Huawei may use the latest Kirin 960 chipset on the upcoming Mate 9. The company revealed the new chipset last week, which prompted speculations that it will use it in the next-gen Mate 9. The company tweeted hints that it will be in the phablet, which will be 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
The Kirin 960 chipset is built on TSMC's 16nm FinFET process with new parts. The octa-core processor comes with four Cortex-A73 cores which form a powerful half, balanced by another four Cortex-A53 cores. The Kirin 960 is said to offer a 15 percent boost in performance and supports double the data speeds of its predecessor. The chipset is most useful when the phone's carrier uses LTE network.
According to rumors, the Huawei Mate 9 will look like the Mate 8. It is expected to sport a fingerprint scanner and dual-lens camera at the rear of the device. The camera is rumored to be the same as the one in Huawei P9 which was released early this year. It could also feature a 5.9-inch QHD display, 256 GB of internal storage and 6 GB of RAM.
Early leaks showed that the Mate 9 would come in different colors such amber gold, ceramic white, amber gray, sky gray, rose gold, mocha gold, moonlight silver, champagne gold, and enamel gloss black. The device could be released in stores a few weeks after its launch on Nov. 3, and it is likely to have a price tag of $1,300 USD.