Huawei has announced its latest flagship smartphone series, the Mate 60, powered by the in-house Kirin 9000S chip.
This move signifies Huawei’s desire to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm, a significant shift that could potentially lead to substantial losses for the American chipmaker.
Despite facing the ongoing US trade ban, which prohibits Huawei from accessing American 5G technology, the company’s return to using its Kirin silicon demonstrates its determination to remain competitive.
While the Kirin 9000S may not outperform the most potent Snapdragon SoC in terms of performance or efficiency, it could help Huawei regain its footing in the market.
Huawei has been one of Qualcomm’s largest customers for SoCs, even amid the trade ban. In 2022, the company purchased up to 25 million Qualcomm units, with an estimated 40-42 million units planned for 2023.
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However, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that Huawei aims to fully transition to Kirin SoCs by 2024. This transition could result in a substantial loss of around 50 to 60 million shipments for Qualcomm next year, amounting to approximately $10.8 billion in revenue.
While Huawei has not yet indicated plans to supply Kirin SoCs to other Chinese smartphone manufacturers, such a move could pose additional challenges for Qualcomm.
Moreover, Qualcomm faces competition from Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chip in select markets, further intensifying the competition in the chipset industry.
