At IFA 2019 in Berlin this week, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) Richard Yu unveiled the 5G version of the flagship Kirin 990 processor series.
“Kirin 990 (5G) is the world’s first 5G system on a chip (SoC), and it will enable users to access superb 5G connectivity experience one step ahead in the first year of 5G commercialisation,” he said. “To meet users’ requirements for enhanced 5G experiences in the 5G era, Kirin 990 (5G) has been fully upgraded in terms of performance and power efficiency, AI computing, and ISP.”
Kirin 990, which was unveiled with Kirin 990 (5G), is also designed to improve performance, energy efficiency, AI capabilities, and photography.
With the cutting-edge 7 nm+ EUV manufacturing process, Kirin 990 (5G) is integrated with a 5G modem, achieving a smaller area and lower power consumption. It is the first full-frequency 5G SoC to support both non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) architectures as well as TDD/FDD full frequency bands, enabling it to accommodate hardware requirements under diverse networks and networking modes. Based on Balong 5000’s 5G connectivity capability, Kirin 990 (5G) provides a peak downlink rate of 2.3 Gbit/s and an uplink peak rate of 1.25 Gbit/s.
In terms of CPU, Kirin 990 features a three-level power efficiency structure, comprising two ultra-large cores, two large cores, and four small cores, with a dominant frequency up to 2.86 GHz. In addition, Kirin 990 uses a 16-core Mali-G76 GPU and the new system-level Smart Cache for intelligent flow distribution, which can effectively save bandwidth and lower power consumption. For gaming experiences, Kirin 990 (5G) supports an upgraded Kirin Gaming+ 2.0 that enables efficient collaboration between hardware infrastructure and solutions, offering industry-leading smooth and fast gaming experience.
Click here to read about the photography improvements this chipset will provide, as well as about the new P30 Pro.
Photography Experience
Kirin 990 (5G) provides a new ISP 5.0 that pioneers block-matching and 3D filtering (BM3D) professional-level hardware noise reduction (NR) for capturing brighter and sharper images in low light environments. It is also the first to use dual-domain video NR for more accurate noise processing for videos. The real-time video post-processing and rendering based on AI segmentation can adjust the image colour frame by frame to bring cinematic quality.
New P30 Pro
Huawei also unveiled the newly designed P30 Pro, already one of Huawei’s most popular flagship smartphones. The upgraded Huawei P30 Pro continues the P series’ graceful design and innovative imaging technology, and offers two designs and colours created by a matte surface sanding process. They are a deep, Mystic Blue reminiscent of the sky reflecting the sea, and Misty Lavender, akin to a beach under the sunset.
The newly upgraded photography and video editing features provide superior function across the visual arts, while the new EMUI 10 offers the user a new level of smooth and smart life experience.
FreeBuds 3 arrive
Richard Yu also showcased Huawei FreeBuds 3, the new flagship wireless earphones of the year. It uses a delicate earphone design and comes with a round case. Huawei FreeBuds 3 provides users with more comfortable wearing experience and a good grip. It has two colour options: black and white. As the first wireless earphones running on Huawei’s self-developed and powerful Kirin A1 chip, FreeBuds 3 provides stable and fast connectivity, impressive sound quality and smart noise-canceling experience. It’s the world’s first open wireless earphone that provides real active noise canceling performance.