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Dozens of Huawei and Honor devices with Kirin processors can now be bootloader unlocked
Using this open-source tool, you can now unlock the bootloader of several HiSilicon Kirin-powered Huawei and Honor devices. Check it out!
Back in 2018, Huawei caused a massive uproar in the enthusiast community when the Chinese OEM revealed that there won’t be any official bootloader unlock method for its devices. The policy was a pretty big blow to the aftermarket development and modding scene, as the lack of official support for bootloader unlocking would greatly limit the customization potential of Huawei devices. Although Honor, Huawei’s former sub-brand, started offering bootloader unlock codes via authorized service centers on a limited trial, there's only one practical way to unlock the bootloader of your Huawei or Honor device: third-party paid services. These services certainly care about keeping their customers happy, but the one thing that holds us back from recommending them is the inability to audit their methods. Enter PotatoNV — an open-source bootloader unlocker for select Huawei/Honor smartphones.
Report: More phones with MediaTek chips shipped in Q3 2020 than with Qualcomm chips
MediaTek was the biggest supplier of mobile chipsets in Q3 2020 beating Qualcomm that came in at a close second position.
MediaTek beat Qualcomm to become the world’s largest mobile chipset vendor in Q3 2020. Having a market share of 31%, the company took a formidable leap alongside the recovering smartphone market this year. Other factors for the chip maker's growth are being attributed to strong performance in the $100 to $250 price segment as well as growth in key regions including India and China.
Qualcomm reportedly wants to sell its 5G Snapdragon chips to Huawei
Qualcomm is reportedly lobbying to allow it to sell Snapdragon 5G SoCs to Huawei, in light of the recent political moves that will stop use of Kirin SoCs.
Last week, Huawei dropped an ominous announcement that the Huawei Mate 40 will likely be the last smartphone with a HiSilicon Kirin chip. Contract chipmakers have been barred from using US-developed tech to fabricate chips for Huawei after September 15, 2020, thus effectively barring TSMC from fabricating Kirin chipsets. Now, it appears that Qualcomm is lobbying for a license to sell its 5G Snapdragon SoCs to Huawei for use in its flagships and other lineups.
The Huawei Mate 40 may be the last smartphone with a HiSilicon Kirin chip
The Huawei Mate 40 may be the last smartphone to be released with a HiSilicion Kirin chipset. What could this mean for the future of Huawei?
The Huawei Mate 40 is just around the corner. Leaked renders have shown what could potentially be the next smartphone camera powerhouse, even though it won't pack Google Mobile Services. At an event in China, however, Richard Yu, President of the Huawei Consumer Business Group, told attendees that the Huawei Mate 40 will be equipped with a HiSilicon Kirin chipset. However, it may end up being the last Huawei-branded smartphone to do so.
Huawei HiSilicon's new 14nm Kirin 710A chip was manufactured by Shanghai-based SMIC
The first Huawei HiSilicon Kirin chip to be made by Shanghai-based SMIC instead of Taiwan-based TSMC, the Kirin 710A, has achieved mass production.
By now, most readers should be well familiar with the Huawei-US trade ban saga. The story started back in May 2019, when Huawei was placed on the U.S. Entity List by the U.S. Commerce Department as a part of the U.S.-China trade war. Since that time, Huawei has noticeably struggled to rise above an existential threat to its international smartphone business, as it has not been able to use Google Mobile Services (GMS) on any new phone launches containing new chips. The company has been forced to re-brand pre-existing products, with bizarre results such as the Huawei P30 Pro New Edition and a series of re-hashed budget phone launches in India and Europe. There have been U-turns and political drama, but the company's presence on the Entity List has endured even after a full year. More worryingly for the company, the U.S. administration has since escalated a things further by targeting Taiwan-based TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor fabrication company, in an effort to force it to stop manufacturing chips for Huawei. If it's successful in doing that, Huawei will face of a crisis of survival as all HiSilicon chips have, up until now, been fabricated by TSMC.
Samsung became the third largest smartphone SoC vendor globally in 2019
According to a report by Counterpoint Research, Samsung became the largest smartphone application processor vendor globally in 2019.
Qualcomm has been the dominant player in the smartphone SoC vendor market for much of the last decade. MediaTek has long performed the role of providing cheaper SoCs in the smartphone market. Samsung and Huawei's HiSilicon, on the other hand, make custom SoCs that are intended for use in their own smartphones. Samsung System LSI's Exynos SoCs were used only by Samsung Mobile's phones, for example, while HiSilicon's Kirin chips are used in Huawei and Honor phones. In 2019, this equation changed as Samsung System LSI started selling Exynos chips to other vendors such as Motorola and Vivo. This has helped the company achieve the position of being the third largest smartphone application processor (AP) vendor globally in 2019, according to a report by Counterpoint Research.
Huawei launches new mid-range HiSilicon Kirin 820 5G platform
At the recently concluded Honor 30S launch event, Huawei officially showcased its new mid-range HiSilicon Kirin 820 5G platform.
Earlier this month, a 3C certification listing of the Honor 30S suggested that the smartphone might be the first from the company to feature Huawei's all-new HiSilicon Kirin 820 5G platform. At the time, we had no information about the new chipset from the company, except for the fact that it would be a mid-range chip with 5G support. Now, at the recently concluded Honor 30S launch event in China, the company has finally announced the new Kirin 820 5G chipset.
[Update 12: Futurewei Distances Itself] Hardware suppliers, chip designers, and standards organizations suspend business with Huawei
Many leading hardware suppliers, chip designers, and standards organizations are suspending business with Huawei due to the US-China trade war.
The ongoing trade war between the United States and China has resulted in another stunning development. The BBC is reporting that semiconductor IP company ARM has suspended business with Huawei. Huawei's chip designs use a lot of ARM's IP, so Huawei faces yet another significant setback in its path to becoming the number 1 smartphone vendor in the world.
Huawei P20, Huawei Nova 3, and Honor Play delisted from 3DMark for benchmark cheating
A report states Huawei has been found cheating in benchmarks. UL delisted the Huawei P20/P20 Pro, Huawei Nova 3, and Honor Play from 3DMark in response.
Benchmarks have always been a popular way to measure the performance of hardware, both in the PC and mobile space. Benchmark cheating occurs when a device maker unfairly tries to game a benchmark by making the results score better than they actually are. Cheating can happen in any benchmark tests including those that measure the CPU, system, or GPU performances. The obvious goal of cheating at benchmarks is so customers will be convinced that product A is better than product B. Unfortunately, this means that underlying weaknesses in hardware are masked by cheating. Put simply, it's a lose-lose situation for all parties involved in the industry: chip vendors, device makers, and most of all, end-consumers.
HiSilicon Kirin 980 is built with a 7nm process, has 4 x Cortex-A76 and 4 x Cortex-A55 CPUs, the Mali-G76 GPU, and dual NPUs
Huawei's announced the HiSilicon Kirin 980. The Kirin 980 will power the Honor Magic 2, the Huawei Mate 20, and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. Learn about it here.
Although they're present at this year's IFA in Berlin, Chinese technology giant Huawei doesn't have a new flagship smartphone to announce. Instead, they're announcing the HiSilicon Kirin 980 system-on-chip—their latest chipset that will power future Huawei and Honor flagship smartphones like the Honor Magic 2, Huawei Mate 20, and Huawei Mate 20 Pro. Huawei's Kirin 980 is the first at a lot of things: It's the first commercially available chipset to be manufactured on TSMC's 7nm process, the first to embed ARM's Cortex-A76 CPU cores, the first to feature dual NPUs, and the first to support Cat. 21 LTE. Let's break down each aspect of this new chipset to better understand the latest offering from HiSilicon.
Last week, we exclusively reported full specifications and press renders of the Huawei Nova 3. The Huawei Nova series is Huawei's mid-range smartphone series, and the Nova 3 series slots up below the Huawei Mate 10 series as well as the Huawei P20 and the Huawei P20 Pro. The Huawei Nova 3 went up for pre-order in China before its official launch, and now the company has revealed its pricing. The Huawei Nova 3i, a "lite" variant of the Nova 3, has also been made official.
Huawei P20 Pro Review: A Low-Light Photography Master
This is XDA's in-depth review of the Huawei P20 Pro, covering aspects such as display quality, real world performance, camera evaluation, and more.
The Huawei P20 Pro is Huawei’s most ambitious phone yet. The company has been steadily climbing the ranks of Android device makers, to the point where it is now the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor. In China, the company is in first place, while in Europe, it is a rising star. Despite experiencing trouble competing in the US smartphone market, Huawei remains in a very comfortable position in other international markets.
Geekbench 4: How The Processor Ranking Changed Under the New, More Accurate Benchmark
GeekBench 4 has changed its algorithms to deliver more accurate, representative results. Find out how the chipset ranking has changed under the benchmark!
Geekbench 4 has been released, and we’ve seen a bit of a rebalancing of scores. Some chips have seen their scores rise, while others have fallen drastically. With Geekbench 4, Primate Labs have attempted to create the most accurate version of Geekbench yet, and they seem to have done a fantastic job.