Huawei launches 990 Kirin chip and Freebuds 3 earphones

Huawei’s got a new smartphone chip, but don’t ask the company about smartphones. 

That was roughly the gist of Huawei’s media briefing ahead of the IFA trade show in Berlin. The company detailed its new smartphone chip, the Kirin 990, as well as the latest iteration of its AirPods-like earphones, the Freebuds 3. But questions about any other products — including the Mate X, which was at one point scheduled to be launched in September, as well as the Mate 30, which is scheduled to launch in two weeks, were not allowed. 

It’s not hard to imagine why Huawei was reluctant to talk about smartphones. Under pressure from the U.S. trade ban, the company likely still isn’t sure to what extent it’ll be able to use Google’s products and services in upcoming Android phones. Word on the street is that the Mate 30 series will launch with Android but without Google Play, which would essentially ruin that device for most users outside of China. 

This increasingly messy situation is a real pity, because Huawei’s new chip will probably be one of the best around. Built with a 7nm process, it’s got both a powerful AI chip and a 5G chip built in, which Huawei claims is a world first. The company promises 9 percent better single core performance and 10 percent better multi-core performance compared to the previous version. According to Huawei, it also offers 6 percent better graphics performance than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855, while running 20 percent more efficiently. And it also brings some cool image processing tricks to the table, such as “DSLR-level” image noise reduction. 

The chip will likely power both the new Mate X and the Mate 30 Pro but, again, there was no mention of either phone during the presentation. 

Huawei also showed off its new Kirin A1 mobile audio chip — again, similar to what Apple’s doing with its W1 chip — which provides for faster Bluetooth connection with lower power consumption and lower latency. 

The first product to feature the chip will be the new Huawei Freebuds 3, wireless earbuds with a portable charging case and active noise cancellation. They charge fast and offer four hours on one charge, which extends to 20 hours with the juice from the charging case. I’ve tried them out and they sound great, though some of the functions (like tapping twice on the bud to activate/deactivate ANC) didn’t work well on multiple units, so Huawei may need to iron out the kinks on these a little before launching them. 

There’s nothing wrong with any of these products — in fact, they sound like they might give the competitors a run for their money. But they’re all far less compelling without a powerful smartphone flagship to tie it all together, and we’ll have to wait a few more weeks to see whether Huawei can overcome all the obstacles and offer a good product.