Huawei Announces Kirin 990 and Kirin 990 5G: Dual SoC Approach, Integrated 5G Modem

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For the last 3 years, Huawei has announced its next generation SoC at the IFA technology show here in Berlin. In every occasion, the company promotes its hardware, using the latest process technologies, the latest core designs, and its latest connectivity options. The flagship Kirin processor it announces ends up in every major Huawei and Honor smartphone for the next year, and the Kirin 990 family announced today is no different. With the Mate 30 launch happening on September 19th, Huawei lifted the lid on its new flagship chipset, with a couple of twists.

Dual SoC Approach: Kirin 990 (4G) and Kirin 990 5G

As we move into the era of 5G, we have a bifurcated market. On one side we have regions that are not ready for 5G, and consumers there do not want to pay the extra $$ or power or potential compromises in a device in order to support 5G. Other regions are riding the 5G wave, and are on the leading edge, and so might pay the premium. Rather than offer a single solution to both markets, Huawei is for the first time splitting its strategy, with two versions of the Kirin 990.

These versions will officially be known as the Kirin 990 and the Kirin 990 5G. The (4G) I’ve put here is simply to add a differentiator to tell them apart. The two Kirin chipsets are, and a standard base level, pretty much the same. Same core configuration, same camera support, same memory, same storage. However, in a few key areas beyond the modem, there are differences, such as NPU performance and core frequencies. We’ll go into these in a bit. But it is worth highlighting how the Kirin 990 5G version is a vision of the future.
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