Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 980 tipped to use 7nm manufacturing process

Huawei HiSilicon chips have made a tremendous progress in past five years, emerging from the low-end quad-core A9 chipset Kirin K3V2 to the top-of-the-line Kirin 970 processor. Now reports of the Kirin 980 chip has started doing rounds as we move forward.

According to a report from GizmoChina, the new chipset will be built on TSMC's 7nm manufacturing process. Huawei's current flagship processor is built on a slightly bigger 10nm process. The chips are expected to go into the mass production stage in the first quarter of 2018.

Huawei usually unveils its flagship chips in the second half every year. The chipset then gets used in the following year's P-series flagship smartphones. The new chip is also expected to get core upgrades from A55 to A75, while company's proprietary Neural Processing Unit (NPU) might also get a makeover.

Apart from manufacturing HiSilicon chips, the company is also focusing on bringing new concept smartphones to the table. The company recently filed a patent for a foldable display that will have a book-like mechanism, reports LetsGoDigital. The patent was filed with WIPO on September 19 in 2017. The patent was filed under the moniker "mobile terminal folding mechanism and mobile terminal."

Huawei isn't the first to patent a hinge design. Industry giants such as Microsoft and Samsung are also said to be working on their own foldable design. Reports of Huawei building a foldable smartphone has been doing rounds for quite some time. In October last year, CNET reported that the company has a working sample of the device but requires refinement with better mechanical and flexible design before it goes to mass productions stage.

Huawei P9 TIps & Tricks

Recently, there were reports that Samsung has filed a patent for a smartphone display that expands when pulled from the sides. The smartphone might double as a tablet. The new patent suggests that the system will comprise of three panels. Only the main display will be visible in the 'phone mode.' To expand the screen, users will have to grab the sides and pull the device outward. This will unroll two more display sitting on either side increasing the real estate.