Huawei smartphone chips no longer top secret as stores have green light to tell customers
- Employees said some stores still do not have enough from Mate 60 series, sign that supply-chain woes continue despite lower demand
Huawei Technologies’ distributors have started giving customers details of the processor used inside the company’s flagship smartphones, even though the US-sanctioned tech giant remains mum on the subject.
Staff at Huawei stores in Beijing now inform consumers that the chipset in the company’s flagship Mate 60 series is the HiSilicon Kirin 9000s, an in-house design, even though the information is not displayed publicly or anywhere on the smartphone.
Huawei has remained tight-lipped over its 5G chip, which surprised the market when it was launched in August 2023 because it was not supposed to be possible amid US sanctions. A third-party teardown analysis found that the 7-nanometre chip was the Kirin 9000s, even though Huawei has never officially confirmed that information.
The breakthrough fanned nationalist pride in China and helped Huawei regain its market relevance in the country’s huge smartphone market. At the same time, supply of the advanced chip remains tight given that it cannot be fabricated by overseas wafer foundries.
Employees in Huawei’s Beijing outlets said some stores still do not have sufficient stock of the Mate 60 series, a sign that the supply-chain woes continue even as demand for the phones has ebbed from the initial launch in August last year.
