Huawei Kirin 980 SoC Expected to Launch at IFA Keynote on August 31

Huawei has sent out invites for an IFA 2018 Keynote that is scheduled to be held on August 31. While there is little possibility of a phone launch during the event, the Chinese manufacturer is expected to unveil Hisilicon Kirin 980 SoC, the company's next-gen processor. It won't be a huge surprise since Huawei had launched the Kirin 970 at IFA 2017. Also, there may not be any Honor phone launched at the Keynote, as the Huawei sub-brand has been reported to be holding its own event at IFA as well. Also, Huawei's IFA Keynote event is just 45 minutes long.

As per a MyDrivers report, Huawei has started sending media invites for its IFA Keynote to be held on August 31. If the report is to be believed, the company will be unveiling the next-gen flagship processor, Kirin 980 SoC at the event. The report has also leaked some of the features of the upcoming SoC ahead of its launch next month.

According to the report, Huawei's Kirin 980 processor will be based on TSMC's 7nm FinFET fabrication process. If true, it will be the first Huawei processor to leverage this technology. The processor is also rumoured to arrive with a new Cambrian NPU (Neural Processing Unit). It will reportedly offer improved photography experience on smartphones powered by the SoC. As per a GSMArena report, the Kirin 980 is said to feature a Cortex A77 core. Also, the GPU may be the first in-house design from Huawei, which could beat the current Adreno 630 by 50 percent.

While Huawei is expected to introduce the Kirin 980 processor in smartphones like Huawei Mate 20 and Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Honor may also make use of the upcoming SoC in its smartphones, probably the successor to the Honor 10 in 2019.