Huawei launches another 7nm processor to compete with Qualcomm's mid-range products?

Recently, facing the "ban" and "suppression" in the United States and other regions, Huawei's overseas smartphone shipments are expected to face a sharp decline. In order to completely offset the impact of the overseas decline, Huawei needs to come up with more competitive products to promote channel and market development. Huawei's "spare tire" systems and chips have surfaced one after another.

The biggest highlight of the Kirin 810 released this time is that it is built based on TSMC's 7nm process . Currently, TSMC's EUV ultraviolet lithography process 7nm has not yet been mass-produced, so the Kirin 810 will use the most advanced process in the world. Compared with Samsung's 8nm process, the performance is improved by 10% and the energy efficiency is improved by 20% .

Kirin 810 uses the flagship A76 large core , which consists of 2 high-performance large cores (Cortex A76) + 6 high-efficiency small cores (Cortex A55), the CPU main frequency is 2.27GHz, and the customized GPU is Mali-G52.

NPU的升级也是麒麟810的一大关注点。麒麟搭载的是去年推出的华为自研AI芯片昇腾310。其主要特色是 基于达芬奇架构 ，算子多达240+，FP16精度、INT8量化精度业界领先，可以总结为能效高，算子多，精度高。现场公布的数据显示，其AI跑分超过3.2万分，超过了高通骁龙855和骁龙730，甚至领先高通旗舰处理器骁龙855多达17%。

In terms of communication, Kirin 810 supports dual-SIM dual standby, which allows one-SIM VoLTE and one-SIM 4G Internet access, which is something that Apple A12, Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon 730 cannot do. Making VoLTE calls on one SIM does not affect incoming VoLTE calls on the other SIM.

In addition, in terms of image processing, Kirin 810 is equipped with a flagship ISP image processor, which has a powerful night scene algorithm, higher brightness and greater tolerance.

Before this, the Kirin 7 series, which was well-known to consumers, was positioned as mid-range with balanced performance; the Kirin 9 series was positioned as flagship with extreme performance; the Kirin 8 series chips, led by Kirin 810, filled the vacancies left by the Kirin 7 series and Kirin 9 series, with high-end positioning and powerful performance.

Huawei plans to capture 50% of the Chinese smartphone market in 2019. According to Canalys data, Huawei firmly holds the top spot in China with a 34% market share in Q1 2019. However, there is still a clear gap between Huawei's Kirin chips' high-end, mid-range, and low-end processors . The high-end Kirin 9 series chips are still self-sufficient; but looking back at the mid-range market, the Kirin 710 has been released for nearly a year, and its performance is only roughly equivalent to that of the Snapdragon 660, which has fallen behind the current market environment. As a result, Huawei still needs to purchase a large number of MediaTek and Qualcomm 4 series chips to maintain its position in the mid-range and low-end markets.

Moreover, among the existing Apple A series, Qualcomm Snapdragon series, Samsung Orion series, Huawei Kirin HiSilicon series and MediaTek mobile phone chips, Qualcomm's Snapdragon series is the most widely used. At the same time, except for Huawei, most domestic mobile phones use Snapdragon chips.

This is not a good phenomenon for the domestic market share target, cost and profit, or long-term market structure. Therefore, it is urgent to launch a new mobile phone processor chip , whether as an iterative product of Kirin 710 or as a high-low combination with Kirin 970 and 980. At this moment, the release of Kirin 810 is particularly important.

Qualcomm, on the other hand, has a great reputation for its Snapdragon 8 series, but the chips that really provide it with the most profits are the 6 series and 7 series chips, which have large shipments and low costs. At the same time, there is also pressure from Huawei. In 2018, Huawei released the Kirin 980, which set six world firsts, including the world's first commercial 7nm mobile phone SoC. It is equipped with a dual-core NPU, and its ultra-high performance poses a huge threat to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845.

Qualcomm has begun to expand the mid-to-low-end market. In recent times, the Snapdragon 6 series has evolved from 660, 670 to 675, and the 7 series has evolved from 710 to 712, 730. Qualcomm has accelerated the iteration of mid-to-high-end chips .

However, at present, except for Qualcomm's flagship chip Snapdragon 855 which uses TSMC's 7nm process, the previous flagship Snapdragon 845 uses the 10nm process, and the sub-flagship Snapdragon 7 series, Snapdragon 710 and 712 all use Samsung's 10nm process. The Snapdragon 7 series until the latest Snapdragon 730 still did not use 7nm, but chose Samsung's 8nm process.

In addition, it was reported recently that Qualcomm's next-generation processor Snapdragon 865 has abandoned TSMC and will adopt Samsung's 7nm EUV process technology for production. In the competition of 7nm EUV process, TSMC took the lead and was the first to announce that the 7nm EUV yield rate has reached the mass production standard, while Samsung will only be able to mass produce in the second half of this year. Qualcomm may have planted a huge risk for itself .

The launch of Kirin 810 makes Huawei the only manufacturer that currently has two 7nm chips. US media commented that Huawei is still the world's leading 5G company even under pressure, and will further get rid of its dependence on US companies in the future. At this moment, with the multiple intersections of cost, structure and mission, Kirin 810 can be said to have a heavy responsibility on its shoulders.

This article is compiled by Global IoT Observer from Huawei Terminal Official Weibo, Yifei.com, AI Report, Huanqiu.com, etc.

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