Huawei has unveiled its latest SoC at IFA 2018, the Kirin 980. Debuting as the first ever 7nm mobile processor, the chip is stunningly small for packing an array of impressive features.
Huawei has unveiled its latest SoC at IFA 2018, the Kirin 980. Debuting as the first ever 7nm mobile processor, the chip is stunningly small for packing an array of impressive features.
Based on the ARM Cortex-A76 and Mali-G76, the Kirin 980 also includes a Cat.21 modem to reach speeds of up to 1.4 gigabits per second on cellular networks. As the first mobile SoC paired with 2,133MHz LPDDR4X RAM, the Kirin 980 is going to put up some impressive performance in memory intensive tasks.
On top of containing the fastest modem for cellular data, the Kirin 980 also features the fastest Wi-Fi available for smartphones. Rated for speeds of up to 1,732Mbps, the Snapdragon 845 falls short at just 866Mbps. Even using a third-party modem still only allows Qualcomm’s solution to reach 1,083Mbps.
Compared to Huawei’s last generation of chips, the Kirin 980 is said to achieve a 20 percent improvement in performance, while reducing power consumption by 40 percent. Huawei claims to have gone through over 5,000 prototypes to achieve these gains.
Going head to head with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845, the Kirin 980 is said to have 20 percent more memory bandwidth with 22 percent less latency. For gamers, the Kirin 980 pumps out around 22 percent more frames than a Snapdragon 845 while using more than 30 percent less power.
A double neural network processing unit has been added for faster image processing. With the help of the dual NPU, an AI image recognition engine can scan through 4,500 images per minute. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 can only go through around 2,400 images while Apple’s A11 scrapes by at just under 1,500 images per minute.
The only advantage that Qualcomm has at this point is that its products are actually being used in smartphones that are currently on the market. Huawei does not have any devices that are currently being sold with the Kirin 980. However, that is all about to change with the launch of the Mate 20 and the Honor Magic 2.
Huawei’s Mate 20 is set to be announced on October 16 while the Magic 2 is expected at some point before the end of the year.
Image Credit: Ian Cutress
