According to a well-known tipster, the Huawei Mate 40 Pro will be fueled by the Kirin 1000, not Kirin 1020. This information comes from Teme, who published the information on Twitter.
This information follows the report that TSMC will manufacture the Kirin 1020 after all, despite the US ban. That report claims that the US sanctions will not affect the Kirin 1020, as it does not affect orders that have already been placed.
The Huawei Mate 40 Pro to include the Kirin 1000, the Kirin 1020 name may not be used this year
Having said that, if Teme’s information is to be believed, the Kirin 1020 may not exist at all. Huawei may name that chip the Kirin 1000 instead. It makes sense, as it will follow the Kirin 970, 980, and 990.
The company has a tendency to add ‘10’ for each new generation, so the ‘1020’ doesn’t really make sense without ‘1000’ and ‘1010’ series chips. This is not the first time we’re hearing something like this, though.
At the end of last year, several reports suggested that it will be called the Kirin 1000. We’ve seen several reports this year as well. The same goes for the Kirin 1020, though, so we’ll have to wait and see.
In any case, the Kirin 1000 will be a 5nm processor. The Huawei Mate flagships are usually the first that are fueled by Huawei’s new flagship SoCs, and the same will be the case this year.
The Huawei Mate 40 Pro will be fueled by the Kirin 1000, according to the source. The same will probably happen in the case of the Mate 40, as Huawei is expected to announce both later this year.
Much like the Kirin 990, the Kirin 1000 is expected to include 5G support natively. It will not require an external modem, or anything of the sort.
The Kirin 990 proved to be amongst the best mobile SoCs in the market
The Kirin 990 has proven itself to be one of the best processors on the market. The new Kirin 1000 is expected to continue that tradition. The future or Kirin chips is in question, though, due to the US sanctions.
TSMC will not be able to manufacture processors for Huawei past the ones that have already been ordered, it seems. China did invest $2.2 billion into SMIC recently, an alternative to TSMC, but it’s not the same thing.
Rumors are saying that SMIC cannot manufacture Huawei’s flagship-grade processors. It did already manufacture one Kirin chip, but that was a mid-range processor at best.
In any case, the Kirin 1000 is expected to arrive in September, one year after the Kirin 990. It will probably be announced as part of IFA in Berlin, but we’ll see.