Huawei launches new 5G smartphones with advanced chips ‘sealed’ in secret

In an unexpected move, the Huawei Technologies surprised the smartphone market by announcing, at the end of August, the launch of new models Mate 60 Pro 5G e Mate 60 Pro+.

The revelation came months after statements that the production of new 5G smartphones would depend on the approval of the US Department of Commerce.

During the company’s annual conference in March held in Shenzhen, Vice President Eric Xu Zhijun expressed to those present, including journalists, analysts and customers, that the production of new 5G smartphones was pending the US license for the use of 5G chips.

“We can produce 5G smartphones when they license 5G chips to us,” Xu said at the time.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, was present and reacted with a smile to Xu’s statements. Until then, the Mate 40 series, launched in October 2020, represented the company’s last line of 5G smartphones.

Contrary to expectations, Huawei began a discreet pre-sale campaign for the Mate 60 Pro 5G in late August, followed by another pre-sale for the Mate 60 Pro+ a week later.

The timing of these campaigns coincided with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to China, where working groups were established to facilitate bilateral communication despite Washington’s maintenance of export controls.

The most notable aspect of the new devices is the Kirin 9000s processor, developed by HiSilicon, Huawei’s chip design unit. This chip was first spotted by benchmarking site AnTuTu, raising questions about how and where it was developed under the harsh trade sanctions imposed by the US.

Huawei has not officially commented on speculation surrounding the origin of the new chip. Investigations into the circumstances of its production continue, and the market awaits more details about how the company managed to circumvent restrictions to launch its new 5G products.

With information from SCMP