The Kirin 980 was the first 7nm FinFET chipset to power future flagships, and according to the latest leak, Huawei might be working its successor for a launch expected in H2 2019. Called the Kirin 990, the SoC has been reported by us before, and one major difference between the latter and the Kirin 980 was the upcoming silicon would sport an embedded 5G modem. The next-generation SoC for future smartphones is reportedly in the works, but Huawei is most likely keeping it reserved for its premium line next year.
Huawei Mate 30 Series Could Feature the Kirin 990 – Phones Might Tout Dedicated 5G Baseband Chips
According to a LinkedIn profile that supposedly belongs to a Huawei engineer (via MySmartPrice), the Chinese company has already started working on the Kirin 990. Apparently, the engineer is working on energy-efficient prefetching process for the upcoming chipset. The recently unveiled Snapdragon 855 chipset also features optimized data prefetchers to improve efficiency, so it is not surprising to see Huawei working along the same lines. Apart from this, the LinkedIn profile did not give away any other critical data.
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As per reports, the Kirin 990 SoC might be an improved version of the Kirin 980 chipset, which means it would have a similar architecture. The enhancements are expected to affect the operating frequencies of the graphics node and the computational cores. The rumored chip will also reportedly be made on a 7nm FinFET process by TSMC, just like the Kirin 980 chipset. It is expected to feature the same triple cluster setup that the Kirin 980 features, optimizing performance and efficiency when needed.
Moreover, it could be Huawei’s first 5G ready chip as it might come with the Balong 5000 5G modem. The Kirin 990 is also expected to be 10 percent more power efficient than its predecessor. While rumors claim that the Kirin 990 will be unveiled in the first quarter of 2019 and it might underpin the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro, that most likely isn’t going to happen.
After witnessing the company’s history, we have to comment that the more powerful silicon is always found in the manufacturer’s Mate-branded series first. What this means is that the P30 and P30 Pro will probably be fueled by the Kirin 980, while the Mate 30 family will be armed with the Kirin 990. What other advantages do you think the Kirin 980 successor will have? Tell us your thoughts down in the comments.
