Huawei unveils the Mate 90 series: the new Kirin 9050 Pro chip with the “LogicFolding” technique in the face of U.S. restrictions

Huawei Technologies unveiled the new Mate 90 smartphone series on Thursday, betting on its own operating system and a redesigned chip architecture, despite U.S. restrictions on advanced semiconductors, as Reuters reports.

The premium models, including the Mate 90 Pro Max, are powered by the Kirin 9050 Pro chip, built with the “LogicFolding” technique — which restructures the chip’s internal wiring in three dimensions, instead of the traditional two-dimensional layout, enabling denser and faster processing, Reuters reports.

Huawei’s consumer business chief, Richard Yu, admitted that “advanced semiconductor capacity remains very limited in China”. He said rising memory prices have added an average of $200 to the cost of each phone and that the company is raising prices, but at a slower pace, according to Reuters.

The new phones run on HarmonyOS 7, without Android, and offer more than 450,000 applications, Reuters reports. The series’ official price has not yet been revealed.

Data from research firm IDC, cited by Reuters, show that smartphone shipments in China fell 7% year-on-year during the January–August period, while Huawei’s shipments rose by 13%. Meanwhile, the average smartphone price rose 11.3%, reaching $543.

Yu added that Chinese production still depends on DUV lithography and warned that Huawei will use more chips with the LogicFolding technique in the future. He also commented on Apple’s entry into the foldable phone market with the iPhone Duo, Reuters concludes.