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Huawei’s new Kirin 970 processor will power the upcoming Mate 10 this October

Many were skeptical about Huawei jumping into the realm of mobile chipsets, but its releases to date have proved quite capable. Last year’s Kirin 960 in the Mate 9 and other devices held up well against the competition and still offers about the same raw power as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 found in other flagships. Over the weekend, the company unveiled its latest and greatest mobile processor, the Kirin 970.

The Kirin 970 is an octa-core chipset built on a 10nm manufacturing process and has 5.5 billion transistors. Translating that into average terms, it means Huawei has created a very fast, very powerful, and very efficient processor.

Huawei’s core focus on the Kirin 970 is AI, headlined by the dedicated NPU, or Neural Processing Unit. This dedicated resource can be used by anything packing a Kirin 970 to be more efficient in terms of power when performing AI tasks, as well as making the process itself quicker.

Kirin 970 is powered by an 8-core CPU and a new generation 12-core GPU. Built using a 10nm advanced process, the chipset packs 5.5 billion transistors into an area of only one cm². Huawei’s new flagship Kirin 970 is Huawei’s first mobile AI computing platform featuring a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Compared to a quad-core Cortex-A73 CPU cluster, the Kirin 970’s new heterogeneous computing architecture delivers up to 25x the performance with 50x greater efficiency.

There are several other notable features that the Kirin 970 supports as well including dual ISP for improved noise reduction, 4-hybrid auto focus, a strong 12-core ARM Mali-G72 GPU, and a newer, faster modem for increased data speeds.

Huawei was also quick to confirm that the Kirin 970 will indeed be powering the upcoming Mate 10 smartphone. That device is set to debut on October 16th at an event in Berlin.

Huawei Reveals the Future of Mobile AI at IFA 2017

CEO Richard Yu Unveils the Kirin 970, Huawei’s first mobile AI computing platform

BERLIN — September 2, 2017 – Today at IFA 2017, Huawei Consumer Business Group unveiled a new era in smartphone innovation. As part of CEO Richard Yu’s keynote address, he revealed Huawei’s vision for the future of artificial intelligence with the launch of the Kirin 970. By combining the power of the cloud with the speed and responsiveness of native AI processing, Huawei is bringing AI experiences to life and changing the way we interact with our devices.

“As we look to the future of smartphones, we’re at the threshold of an exciting new era,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group. “Mobile AI = On-Device AI + Cloud AI. Huawei is committed to developing smart devices into intelligent devices by building end-to-end capabilities that support coordinated development of chips, devices, and the cloud. The ultimate goal is to provide a significantly better user experience. The Kirin 970 is the first in a series of new advances that will bring powerful AI features to our devices and take them beyond the competition.”

After years of development, Cloud AI has seen broad application, but user experience still has room for improvement, including latency, stability, and privacy. Cloud AI and On-Device AI can complement each other. On-Device AI offers strong sensing capabilities, which are the foundation of understanding and assisting people. Sensors produce a large amount of real-time, scenario-specific, and personalized data. Supported by strong chip processing capabilities, devices will become more cognitive of user needs, providing truly personalized and readily accessible services.

Kirin 970 is powered by an 8-core CPU and a new generation 12-core GPU. Built using a 10nm advanced process, the chipset packs 5.5 billion transistors into an area of only one cm². Huawei’s new flagship Kirin 970 is Huawei’s first mobile AI computing platform featuring a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Compared to a quad-core Cortex-A73 CPU cluster, the Kirin 970’s new heterogeneous computing architecture delivers up to 25x the performance with 50x greater efficiency. Simply put, the Kirin 970 can perform the same AI computing tasks faster and with far less power. In a benchmark image recognition test, the Kirin 970 processed 2,000 images per minute, which was faster than other chips on the market.

New developments in AI require joint effort across the entire value chain, involving tens of millions of developers, and the experience and feedback of hundreds of millions of users. Huawei is positioning the Kirin 970 as an open platform for mobile AI, opening up the chipset to developers and partners who can find new and innovative uses for its processing capabilities.


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Avatar for Ben Schoon Ben Schoon

Ben is a Senior Editor for 9to5Google.

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