Tech
Huawei Rumored To Be Planning A Mate XT Successor Launch Later This Year, And It Will Be Equipped With The More Powerful Kirin 9020
The Mate XT became the world’s first tri-fold smartphone last year when Huawei officially unveiled the engineering marvel on September 10, beating out the competitors working on mass producing such smartphones with a similar form factor for a few generations. Transforming from a concept to ending up on the production line, what is impressive is how Huawei managed to beat the overwhelming odds that were stacked against it, but it is not stopping this momentum, as a tipster claims that a second-generation tri-fold smartphone is being prepared and it will ship with more powerful internals that include the Kirin 9020.
A new design will unlikely be adopted, but there is a possibility that Huawei will refine the Mate XT successor to make it more durable
Apart from a chipset upgrade, Weibo tipster Fixed Focus Digital has not mentioned any other changes arriving to the second-generation Mate XT. The Kirin 9020 was the latest silicon announced by the former Chinese giant, and it currently powers the Mate 70 series. Despite being limited to the 7nm process for this SoC release, Huawei has been able to incorporate some changes to the Kirin 9020, as it features a 12-core cluster with hyperthreading, leading to better multi-core performance than the Kirin 9010 released in early 2024.
The lack of EUV machinery means that Huawei will be limited to using the DUV equipment that is currently in possession of SMIC, China’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer, so it could be stuck on the 7nm lithography for a while. This means that as futuristic as the Mate XT successor will be, its performance will be capped due to the U.S. trade sanctions in place. Since it took years for Huawei to introduce a near-perfect design to make the device as thin as possible when completely folded, we doubt that this year’s model will be strikingly different.
However, we can expect the company to introduce some changes that make the display more durable, and perhaps the internals include a larger battery. Other than that, you have a computing device that can fold into a 6.4-inch handset, and when completely unfolded, you are greeted with a 10.2-inch tablet. Regarding functionality, Huawei has likely set the gold standard for tri-fold smartphones, which is why we will probably be seeing these specifications on the Mate XT successor.
News Source: Fixed Focus Digital