Huawei launches Mate 90 series with new Kirin chips across the lineup

The new Kirin chips across the Mate 90 lineup indicate Huawei's continued investment in proprietary hardware. The Kirin 9030 reportedly offers 27% higher overall performance than its predecessor, while the Kirin 9035 is said to improve battery life by 18%. For the most premium models, the Kirin 9050 Pro is claimed to double on-device AI computing performance, illustrating a strategy to vary hardware capabilities across different price points.

A focus on on-device AI, particularly with a 30-billion-parameter MoE multimodal model in the Mate 90 Pro Max and higher, suggests Huawei is emphasizing local processing for AI tasks. This design choice allows certain functions, such as Xiaoyi Call 2.0, Xiaoyi Gallery Assistant, and Xiaoyi Navigation Bar, to operate directly on the smartphone, reducing reliance on continuous network connectivity and potentially enhancing privacy and responsiveness.

Beyond the core chip and AI, the Mate 90 series integrates advancements in other key areas. These include second-generation Linglong displays with high peak brightness, a third-generation Red Maple primary-color camera system, and an integrated Wi-Fi and cellular antenna architecture. Such enhancements are designed to support the overall user experience and complement the device's on-device AI capabilities with improved visual, photographic, and connectivity performance.