Huawei had introduced its Kirin 990 chip a couple of months ago in both 4G and 5G iterations. That chip is quite powerful, but if the newest rumor is to be believed, its successor, the Kirin 1020, will offer a 50% performance boost.
This rumor appeared in China, and it actually offers some additional info when it comes to Huawei’s next-gen processor. It may be a bit early to guess what that chip will bring, so take this information with a grain of salt.
This Kirin 1020 is said to be codenamed ‘Baltimore’ internally. It will be built using TSMC’s 5nm manufacturing process for better power efficiency and more stable performance.
The Kirin 1020 may offer a 50% performance boost over its predecessor
The biggest change when it comes to this chip comes down to its cores. It will use brand new Cortex-A78 cores, while the Kirin 990 uses Cortex-A76 cores. This new architecture should boost the chip’s performance by 50%, claims the source.
That performance boost seems too good to be true, if we’re being honest. It is possible, of course, but it does seem a bit iffy. Technology is progressing at an amazing pace, so everything is possible.
That is pretty much all the info that the source shares. We did not get any information regarding this chip’s GPU, or anything else.
The Kirin 1020 probably won’t arrive until Q3 next year. That means that we’re still a long way off from its launch, and this information could easily change in the meantime.
The Kirin 1020 is expected to fuel the Mate 40 series of devices
The Kirin 1020 will probably fuel the Mate 40 series of devices which is expected to arrive in Q4 next year. We still do not know anything about those phones, as it’s way too early for detailed predictions.
Huawei’s Kirin 990 processor is quite a powerful chip. It is currently fueling the company’s Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro flagships, and it is expected to be included inside the P40 series as well.
Huawei has far more important problems now, though. The company is still banned from doing business with US companies, and the main issue is Google.
Huawei is not allowed to use Google services, which creates quite a large problem for this China-based company. Within China, that’s not an issue, but it is everywhere else.
The US and China are close to agreeing on a new trade deal, and Huawei will probably be included in it. That will hopefully be resolved soon, as Huawei is one of the largest smartphone OEMs in the world, and quite important to keep the balance intact.