In 2020, Huawei introduced its powerful application processor, the HiSilicon Kirin 9000, for smartphones. However, due to being placed on the U.S. Entity List, Huawei lost access to TSMC and faced difficulties in obtaining their advanced process technology. In response, Huawei released the Kirin 9000S in 2023, manufactured by SMIC using second-generation 7nm-class process technology.
A recent review by Nanoreview.net critically examines the new Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 9000S processor. While the Kirin 9000S demonstrates commendable performance in general CPU workloads, it falls behind its predecessor, the Kirin 9000, in terms of power efficiency and graphics-intensive tasks. This is to be expected, as surpassing the capabilities of a 5nm processor with a 7nm SoC without sacrificing power efficiency and cost is challenging.
Nanoreview.net conducted comprehensive benchmark tests, including AnTuTu 10, Geekbench 6, 3DMark Wild Life, and various mobile games, comparing both the original Kirin 9000 and the Kirin 9000S. In AnTuTu 10, the Kirin 9000S demonstrated a similar overall score to its predecessor but lagged behind by 33% in GPU performance. Surprisingly, despite lower clock speeds and the same core count, the Kirin 9000S outperformed the Kirin 9000 by 4% in single-thread Geekbench 6 workload and 17% in multi-thread Geekbench 6 workload. However, in 3DMark Wild Life, the Kirin 9000 proved to be 20% faster than its successor, likely due to the inability to match the performance of a 24-cluster Arm Mali-G78 GPU.
SMIC’s second-generation 7nm technology, while not as advanced as TSMC’s N5 production node, is the reason for the reduced efficiency of the Kirin 9000S compared to the Kirin 9000. As a result, smartphones equipped with the new SoC are likely to experience shorter battery life unless higher-capacity batteries are used.
Although the Kirin 9000S falls short of its predecessor’s capabilities, it still presents itself as a promising SoC for smartphones. Huawei may strive to develop a chip that surpasses their 2020 product in the future. However, the ultimate question remains whether Huawei’s future offerings can effectively compete against rival chips from Apple, MediaTek, and Qualcomm.
The source of the article is from the blog papodemusica.com