Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has officially announced that the upcoming Mate 9 phablet will come running on the latest Kirin 960 chipset.
Huawei-owned HiSilicon revealed the new chip about a week ago, and at that time speculations were rife that Huawei will use the processor in its next-gen Mate 9.
Anatomy Of The Kirin 960 Chipset
The latest chipset from HiSilicon is built on TSMC's 16nm FinFET process and includes newer parts. The octa-core Kirin 960 processor has four Cortex-A73 cores that form the powerful half, balanced by four Cortex-A53 cores.
HiSilicon claims that the Kirin 960 offers 15 percent performance boost and the A73 promises sustained performance. The chipset also supports double data speeds compared to the Kirin 950, which means it will be handy when the carrier uses LTE network.
Huawei has not confirmed the Kirin 960 for the Mate 9 so far, but a tweet from the company hints that the chipset is likely to make its way to the phablet, which will be officially launched on Nov. 3.
Introducing the Kirin960… A new level of innovation coming to a pocket near you. #aStepAhead pic.twitter.com/plxXJqwAEg
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) 26 October 2016
Huawei Mate 9 Specs, Features And Release Date
The Huawei Mate 9 will have design aspects similar to its predecessor, the Mate 8. Rumors suggest that the Mate 9 will include a dual-lens camera and a fingerprint scanner at the back of the device.
The camera is said to be similar to the one found in the Huawei P9, which was released in the first half of 2016. The Mate 9 may come with a 5.9-inch QHD display, 6 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of storage capacity.
Previous leaks hint that the Mate 9 may be available in a number of hues, including Amber Gold, Amber Gray, Ceramic White, Rose Gold, Sky Gray, Moonlight Silver, Mocha Gold, Enamel Gloss Black and Champagne Gold.
Reports suggest that customers may have to wait a few weeks after the launch date of Nov. 3 to grab the Mate 9. An exact release date should be confirmed at the launch event of the phablet. Huawei is also rumored to launch the Mate 9 Pro along with the Mate 9 on Nov. 3.
Huawei has not confirmed any detail about the Mate 9, but the smartphone may have a premium price tag. Renowned leakster Evan Blass suggests that the cost of the Mate 9 Pro may reach as high as $1,300.
Snap (no pun intended): Mate 9/Pro feature 4x optical zoom. But pricing on a spec'ed out Pro is enough to give you a heart attack: $1300. — Evan Blass (@evleaks) 23 October 2016
