Leaks surrounding the upcoming HUAWEI Mate 70 series have revealed some exciting details, including a new camera island design. However, the spotlight is now on the new Kirin 9100 chipset, which will power the next-generation Mate 70 smartphones. Here’s a closer look at the chipset’s specifications and what it means for HUAWEI fans.
Kirin 9100: A Step Up, but Still Behind in the Race
Manufactured on a 6nm process node (SMIC N+3), the Kirin 9100 is a noticeable upgrade over the 7nm Kirin 9000S used in the Mate 60 series. While it marks a step forward for HUAWEI, it still falls behind the more advanced nodes available to other chipset makers. The chip is expected to offer better performance, though it won’t be on par with the latest flagships from competitors.
New ARM-Based CPU Design
One of the standout features of the Kirin 9100 is its shift to an all-ARM CPU architecture. For the first time, the Kirin family will feature a Cortex-X CPU core. The chip’s core configuration will include:
| Kirin 9000S | Kirin 9100 (rumored) | |
|---|---|---|
| Node | 7nm | 6nm |
| CPU, big | 1x Taishan Big @ 2.62GHz | Cortex-X1 @ 2.67GHz |
| CPU, mid | 3x Taishan Mid @ 2.15GHz | Cortex-A78 @ 2.32GHz |
| CPU, small | 4x Cortex-A510 @ 1.53GHz | Cortex-A55 @ 2.02GHz |
| GPU | Maleoon 910 MP4 | Maleoon 910? |
This is a departure from the Kirin 9000S, which used HiSilicon’s custom-designed Taishan cores for the big and mid cores, along with Cortex-A510 small cores. The new design should help improve performance, but it still lags behind in terms of cutting-edge CPU cores.
The GPU in the Kirin 9100 is listed as “Mali-TBEX,” though it is speculated that it could be a custom Maleoon design from HiSilicon, similar to what was seen in the Kirin 9000S and 9010. Despite these improvements, the GPU is expected to be less powerful than those found in competing chipsets like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon and MediaTek’s Dimensity series.
Impact of US Sanctions on HUAWEI’s Chipsets
Due to ongoing US sanctions, HUAWEI’s HiSilicon division is unable to access newer Cortex designs and more advanced semiconductor nodes, which limits the performance and innovation of its Kirin chips. This has resulted in a significant gap between HUAWEI’s chips and those of its competitors, which continue to push the envelope with cutting-edge technology.
While the Kirin 9100 chip is expected to bring a solid performance boost over the previous generation, it still falls short of the power seen in modern Android chipsets. The Mate 70 series will likely feature improved efficiency and solid mid-range performance, but it remains to be seen if it can compete with the flagship devices from other manufacturers.
With the Kirin 9100 powering the HUAWEI Mate 70 series, we can expect a capable smartphone experience, but it will still face challenges in keeping up with the latest trends in the mobile industry.
Pokdepinion: While I don’t expect them to wow people much for now, I do believe we will see something major among HiSilicon chips soon, perhaps by end 2025 or early 2026.
