Huawei has recently launched its Mate 30 series of smartphones, meant to be direct (yet cheaper) competitors to the Galaxy Note 10 series. Samsung clearly isn't worried though.
After all, how is Huawei's new device going to ruin their business when it doesn't even have Google apps?
You see, Huawei is based in China, which has for the past few months been embroiled in a trade war with the US. As part of these standoffs, the US government put certain Chinese companies on the list that US companies are not allowed to sell technology to. Though at the time it was supposedly a security move, the world knew the real reasons. Either way though, it meant that Huawei could no more use the Android platform or Google apps for its devices.
The Huawei Mate 30 series therefore does not run the Android operating system. Instead, it's got something similar to it that was developed open source. Of course, that means a lot of apps may not work.?
Samsung meanwhile made light of the situation. The company sent out promotional emails for the Galaxy Note 10 in Latin America saying saying, "Enjoy updates, apps and Google services." This was accompanied by icons like that of YouTube, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Google Drive, Chrome and Search. And to rub some added salt in the wounds, Samsung is also offering Galaxy Note 10 users four months of free YouTube Premium access.
This isn't just Samsung being petty. Or rather, they kind of are being petty, but they weren't the first to cast a stone. Back in August, when the new Huawei P30 was being launched on stage, CEO Richard Yu compared the old P30's look to that of the Note 10, indicating Samsung was copying their old designs.
Huawei CEO launching the P30 Pro
Now this could simply be Samsung taking some perverse pleasure in karmic justice. Then again, it could be the company is genuinely worried about Huawei, even if they're trying not to show it.
Huawei is one of Samsung's biggest global competitors in the Android market, and certainly undercut them routinely on price. So maybe it's just that Samsung really wants you to know that moving to Huawei now means abandoning "proper" Android.