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Huawei managed to raise a lot of eyebrows when it announced the new Kirin 9000s, a 7nm processor. That’s a different story, though, let’s focus on the matter at hand here. The “old’ Huawei Kirin 9000 from 2020 managed to outperform the new Kirin 9000s, on benchmarks.
The Kirin 9000 from 2020 actually managed to outgun the new Kirin 9000s
Based on the findings of Nanoreview.net, the Kirin 9000s tested slightly better in the CPU section, but the Kirin 9000 won in basically every other way. On Geekbench, the Kirin 9000s scored 1,315 points in a single-core test, and 4,078 in a multi-core test. The Kirin 9000 reached 1,259 points in a single-core test, and 3,486 in a multi-core test.
On AnTuTu 10, the Kirin 9000s barely beat the Kirin 9000 overall, with a score of 897,496 to 894,530. When we look at the GPU section, however, the Kirin 9000 wiped the floor with the Kirin 9000s. It scored 315,801 points, compared to the 200,982 points of the Kirin 9000.
On 3DMark Wild Life the Kirin 9000 was 20% faster than Huawei’s new processor. That is not all that surprising considering that the Kirin 9000 was made using a 5nm TSMC node, while the Kirin 9000s was built by SMIC using its second-gen 7nm node. Either way, you can check out all the benchmarks conducted in the gallery below.
SMIC & Huawei are rather limited when it comes to SoC development due to US sanctions
There’s only so much SMIC and Huawei were able to do with their limited hardware. SMIC used the deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) machine that it can import. For anything under 7nm, something more advanced is needed. To be more specific, they need Cannon’s nanoimprint lithography (NIL) tech.
It is worth noting that Huawei did submit an interesting patent application regarding EUV components a year ago. That could turn into something really interesting for Huawei, and allow the company to catch up.
In any case, we’ve used the Kirin 9000s in Huawei’s new tablet, and that chip performed great. It may not do great in benchmarks, but when it comes to performance, it does a great job.