With the Mate 40 series and Kirin 1000 processor set to debut this September, Huawei CEO Richard Yu said at the China Information Technology Summit 2020 that the upcoming Huawei flagship will be the last phone to have a Kirin processor.
Yu explained that this is due to the US pressuring TSMC to stop manufacturing chips for Huawei starting mid-September due to the ongoing trade war. As a result, TSMC confirmed that it will no longer sell chips to Huawei.
As a sign of relief, Yu confirmed that the Kirin 1000 and Mate 40 series will launch, with the Kirin 1000 slated to be unveiled at IFA 2020 in Berlin. By mid-September, Yu said that they were able to secure enough chips for 15 million Mate 40s—which is rumored to come in four versions: a vanilla Mate 40, a Mate 40 Pro, a Mate 40 Pro+, and a Mate 40 Porsche Design.
Currently, renders of the Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro have surfaced, with both having curved displays, pill-shaped punch-holes, and a large, circular rear camera module. From the renders, the main difference between the two is the Mate 40 Pro’s display curvature and the addition of a periscope camera.
