The popularity surge of the Mate 60 series in China likely encouraged Huawei to proceed with three flagship launches belonging to the P70 lineup. Alongside the base version and the ‘Pro’ variant, the former Chinese giant is also said to introduce an ‘Art’ model, and judging by the name, it could sport a unique design and decorated chassis that is befitting of the term ‘art.’ With these three flagships, an analyst claims that Huawei could outsell this year’s P60 range by 100 percent, and it is all thanks to using its own Kirin SoCs.
Analyst leaves out which Kirin chipset Huawei will end up using for the P70 but mentions that all three will be equipped with a periscope camera
Huawei has previously been rumored to have started development on the P70, including securing suppliers for a high refresh rate display, along with a high-frequency PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) dimming feature to reduce eye strain. Sadly, other specifications of the series are unknown at this stage. Even analyst Ming-Chi Kuo did not share the crucial details regarding the hardware but predicts that Largan, the primary periscope lens supplier for the P70 family, will greatly benefit from this launch.
Kuo also mentions that thanks to Huawei switching to its own Kirin chipsets, the P70 lineup will see a 100 percent year-over-year shipment boost over the P60, though the analyst did not mention which Kirin SoC will be used in the three models. Assuming Huawei and SMIC can scale beyond the 7nm technology that was used to mass produce the Kirin 9000S for the Mate 60, we might see a more advanced 5nm chipset for the P70.
However, it remains to be seen if SMIC can procure cutting-edge EUV machinery from Dutch firm ASML, as the U.S. strictly prohibits the latter from supplying high-tech fabrication tools to China. Regardless, it was previously estimated that Huawei would ship around 100 million smartphones in 2024, resulting in a 40 percent increase compared to this year, and that might be due to the company introducing similar Kirin chipsets to entry-level and mid-range handsets.
It remains to be seen how the company proceeds with the P70 launch, but now, with the company regaining some of its lost momentum in 2019, its competitors will keep a close watch on it.
News Source: Ming-Chi Kuo
