New Android phones released in Turkey won’t come with Google apps if the tech giant fails to resolve its issue with the country’s authorities. According to Reuters, the company told its Turkish business partners that it will not be able to work with them on new Android phones to be released in the Turkish market. Its problems in the country started when its Russian competitor Yandex filed a complaint against it, prompting the Turkish competition board to open a probe.
Back in 2018, the competition board ordered Google to change its software distribution agreements in order to allow consumers to choose a different search engine for their Android devices. It gave Google six months to make the changes and also slapped it with a 93 million lira ($17.4 million) fine. Now, the board has ruled that the changes the tech giant already made were still inadequate, since the ability to change search engines still isn’t available.
Google says it’s working with authorities to resolve the issue, so Android fans in Turkey may want to cross their fingers if they want to be able to access the Play Store and other Google apps on their future phones. That said, current models won’t be affected. The tech giant said in a statement: “Consumers will be able to purchase existing device models and will be able to use their devices and applications normally. Google’s other services will be unaffected.”
Author: Mariella Moon
Source: Engadget
