Huawei’s Own New Chip Is Powering Mate 90

Huawei has debuted its Mate 90 smartphone series, emphasizing its latest proprietary semiconductor architecture. The Mate 90 lineup consists of four models operating on HarmonyOS 7, which the firm claims supports over 450,000 applications and services.

Pricing begins at CNY5,999 ($895) for the standard Mate 90, while the high-end Mate 90 RS Ultimate Design is priced at CNY12,999. The premium iterations utilize Huawei’s Kirin 9050 Pro chipset, which the company asserts provides a 31% performance improvement over the previous generation. The processor integrates Huawei’s LogicFolding technology, which vertically restructures chip wiring to achieve higher processing density, shorter critical paths, and reduced latency.

Richard Yu, Huawei’s Executive Director and Consumer Business Chief, explained that the technology was developed in response to international restrictions on advanced semiconductor manufacturing. “Our LogicFolding technology is just an approach we adopt to improve our capabilities when our access to certain technology is restricted,” he stated. Yu also noted that production capacity for advanced semiconductors in China remains constrained, exacerbated by a sharp increase in memory component pricing over the last two years.

He further revealed that rising component costs have added more than $200 to the manufacturing cost of each device, placing pressure on the company's profit margins. “Moving forward, we will have to increase our prices, too,” Yu concluded.