The upcoming Huawei P70 series will use a new chipset from HiSilicon tentatively called “Kirin 9010”, he writes Smart Pikachu on Weibo. The chip hasn’t been officially announced yet, but it’s been in the works for a long time.
The first time we heard the name Kirin 9010 was three years ago: another leaker revealed that it will be a 3nm chip. TSMC was the most likely foundry, but trade restrictions on Huawei now make this unlikely.
Last week it was discovered that Huawei is shipping laptops with Kirin 9006C chips made by TSMC, but which turned out to be old stock. SMIC makes 7nm chips like the Kirin 9000, however, it performs worse than TSMC’s 5nm node. SMIC is probably working on a 3nm node, although it will probably take years.
Will the Kirin 9010 really be a 3nm chip or is Huawei simply reusing the name? It could be the latter, unless Huawei finds a way around the trade restrictions. The company registered a trademark for the name in 2021 (and had plans to start production in 2022, though that fell through).
Huawei will reportedly bring back 5G connectivity with the P70 series. Interestingly, the P70 Art’s ultra-wide-angle camera is rumored to have a 1-inch sensor and a high-quality 1G6P lens (with one glass element, six plastic). Huawei is said to be developing its own sensors: they are expected to debut with the P70 series, whose presentation is scheduled for March.
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