Kirin 980 SoC that was announced at the IFA 2018 tech expo in September is the world’s first mobile chipset built with 7nm process. In the recent years, Huawei’s chipset has strong rival for flagship chipset from Qualcomm and Samsung. Fresh information that has surfaced today reveals that the Huawei is working on its second generation 7nm chipset named Kirin 990 chipset. It is expected to arrive as the first 5G ready chipset SoC from the company. The company is rumored to make it official in Q1 2019.
Information that has surfaced through industry chain sources have revealed that Huawei has already cooperated with TSMC to work on the Kirin 990 SoC. The Chinese manufacturer may soon begin testing the new chipset. The successor of the Kirin 980 could be a 5G ready SoC as it will come equipped with Balong 5000 5G modem. Huawei is rumored to spend nearly RMB 200 million for performing each test on the Kirin 990 SoC.
There are no details available on the specifications of the Kirin 990. What’s known about it is that it will be offering 10 percent enhanced performance than the Kirin 980. Also, it is tipped to use 10 percent less power than its predecessor.
Huawei is reportedly working on a foldable phone that will carry support for 5G connectivity. Probably, the rumored Kirin 990 could be seen on Huawei’s first foldable phone.
Since last year, Huawei has been using the IFA tech trade show platform to announce its flagship chipset. Hence, the rumor about Q1 2019 arrival of the Kirin 990 chipset seems too good to be true. If the Kirin 990 is really arriving in Q1 next year, more reports may appear in the coming weeks to reveal its specs and other details.
The Kirin 980 chipset that was unveiled recently powers the Mate 20 series of flagship phones and the Honor Magic 2 smartphone. Last year’s Kirin 970 is present under the hood of 11 Huawei and Honor branded phones. Hence, the company is likely to release many phones fueled by the Kirin 980 SoC in the coming months. It is speculated that the Honor V20 featuring the same SoC may launch before the end of this year.
