Huawei P70 with Kirin 9010 and new ultrawide camera
According to two new leaks about the Huawei P70 series, the Chinese company’s upcoming flagships will have a new chipset from HiSilicon with the provisional name Kirin 9010 and a new ultra-wide camera. The chip in question has not yet been officially announced, but it has been in the works for a long time. The name Kirin 9010 first appeared three years ago. At the time it was said that it would be a state-of-the-art 3Nm processor. TSMC was considered the most likely manufacturer. However, due to the ongoing trade restrictions on Huawei, the case now sounds rather unlikely.
Last week we heard that Huawei notebooks were shipping with Kirin 9006C chips from TSMC. However, it later turned out that these were old stocks. SMIC makes 7nm chips like the Kirin 9000, but they perform worse than TSMC’s 5nm node in terms of performance. SMIC is also likely working on a 3nm node, although mass production will likely take years.
Huawei may simply be reusing the Kirin 9010 name. As long as the trade restrictions continue, this is probably the most likely scenario. The company registered a trademark for the name back in 2021 and planned to begin production in 2022. However, for unknown reasons, this plan failed.
Huawei will reportedly bring back 5G connectivity with the P70 series. There are also rumors that the P70 Art’s ultra-wide camera will have a 1-inch sensor and a high-quality 1G6P lens (with one glass element, six plastic elements). We also already heard rumors that Huawei develops its own sensors, which will premiere with the P70 series in March.
Huawei wants to finally build on previous global successes with the P70 series. 5G connectivity is mandatory with this plan and having your own camera sensors doesn’t hurt either. The camera system will utilize the XMAGE platform, including a custom NPU. The ultra-wide camera will reportedly be a key part of the upgrades.
