Huawei is reportedly advancing its efforts to develop a flagship Kirin chipset amid anticipation for its forthcoming P70 series. Though sparse on specifics, a source suggests the new SoC is “accelerating,” implying possibly ramped-up development. Previous reports have pointed to Huawei working on the Kirin 9010 for the P70 range, potentially a tweaked version of the existing Kirin 9000S.
The Kirin 9000S, found in Huawei’s Mate 60 lineup, was a result of a collaboration between Huawei and SMIC and was produced using the 7nm process technology. To keep pace with competitors, it’s believed Huawei will move towards adopting the 5nm fabrication process for its future Kirin chips. However, these finer details remain unconfirmed.
Huawei’s upcoming P70 models are rumored to sport the Kirin 9010. If this chipset follows the naming convention, it might showcase some incremental changes over the Kirin 9000S, particularly in the CPU and GPU speed departments. While there has been news of SMIC gearing up for mass production of 5nm wafers, it’s likely not to happen until later in the year, suggesting the P70 series might continue to use the 7nm chipsets like the ones in the Mate 60 series from the previous year.
The expectation for chipset upgrades is high, especially with rumors hinting at the Mate 70 series potentially debuting Huawei’s inaugural 5nm chipset in Q4, marking a significant step up from its predecessors.
In terms of performance, the unannounced SoC is rumored to compare with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, which would still leave it a few generations behind the current market leaders. Nonetheless, improvements over the Kirin 9000S should attract consumer interest.
Despite the scarcity of concrete information, it’s likely more details will emerge, offering a clearer picture of what Huawei’s next chipset has to offer and how it might fit into the company’s strategy to maintain its foothold in the high-end smartphone market.
