Huawei unveils 5G Mate 40 flagship smartphones as chip supply constraints loom
- The new Mate 40, Mate 40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro+ smartphones are powered by Huawei’s own Kirin 9000 series system-on-a-chip
- Pre-orders for the Mate 40 line starts on the mainland and selected markets on October 23, with prices from US$1,065
Huawei Technologies has introduced its latest 5G flagship smartphone line, the Mate 40 series, indicating China’s largest tech company is pushing ahead despite the impact of US trade sanctions on the supply of chips for its biggest business.
“Each year, the Huawei Mate series brings the most exciting technology together into one stunning package,” said Richard Yu Chengdong, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, at the start of the online product launch held on Thursday.
Huawei’s new smartphones – the Mate 40, Mate 40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro+ – run the company’s own Kirin 9000 series system-on-a-chip (SOC), which it described as “capable of handling intensive computations and multitasking operations”. It said the world’s first 5-nanometre 5G SOC is packed with more than 15.3 billion transistors and increased power efficiency to handle on-device artificial intelligence.
Yu, however, later reiterated that Huawei was still operating “in a very difficult time” because of the recent US sanctions, which could potentially cut off the firm’s supply of advanced chips.
Washington requires foreign chip suppliers that use US technology to apply for a licence to sell chips to Shenzhen-based Huawei over security concerns. It essentially chokes off the company’s ability to acquire any off-the-shelf chips developed or produced using US technology.