The U.S. Commerce Department has banned American companies from selling hardware components and software to Chinese manufacturer, ZTE, for seven years. What does this ZTE Us ban mean?
It means that ZTE Corporation will be unable to purchase key US-made parts for use in its smartphones. The most glaring hit is processor chips from Qualcomm. It might also include some parts of Android OS. The OS is open source, but the ban just might include Google Services.
Why The ZTE US Ban?
ZTE is reported to have violated an agreement that was reached after it was caught illegally shipping U.S. goods to Iran. And so, the US government has wielded the big stick.
ZTE and Alphabet/Google are reported to be discussing the implications of the US ban on the former’s access to use Android OS in its smartphones.
In addition, the US government is considering additional action to hurt ZTE’s sales in the country. These are trying times for ZTE, one of the world’s leading Android smartphone manufacturers.