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Kirin is Huawei and HiSilicon’s branded processor family. It includes mobile system-on-chips used in Huawei phones, such as the Kirin 9020 and Kirin 9010S in selected Pura 80 models. Huawei has also announced a future Kirin architecture plan, but that announcement is not an independent performance test.
What is a Kirin processor?
Kirin is the name Huawei and its chip-design arm, HiSilicon, use for a processor family. The examples documented here are mobile system-on-chips (SoCs): components that combine a phone’s central processor with other functions, which can include graphics, connectivity and AI computing. Kirin 990 5G, for example, is identified by HiSilicon as a 5G SoC. The examples in this article do not establish a complete catalog of every product that has carried the Kirin name.
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Kirin chips are relevant to video games because a phone’s SoC is part of the hardware that runs games. But the name alone does not tell you how well a particular phone performs in a particular game. The sources cited here do not provide current, independent gaming benchmarks or a fair comparison with rival chips.
Which Huawei phones use Kirin?
Huawei’s China support information lists these pairings. They are examples, not a complete global catalog, and a phone name may cover different configurations by market.
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| Huawei phone | Processor listed by Huawei | Source and scope |
|---|---|---|
| Pura 80 Pro, Pura 80 Pro+ and Pura 80 Ultra | Kirin 9020 | Huawei China support information |
| Pura 80 | Kirin 9010S | Huawei China support information |
| Mate XTs | Kirin 9020 | Huawei China support information |
| Pura 80 Pro | Kirin 9020, octa-core | Huawei Malaysia specifications page; this listing is market-specific |
Check the official specifications for the exact regional model before buying or comparing devices. A chip pairing documented for one market should not automatically be assumed for every version sold under the same phone name.
Is Kirin 9020 the same as Kirin 9010S?
No. Huawei’s China support page lists the Kirin 9020 for the Pura 80 Pro, Pro+ and Ultra, while it lists the Kirin 9010S for the base Pura 80. The names identify different processor models; the cited information does not establish their relative gaming performance.
What does a Kirin chip include?
Kirin 990 5G: a dated technical example
HiSilicon’s official product page describes the Kirin 990 5G with a 7 nm+ EUV process and an eight-core CPU: two Cortex-A76 cores at 2.86 GHz, two Cortex-A76 cores at 2.36 GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores at 1.95 GHz. Its listed components also include a 16-core Mali-G76 GPU, a Da Vinci AI architecture with two Ascend Lite units and one Ascend Tiny unit, 2G/3G/4G/5G modem support, Kirin ISP 5.0 and LPDDR4X memory. These are specifications for the Kirin 990 5G, not a template for every Kirin processor. See HiSilicon’s Kirin 990 5G specifications.
Huawei’s separate UAE product page says the Kirin 990 5G has over 10 billion transistors and gives theoretical Sub-6 GHz peak download and upload rates of 2.3 Gbps and 1.25 Gbps. Huawei’s footnotes attribute the transistor figure to TSMC and say actual network performance depends on network conditions; treat the speed figures as theoretical, not guaranteed phone results. Huawei Consumer UAE’s Kirin 990 5G page.
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Kirin 970: an earlier AI claim
In 2017, Huawei called the Kirin 970 its first mobile AI computing platform with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit. Huawei reported 5.5 billion transistors and 2,000 images per minute in an image-recognition benchmark. It also claimed up to 25 times the performance and 50 times the efficiency of a quad-core Cortex-A73 CPU cluster. Those are Huawei’s dated claims about a specific test and comparison, not evidence of current gaming performance or a present-day comparison among chips. Huawei’s 2017 Kirin 970 announcement.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What has Huawei announced about future Kirin chips?
Huawei’s September 2026 strategy statement says the company plans to combine Kirin and Ascend chips to support self-reliance and autonomy in on-device computing, with platforms intended for phones, PCs, vehicles and homes. This describes Huawei’s strategic direction; it does not confirm the specifications or availability of any particular product.
In a May 25, 2026 announcement, Huawei said Kirin chips scheduled to launch in Fall 2026 would be the first to adopt its LogicFolding architecture and that the architecture would considerably enhance performance. This is a future product statement and Huawei’s characterization of expected benefits, not independently verified benchmark evidence. The same announcement describes LogicFolding and the Tau (τ) Scaling Law as Huawei technologies, and says Huawei had designed and mass-produced 381 chips based on the law over six years. That number and framing are Huawei’s own account.
The announcement attributes a keynote to He Tingbo of Huawei and quotes her as saying, “We believe that openness and collaboration are key to driving ongoing progress in the semiconductor industry. No single company can independently find all the answers along the path of semiconductor evolution.” Read Huawei’s May 2026 announcement. Huawei’s September 2026 strategy page is available at Huawei’s corporate strategy statement.
What should gamers check before choosing a Kirin phone?
Use the exact phone and market configuration as your starting point, rather than assuming that the Kirin name predicts game performance. For a meaningful comparison, look for independent tests of the specific phone and game, including sustained performance and battery behavior; the official sources cited here do not provide those results.
Quick Recap
- Confirm the processor in the exact regional model’s official specifications.
- Compare the phone’s camera, battery, software, connectivity and price according to your priorities, rather than choosing on chip branding alone.
- Check official support information for the device and market you intend to buy. The pairings above establish examples, not worldwide availability or a complete current catalog.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
