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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.
Huawei Mate 40 with new 5nm Kirin SoC with integrated 5G modem rumored for launch in October 2020
Huawei intends to persevere, as the company is rumored to be preparing to launch the Mate 40 series with a 5nm Kirin SoC in October 2020.
Huawei is still pushing forward with new smartphone launches and other launches, despite having all odds stacked against itself. Last year, the company launched the Huawei Mate 30 series, the first smartphones from the company that, as a direct result of U.S. trade sanctions, didn’t ship with Google Mobile Services preloaded. Earlier this year, they followed up with the Huawei P40 series, a trio of smartphones that packed even more bleeding-edge features like 10X optical zoom and 40W wireless charging (in the Pro+ model). We're expecting the Chinese OEM to unveil the new Huawei Mate 40 series, and rumors suggest that these could come to us as early as next month.
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.
[Update: Huawei's statement] US blocks many chip makers from supplying HiSilicon Kirin SoCs to Huawei
The US Gov is moving to block many chip makers from supplying HiSilicon Kirin SoCs to Huawei. This puts the company in a much tigher situation.
It's been one year since Huawei was placed on the U.S. Commerce Department's Entity List, barring U.S. based companies from doing business with Huawei and its fully-owned subsidiaries. That ban has never been in full effect as the U.S. keeps extending Huawei's Temporary General License, allowing them to keep their licenses to distribute Google Mobile Services on devices introduced before the ban. The main result of that ban has been that Huawei can't ship new smartphones (even under its Honor sub-brand) with Google Mobile Services, and that will remain true until at least May 2021. Now, the U.S. Government is escalating trade restrictions even further by moving to block many chip makers from supplying HiSilicon Kirin SoCs to Huawei.
[Update: May move forward] U.S. Government considers blocking TSMC from making chips for Huawei
Huawei could be in serious trouble as the US government is considering blocking TSMC from producing Kirin chips for Huawei. Read on to know more!
For close to a year, Huawei has been trying to stay competitive despite dire US sanctions hitting them very hard for certain regions. The company was placed on the Department of Commerce's Entity List, meaning that US companies are barred from exporting products to Huawei. This sole fact by itself is already pretty devastating, as Huawei is blocked from conducting any business with Google, the company behind Android development and Google Play services (software is also considered an export), as well as with companies like Qualcomm. But for the most part, the company has managed to stay afloat, mainly in part thanks to the fact that they can source most of their components from places outside the US and they have access to Android since it's open-source software.
[Update: Watch GT 2 launch date] Huawei Kirin A1, Huawei’s first dedicated chipset for wearables, will launch in India next month
Huawei Watch GT 2 with Kirin A1 chispet will launch in India on December 5, 2019; the FreeBuds 3 and other wearables to follow.
Huawei launches the P Smart 2019 in the UK
Huawei has launched the Huawei P Smart 2019 in the UK at a starting price of £149. It features a Kirin 710 system-on-chip and 3GB of RAM.
Huawei is one of the top smartphone manufacturers in the world, and they're going into 2019 fully ready to take the throne. We initially learned from our sources that the Huawei P Smart 2019 was coming to Europe as a successor to the mid-range P Smart that launched at the start of last year, but there was no information as to when. Shortly after, we learned that the device had launched in Ukraine at a starting price of around €205. Finally, the company has now announced its launch in the UK, and it will be available for purchase from most retailers on January 10th at a starting price of £149.
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.
Honor Note 10 is a massive 6.9-inch smartphone
Honor is one of the companies that stays on top of the leading trends and they have officially launched the Honor Note 10 with a whopping 6.9-inch display.
People have been complaining about smartphones getting bigger and bigger for years. Some like the ability to reach all major portions of the screen when holding the device in one hand. Others are using their phones more and more for TV, movie, and gaming consumption so they prefer the bigger screens. This trend seemed to reach a certain plateau until companies moved away from the 16:9 aspect ratio and now it's happening again with the slimming down of the bezels. Honor is certainly one of the companies that stays on top of the leading trends and they have officially launched the Honor Note 10 with a whopping 6.9-inch display.
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 camera app ported for the Honor 9 Lite and other Kirin 659 phones
The Huawei P20 camera app has been ported for devices with the Kirin 659 like the Honor 9 Lite. This is great for those using a custom ROM.
Huawei and Honor devices are set to be locked down entirely next week starting July 22nd, but it's still not too late to unlock your bootloader. Once you unlock your bootloader, you open up the possibility to install custom ROMs such as LineageOS or Resurrection Remix on Project Treble-supported devices. We reviewed the Honor 9 Lite running a pure AOSP ROM a few months ago, and the performance improvement was night and day between AOSP and EMUI. However, the biggest problem with these AOSP ROMs is the camera performance which this port of the Huawei P20 camera app aims to solve.
Honor Play unveiled with "GPU Turbo" tech for gaming, Honor 9i mid-range announced too
Honor has just announced 2 new phones, the mid-range Honor 9i and the Honor Play with a feature called "GPU Turbo" to improve the mobile gaming experience.
We're starting to see smartphone companies create devices with a major emphasis on mobile gaming. Razer released a smartphone dedicated to gaming and ASUS just announced the ROG Phone, which again, is being marketed toward gamers. Honor has just announced two new phones, the mid-range Honor 9i and the Honor Play with a new feature called "GPU Turbo" that helps improve the mobile gaming experience. The company has also revealed how this GPU Turbo feature works and the list of other Honor devices that will receive the feature in a future update.
Kirin 970 SoC Said to be Announced Tomorrow at IFA Berlin 2017
The Chinese company, Huawei, are set to announce their new Kirin 970 SoC at IFA Berlin 2017 tomorrow, with many improvements and a focus on AI.
Huawei is set to announce their new Kirin 970 SoC tomorrow at IFA Berlin 2017, according to a report from the German news website WinFuture.de.
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.