Huawei at IFA 2019 in Berlin took the wraps off of its next-gen mobile processor, the Kirin 990 system-on-chip (SoC) that will power the Mate 30 phones, including the Mate 30 Pro that could be the most important iPhone 11 rival launching this year.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Huawei is repeating what it did 2018, when it announced the world’s first 7nm chip at the same trade show, just a few days before Apple unveiled its own 7nm A12 chip that ended up powering all 2018 iPhones and new iPad Pros, the latter ended up being the world’s first commercial 7nm chip. The Kirin 990 marks a couple of first for Huawei as well, one of which Apple won’t be able to match.
The new silicon will be manufactured on the 7nm EUV process, with TSMC handling orders for Huawei. That’s the same technology the A13 uses, according to reports, with the iPhone 11 processor also expected to feature TSMC-manufactured chips. Just like last year, the A13 will hit the market before the Kirin 990, as the Mate 30 series will be unveiled on September 19th (a week after the iPhone 11).