Huawei has officially unveiled the Mate 60 Pro, and to everyone’s surprise, Huawei also introduced the Kirin 9000s SoC alongside the smartphone launch. Naturally, this raises numerous questions about how Huawei managed to develop this SoC amid ongoing sanctions imposed by the United States.
Collaboration with SMIC
According to reports from the South China Morning Post, Huawei is believed to have entered into a partnership with SMIC (Semiconductor International Manufacturing Corp) to work on the new Kirin 9000s SoC.
Previously, Huawei had consistently collaborated with TSMC for the production of Kirin SoCs. However, due to the sanctions levied against Huawei by the US, TSMC can no longer assist them in this regard.
It is rumored that SMIC has manufactured the Kirin 9000s 5G using a 7nm second-generation lithography process, known as Node N+2, as indicated by research firm TechInsights. Nevertheless, no official statement has been released by either Huawei or SMIC regarding the production of the Kirin 9000s 5G.
Kirin 9000s 5G Specifications
The specifications of the Kirin 9000s SoC remain somewhat shrouded in mystery. According to SparrowNews, various benchmarking applications have reported different configurations for this SoC.
Some of the configurations include:
- AnTuTu Benchmark identifies the Kirin 9000s as having a 12-core design, comprising 2 A34 cores, 6 custom A78AE cores, and 4 A510 cores. This chip boasts a maximum frequency of 2.62GHz and features a new Maleoon-910 GPU running at 750MHz.
- Geekbench and HW Info suggest that the Kirin 9000s employs a three-cluster architecture with eight cores. It comprises 1 core clocked at 2.62GHz, 3 cores at 2.15GHz, and 4 cores at 1.53GHz. It also utilizes the Maleoon-910 GPU and operates on HarmonyOS 4.0 based on Android 12.
- Some third-party applications have identified a two-cluster architecture with 4 cores at 2.15GHz and 4 smaller cores at 1.53GHz. This configuration also uses the Maleoon-910 GPU with a clock speed of 750MHz.
There is no definitive confirmation regarding the accurate configuration as Huawei has yet to officially disclose it. However, the most plausible configuration appears to be an Octa-Core CPU featuring 1x Core at 2.6GHz, 3x Cores at 2.15GHz, and 4x Cores at 2.15GHz, along with a Maleoon 910 GPU running at 750MHz.
Benchmark Scores
Huawei has introduced the Mate 60 Pro as its flagship smartphone, and naturally, there is curiosity about its performance compared to other flagship smartphones equipped with the latest SoCs.
In AnTuTu benchmark scores, the Mate 60 Pro approaches the 700,000 mark. Meanwhile, in Geekbench testing, the Single Core score reaches 1337, and the Multi Core score achieves 4033.
This indicates that in terms of performance, the Mate 60 Pro with the Kirin 9000s 5G SoC remains competitive, approaching the level of the Snapdragon 888, a flagship SoC from Qualcomm introduced nearly three years ago. While it may still trail behind flagship SoCs like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Dimensity 9200, it represents a significant improvement over the original Kirin 9000, which delivered performance similar to the Snapdragon 865.
Although it may not yet rival the top-tier performers, Huawei’s determination to launch new smartphone products and develop its own SoC amidst formidable sanctions deserves commendation.
