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There is new news about the Huawei Mate 90 Pro Max recently, but this time, what interests me most is not the conventional upgrades like the camera or battery, but the new Kirin chip it might feature.

Huawei has confirmed that the new Kirin chip this autumn will use “logic folding” technology for the first time. Simply put, it is no longer just pursuing more advanced manufacturing processes, but starting to take a different approach to the internal chip structure, increasing transistor density and shortening signal paths through multi-layer layout.

As for whether the Mate 90 Pro Max will be the first to launch it, it is currently just a leak, and the official company has not confirmed it. But if it really ends up using it, I think the most worth watching in this generation might not be how much the benchmark scores have increased, but rather to what extent Huawei’s new chip roadmap can actually perform when put into a real flagship phone for the first time.

What is truly worth watching is actually this rule-rewriting Kirin chip.

If we go by the current leaks, I think what is truly worth watching about the Mate 90 Pro Max is not the imaging or the battery, but the Kirin 9050 Pro.

This chip is actually no longer a mystery. The Mate XT 2 has already pioneered its use, and Huawei calls it the first “Logic Folding τ chip”. The most interesting thing about it is that it didn’t continue to pin all its hopes on more advanced manufacturing processes, but instead directly changed the internal layout of the chip.

This is also why I find the Kirin 9050 Pro more interesting than just discussing “nanometers”. Of course, this doesn’t mean that a single LogicFolding can bridge the gap in manufacturing processes. What I really want to see is how its performance, power consumption, and heat generation actually turn out once it’s put into a smartphone.

There is also a point that is easily misunderstood. He Tingbo mentioned that 381 chip designs have been mass-produced over the past six years, but these chips are based on the practice of the “Tao Law”, and not all 381 designs used LogicFolding. The Kirin 9050 Pro marks the true beginning of this technology entering flagship mobile chips.

Performance Highlights

Besides the new Kirin chip, the other thing that really catches my attention about the Mate 90 Pro Max is the battery. Current leaks generally point to a capacity between 6800mAh and 7000mAh. If it actually reaches this capacity, it would be a significant upgrade compared to the 6000mAh battery of the Mate 80 Pro Max. For a 6.9-inch large-screen flagship like this, I think continuing to increase the battery size is more meaningful than just pushing the fast charging numbers higher.

On the contrary, things like 100W wired fast charging and Wi-Fi 7 aren’t really worth bragging about, as the Mate 80 Pro Max already has them. What’s truly worth watching is how much the battery life and heat management will actually improve when a larger battery meets the new Kirin chip.

The screen is in a similar situation. Current leaks still suggest a 6.9-inch dual-layer OLED with LTPO adaptive refresh rate, but the previous generation already featured a 6.9-inch dual-layer OLED and 1-120Hz LTPO. So, I’m less concerned about whether these specs are retained, and more interested in whether the brightness, power consumption, and actual viewing experience can continue to advance.

The system doesn’t need to mention “entering the developer stage” anymore, as HarmonyOS 7 was officially released in September. If the Mate 90 series makes its debut next, it wouldn’t be surprising for it to feature the new system, but I won’t list it as a confirmed specification before the official announcement.

So, looking at the current leaks for this generation, there are really only two things that truly interest me: a larger battery and the new Kirin chip. Many other specs look impressive, but they were actually already present in the previous generation.

The real change in the camera system this time might be the telephoto lens.

The camera leaks for the Mate 90 Pro Max have been changing rapidly over the past few days. The previously rumored “200MP main camera and dual telephoto lenses” can basically be set aside for now.

The latest news is actually more interesting: the main camera might still be 50MP, but it will switch to a 1/1.28-inch large sensor, continue to retain the RYYB filter and variable aperture, and add the new generation of LOFIC technology. The one that actually gets upgraded to 200MP is the periscope telephoto lens.

Current leaks point to the SmartSens SCC85XS, which is also a 1/1.28-inch, fully domestically produced 200MP high-dynamic CMOS. If this turns out to be the final solution, I actually think the “200MP” part isn’t that important. What’s more worth watching is that the Mate 90 Pro Max might switch from the dual telephoto lenses of the previous generation directly to a single 200MP periscope with an ultra-large sensor.

The Mate 80 Pro Max still features dual 50-megapixel telephoto lenses at 4x and 6.2x magnification, providing excellent focal range coverage, but the structure is indeed complex. If the next generation truly switches to a single 200-megapixel telephoto lens and relies on high-pixel cropping to cover more focal lengths, the design philosophy will be completely different.

Furthermore, leaks mentioned a “super external lens.” How exactly it works is still unknown, but if Huawei really starts making native imaging accessories for the Mate series, I think this is actually more interesting than simply adding another camera.

As for 3D face recognition and side fingerprint sensors, I won’t criticize them in advance. The Mate 80 Pro Max itself features 3D face recognition and a side fingerprint sensor, and users have already formed their own habits with it. Whether the Mate 90 Pro Max will continue to use them remains to be seen upon its official launch.

Why September is important

This September is indeed quite critical for Huawei. The Mate XT 2 was launched first on September 7, truly bringing the “logical folding τ chip” Kirin 9050 Pro to mass-produced phones for the first time. Current leaks also point to the Mate 90 series debuting in late September, and with the iPhone 18 Pro Max already released in September, these two flagships will basically go head-to-head.

This situation hasn’t been this obvious for many years. In the past few years, the release dates of the Mate series and the iPhone were often staggered, but this year Huawei has clearly moved its schedule forward.

However, I won’t jump to the conclusion that the yield rate of LogicFolding has been completely solved just because the Mate 90 has been moved up to September. What can be confirmed is that this technology has moved from the lab to mass-produced devices; as for the actual production capacity and yield rate, we will have to wait until the Mate 90 is officially on sale to see.

Summary

So, reading this far, I feel that what is truly worth watching about the Mate 90 Pro Max is no longer just the phone itself, but how Huawei plans to continue developing its chips.

According to Huawei’s own roadmap, by 2031, the transistor density of high-end chips based on the “Tao Law” is expected to be comparable to that of the 1.4nm process. But it’s important to note that comparable density does not mean the process technology is on par, as TSMC’s A14 is already scheduled for mass production in 2028.

This is also why I am most eager to see the Mate 90 Pro Max right now. Starting from the Mate 60, Huawei has not been following a path of simply competing on advanced process technology. How far LogicFolding can actually take this path is likely to be tested by the Mate 90 Pro Max.

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