Huawei unveils Mate 90 phones, leans on homegrown chip design to offset US curbs

Beijing, October 1 - Huawei unveiled its new Mate 90 smartphone series on Thursday, relying on its internal operating system and redesigned chip architecture to counter US restrictions on advanced semiconductors. Richard Yu, Huawei's consumer business chief, acknowledged ongoing supply constraints for advanced chips in China, noting that Huawei's Ascend AI chips also face similar limitations.

The capacity for smartphone chips remains tight despite increasing prices, which have reduced shipment volumes. The launch will determine if Huawei can continue advancing its smartphone lineup amidst US restrictions that have limited its access to cutting-edge chipmaking tools. The Mate 90 series, succeeding the Mate 80 line launched in November 2025, features the Kirin 9050 Pro, a system-on-chip using Huawei's LogicFolding technique for denser, faster processing.

Eric Xu, Huawei's rotating chairman, revealed that Ascend 950 AI chip supply couldn't meet domestic demand due to capacity constraints. Huawei continues to rely on deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines for advanced chipmaking, with EUV technology still under development by Chinese manufacturers. The company's latest phones run on its homegrown, Android-free HarmonyOS 7, supporting over 450,000 apps and services.

Huawei did not disclose the manufacturer of the Kirin 9050 Pro. Chinese smartphone makers face rising memory and component costs, leading to price increases and a shift toward premium models. Yu said rising memory prices added an average of $200 to each handset, impacting Huawei's profit margins. Huawei must raise prices at a slower pace to address these issues.

Despite facing rising memory prices and competition from Apple, Huawei holds about a 75% share in China's foldable phone market. In September 10-13, sales of Huawei's Pura X Max foldable phone surged 76% week-on-week after Apple's iPhone Duo launch, with shipments surpassing 1.2 million units in China since its April release.