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Kirin or Balong: Which one of these might return this year?

Published

1 year ago

July 23, 2023

Deng Li

Huawei may bring back 5G to its smartphones this year and if that’s happening what could empower these 5G devices – Kirin or Balong? Let’s check out the possibility and the story around it.

Balong:

Following the launch of the Huawei Mate 20 series, the mobile company unveiled the Huawei Mate 20 X 5G. It was the first ever 5G-ready flagship, featuring Kirin 980 and the world’s first 7 nm 5G multi-mode modem chip Balong 5000.

Huawei launched Balong 5000 for 5G devices. This chipset supports a broad range of 5G products in addition to smartphones, including home broadband devices, vehicle-mounted devices, and 5G modules. It can enable both SA/NSA connectivity.

Kirin:

With Kirin 990, Huawei embedded the 5G modem inside SoC and stopped using the Balong 5000 in smartphones.

Since 2020, Huawei can’t print new chipsets, and HiSilicon, Huawei’s chipset designing subsidiary has announced a halt on new Kirin and other chipset production since then. However, the company keeps on researching new chip designs. Also, Huawei has not reduced the HiSilicon staff.

Kirin 9000 was the last flagship Kirin chipset made with 5nm process technology. Even after 3 years, this chip is still relevant in the market and has one of the best performance in smartphones.

Latest:

According to a report, Huawei is working with local chipset makers to make 5G solutions. Also, it is planning to return to the 5G market by the end of this year. However, Huawei has not approved this report for the time being.

Meanwhile, there is some speculation that you should know about.

If Huawei planning to use Balong 5000, then it would fuse it with Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset to enable 5G. On the other hand, it seems a bit difficult to return with an advanced node this year.

What do you think? Kirin or Balong, which one will return this year? Let us know via the poll below.