Google has announced today that it will be postponing the release of Android-powered handsets from Motorola and Samsung in China. While details on why exactly this decision was made have yet to be made clear, it is likely safe to assume that there is a strong connection with the company’s recent decision to cease censoring search results in the authoritarian country.

Both handsets were to be released with provider China Unicom on January 20th. A spokesperson for Google has spoken to Dow Jones Newswire, indicating that the company sees it as “irrensponsible” to sell such devices in China when the majority of intended use is tied so closely to Google products, such as search, now in question in the country.

Motorola and Samsung have yet to comment on the situation but it must be safe to assume that they aren’t so willing to give us the huge market China claims based on Google’s say-so.