Huawei Sends Invite for Keynote on August 31 at IFA 2018; Kirin 980 Chipset Launch Expected
The Kirin 980 is going to be the first chipset from Huawei’s chip manufacturing division HiSilicon to be made on the 7nm process and it is possible that it gets launched on the 31st of August. Huawei Mate 20 could be the first phone to feature this processor.
The Kirin 980 is going to be HiSilicon’s biggest achievement in the semiconductor manufacturing space as it is going to be the first SoC from Huawei’s chip manufacturing division to be made on the 7nm FinFET process. The Chinese giant is now sending out invites for its keynote that is going to be held during the month of August and we can expect a lot of things to happen from this event.
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Huawei Keynote at IFA 2018
The details of the press invite state that the keynote is going to be held on the 31st of August. To remind you, Huawei has always made an appearance at the IFA trade show, which is held in Berlin, Germany. The last time the company made an appearance, it successfully launched the Kirin 970, a 10nm FinFET chipset that is found in devices like the P20 Pro (review), the Honor 10 (review) and more. Now, a brand new chipset is expected to make an appearance very soon and it might also be found in smartphones till the ‘P’ series launching in the year 2019.
Huawei Kirin 980 Chipset Launch Expected
The launch invite will mean that Huawei will want to showcase its premium flagship smartphones but aside from that, the event might also show what the Kirin 980 is all about. This SoC is going to be made using TSMC’s 7nm FinFET technology and will result in at least 20% better performance and up to 40% better energy efficiency. This is going to be extremely beneficial for smartphones featuring this chipset as it can result in improved battery life and a better performance-per-watt ratio.
A previous specifications leak has stated that the CPU running in the Kirin 980 will offer a maximum clock speed of 2.8GHz for the four powerful Cortex-A77 cores. While the speed of the smaller Cortex-A55 is not specified we can expect it to come with a 1.8GHz frequency considering its predecessor was offering the same. Huawei is also reportedly making the use of its own GPU that is said to be 1.5 times faster than the Adreno 630 GPU, a graphics processor currently present in the Snapdragon 845.
The Kirin 970 was the first chipset from Huawei to feature its very own Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and with the Kirin 980, it will reportedly be using the new Cambrian NPU by Cambricon Technologies. The AI-inspired NPU by Cambricon is expected to ship in dual, quad and octa-core variants, depending on the level of AI processing required. It might help significantly in improving the colour science of future cameras found in Huawei-made smartphones, so the images and video that you capture might offer the best form of colour accuracy.
However, the Kirin 980 might not be the first chipset from Huawei to support 5G connectivity. HiSilicon has not made an announcement on why that is but we might be hearing a statement from both parties about this in the future.
Huawei Mate 20 Could Be the First Phone
The first smartphones that might feature the Kirin 980 will be the Mate 20 and the Mate 20 Pro. The Mate 20 or the Mate 20 Pro will reportedly be using a massive 6.9-inch OLED screen that will be manufactured by Samsung, so you can expect phenomenal colour accuracy, viewing angles and maximum brightness levels from the display. It is possible that the Mate 20 features a dual-camera setup while the Mate 20 Pro gets upgraded to a triple-camera unit, just like the P20 Pro.
However, the difference here is that the Mate 20 Pro might feature better camera hardware, which includes a better camera sensor, ISP, DSP and more, which will benefit buyers who like to take images and videos with their mobile phones more often than others. A lot of exciting new features are expected from the upcoming Kirin 980 and we’ll update you with more information if we can prior to the 31st of August.
