantime, we have news about another once-massive smartphone company that could face its final death blow due to further sanctions.

• In the global smartphone sales race, Huawei was once hot on the heels of Apple and Samsung.
• In 2019, the Trump administration announced that Huawei would be placed on the Entity List.
• This was a list of companies that could not do business with any firms based in the US.
• Essentially, this limited Huawei’s dealings with the likes of Google, Intel, and Qualcomm.
• It made regular updates to Android more difficult and the procurement of new chipsets almost impossible.
• As a result, Huawei fell behind its rivals in the past four years.
• However, it’s still somehow kicking.
• It launched the P50 and Mate 50 series late last year, which ran 4G versions of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets.

The potential death blow

• This week, the trade ban took its latest turn.
• According to a new report, the Biden administration has now stopped granting export licenses to US companies to export products to Huawei.
• This seems like a far more comprehensive set of sanctions.
• According to one source, it would mean a ban of items “below the 5G level, including 4G items, Wi-Fi 6 and 7, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing and cloud items.”
• Another source suggests that 4G chips, the platforms that Huawei currently uses in its flagship smartphones, are now being blocked for export.
• This is the really big headache for Huawei.
• The company doesn’t have another viable chipset solution at the flagship level.
• Huawei cannot produce its own chips, as the ban prohibits foundries TSMC and Samsung from producing Huawei’s Kirin line.
• The latest step in the trade ban could also affect Huawei’s PC business, as Intel, AMD, and Microsoft would likely also be affected by the ban.

What does this mean for Huawei?

• However you look at it, this is not good news for the Chinese firm.
• That said, Huawei has somehow managed to produce smartphones of respectable quality even with the trade ban.
• The latest trade crunch could constrict these efforts, though.

Wacky Wednesdays

If you think you’re having a tough morning, pour some coffee out for Australia.

• A lost radioactive capsule smaller than a penny has been found after four long days of an emergency search across Western Australia.
• The 8 x 6mm capsule reportedly fell off a truck between an 870-mile stretch between Perth and Pilbara.
• That’s like looking for the metal end of a USB flash drive along the distance between New York City and Chicago, and somehow finding it.
• Talk about finding a needle in a haystack.
• The capsule contains small amounts of Cesium-137, which emits a “reasonable” amount of radiation. It’s used in measuring equipment for iron ore extraction.
• Thankfully, authorities have noted that radiation contamination in the area is “unlikely.”

Have a great Wednesday,
Andy Walker, Editor.