Huawei unveils faster phone chip it says can beat Apple, Samsung

[TaiShang]

Huawei unveils faster phone chip it says can beat Apple, Samsung
(CNTV) 15:10, September 03, 2017

(Photo/Sina Weibo of Huawei)

Huawei’s newest flagship phone, with artificial intelligence-powered features such as instant image recognition, will leave rivals Samsung and Apple playing a game of catch-up, a top executive said on Sunday.

Richard Wu, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business, on Saturday revealed a powerful new mobile phone chip Huawei is betting on for its upcoming flagship Mate 10 and other high-end phones to deliver faster processing and lower power consumption.

Huawei will launch the Mate 10 and its sister phone, the Mate 10 Pro, in Munich on October 16, Wu confirmed. He declined to detail new features, but the phones are expected to boast large, 6-inch-plus full-screen displays, tech blogs predict.

Artificial intelligence (AI) built into its new chips can help make phones more personalized, or anticipate the actions and interests of their users, Wu said.

As examples, he said AI can enable real-time language translation, heed voice commands, or take advantage of augmented reality, which overlays text, sounds, graphics and video on real-world images phone users see in front of them.

Wu believes the new Kirin 970 chip’s speed and low power consumption can translate into features that will give its phones an edge over the Apple iPhone 8 series, set to be unveiled on September 12, and Samsung’s range of top-line phones announced this year. Huawei is the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker behind Samsung and Apple.

“Compared with Samsung and Apple, we have advantages,” Wu said in an interview during the annual IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin. “Users are in for much faster (feature) performance, longer battery life and more compact design.”

The company asserts its newly announced Kirin 970 chip will preserve battery life on phones by up to 50 percent.

Huawei describes the new chip as the first Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for smartphones. It brings together classic computing, graphics, image and digital signal processing power that have typically required separate chips, taking up more space and slowing interaction between features within phones.

Most importantly, Huawei aims to use the Kirin chips to differentiate its phones from a vast sea of competitors, including Samsung, who overwhelming rely on rival Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm, the market leader in mobile chip design. Among major phone makers, only Apple and Huawei now rely on their own core processors.

The 970 is designed by Huawei’s HiSilicon chip design business and built using the most advanced 10 nanometer production lines of contract manufacturer TSMC.

 

[cirr]

The Kirin 980, now being taped out on TSMC's 7nm node, would make Huawei an even more potent rival to Apple and Samsung.

 

[TaiShang]

The Kirin 980, now being taped out on TSMC's 7nm node, would make Huawei an even more potent rival to Apple and Samsung.

Huawei will for sure occupy global top spot by 2020 as a high-end smartphone innovator.

I can't help looking at Mate 10 and Plus, but, for the moment, I will buy a Xiaomi now that I have entrusted my Mate 8 to my bro.

 

[Jlaw]

Problem is Apple has a cult following. Even if Apple phones have the slowest chip there will be buyers. Apple buyers already brainwashed

 

[TaiShang]

Problem is Apple has a cult following. Even if Apple phones have the slowest chip there will be buyers. Apple buyers already brainwashed

They are a slowly dying breed. Youngsters are growing into a different world from even a five-ten years back, I guess. I can see this clearly in my classes.

 

[Menthol]

I don't know....

Years ago I read similar news, but once the product was released, the benchmark doesn't score high.

Even if it was faster than competitors, but soon will be surpassed in just a matter of weeks.

 

[Tom99]

Problem is Apple has a cult following. Even if Apple phones have the slowest chip there will be buyers. Apple buyers already brainwashed

Because it is not just hardware that matters but also software and ,most of importantly of all, the Apple ecosystem. Even if Huawei build the most powerful phone it won't sell for as much or make as much profit margin as Iphones simply because it doesn't have the brand and ecosystem. For this and many other reasons is why Vietnam's (or maybe even the world's bestest smartphone according the Vietnamese posting here) Bphone failed.

Few minutes with Google:
Bphone 1.0 bombed:
BPhone, a year later, called ‘dud bomb"
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/science-it/155976/bphone--a-year-later--called--dud-bomb-.html

But Bphone 2.0 is coming out. Lets see how this one do in the near future.
BKAV unveils second generation of made-in-Vietnam Bphone
http://en.nhandan.com.vn/scitech/sc...ond-generation-of-made-in-vietnam-bphone.html

 

[TaiShang]

Huawei hopes for edge over Apple Inc

China Daily, September 5, 2017

A new artificial-intelligence-powered chipset is set to help Huawei Technologies Co compete more effectively with Apple Inc in the autumn smartphone battle, when the two are scheduled to release new flagship models, analysts said on Monday.

Roger Sheng, a senior analyst at research company Gartner Inc, said "the Kirin 970 chipset marks a big improvement from its predecessor, giving Huawei a major edge when competing head-to-head with Apple".

The new processor, unveiled by the Shenzhen-based company on Saturday in Berlin, allows super-fast computation capabilities, a strong image-recognition ability and other features. It will power Huawei's upcoming Mate 10 smartphone, set to launch in October to compete with Apple's 10th-anniversary iPhone, which will be unveiled next week.

The chip is part of Huawei's broad push to better integrate AI into its hardware, as smartphones are increasingly intertwined with the cutting-edge technology to better recognize users' voice and image, as well as understand their demand.

Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business group, said although AI work will be done in the cloud, on-device AI computation will continue to grow, with the need for sensors to operate without waiting to send any information back and forth over wireless connections.

"Mobile AI must be driven by both on-device AI and cloud AI. That is the focus of Huawei's AI strategy in consumer business," Yu said.

He added that consumers who attach high importance to privacy and security are also driving up demand for smartphones with built-in AI capabilities.

Huawei, which started as a telecom equipment maker, has emerged as the world's third-largest smartphone maker in recent years, following closely behind Apple and Samsung Electronics Corp.

The new Kirin 970 processor is produced using an improved 10 nanometer process instead of the old 12 nanometer process. It can process data faster while using less power, Huawei said in a statement.

Jia Mo, an analyst at global consultancy Canalys, said Apple is highly likely to be working on similar AI chips.

"AI has been a buzzword in the smartphone sector since last year. But innovative products only started to pop up earlier this year," Jia said.

Huawei has been steadily expanding its presence beyond China after it grabbed the top spot at home. In the second quarter, Huawei outcompeted Apple as the second largest smartphone vendor in central and eastern Europe, with a market share of 12 percent, data from Canalys show.

 

[samsara]

Huawei takes jab at Apple's Face ID in Mate 10 video ad

#TheRealAIPhone
By Rob Thubron on Sep 18, 2017, 1:15 PM

Apple may have explained that Craig Federighi’s inability to unlock the iPhone X last week wasn’t a fail, but that hasn’t stopped Huawei from poking fun at Face ID, and the handset’s neural engine, in the Chinese giant’s latest ad for the Mate 10.

A recent Facebook video shows a facial recognition system failing to recognize a cartoon clown. It also features the tagline “Let’s face it, facial recognition isn’t for everybody.”

https://www.facebook.com/

After Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering failed to unlock the iPhone X at the unveiling event, the ensuing reaction caused Apple’s stock to fall temporarily. However, Apple later revealed that the phone’s Face ID system was accidentally activated by backstage staff earlier that day. Following a number of failed unlock attempts, it had started asking for a passcode, which means it was working as it should.

But for Huawei, the incident made enough headlines for it to be referenced in the new Mate 10 ad, which finishes with the hashtag #TheRealAIPhone and reveals the flagship’s unveiling date — 16.10.17, that is October 16th, 2017.

Like the A11 “Bionic” SoC found in the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, Huawei’s Kirin 970 processor has a focus on AI functions such as voice and image recognition, thanks to its neural processing unit. The Mate 10 will be the first handset to use the Kirin 970 mobile chipset, and like the A11, it's built on a 10-nanometer process.

At the start of the month, Huawei overtook Apple as the world’s second-largest smartphone company, though it still lags behind leader Samsung.

https://www.techspot.com/news/71019-huawei-takes-jab-apple-face-mate-10-video.html