Huawei is rumored to be launching a new Kirin chip when it releases its P70 flagship series later this year. While this news may still be true, the company may continue to use some of the Kirin 9000S in its base models, which may not satisfy everyone.
It is said that Huawei will launch the P70, P70 Pro and P70 Art this year as part of its first flagship series launch, and may subsequently launch the Mate70 series. Not all P70 models will use the new Kirin 9010, sources say the Kirin 9000S is still being tested on the base model. Users who have purchased any Mate60 model will not experience any improvement in performance when purchasing the standard version of the P70. Huawei may also focus on the high-end version this year.
The whistleblower did not explain why Huawei made this decision, but it may be related to the limited supply of Kirin 9010. As most people know, Huawei currently relies on China's largest semiconductor manufacturing company, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), to provide it with a stable supply of Kirin 9000S manufactured on the 7nm process. Unfortunately, SMIC uses older generation DUV equipment to produce these chips, so the process is time-consuming, costly, and has low yield and output.
There are fewer "clean" wafers on the 7nm DUV lithography machine, which may be the reason why the supply of Kirin 9010 SoC required by Huawei P70Pro and P70Art is scarce, so the company has no choice. However, based on the pricing competitiveness of Huawei's basic models, there may be a glimmer of hope for market performance. The Kirin 9000S should be cheaper to produce than the Kirin 9010, which could ultimately help the company reach its projected 100 million smartphone shipments in 2024.