Highlights

• Huawei Mate 60 series sees high demand due to its first in-house 5G Kirin chip since 2020.
• SMIC’s unexpected production of the 7nm Kirin 9000s SoC sparks industry surprise.
• Pre-order strategy implemented to cope with the Mate 60 series’ sales surge in China.
• Huawei offers a 90-day subscription plan for the Mate 60 series to manage delivery expectations.

Huawei is reportedly grappling with a new challenge as it struggles to keep up with the demand for its latest Mate 60 series phones.

Launched at the end of August, the Mate 60 has garnered significant attention because it’s Huawei’s first phone with its own 5G Kirin chips since the Mate 40 series was released in 2020.

This was a surprise move, especially after US restrictions had stopped advanced chip deliveries to Huawei.

Production Mysteries

The Mate 50 series and this year’s P60 line both used a 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon chip that couldn’t support 5G, due to US export rules.

Huawei had received permission to import these chips.
However, with the Mate 60 series, there is a lot of speculation about how SMIC, China’s largest foundry, managed to produce the 7nm Kirin 9000s SoC for Huawei.

This level of chip sophistication was not expected from SMIC, which had previously been known to produce only 14nm chipsets due to the same US restrictions.

Dylan Patel, a chief analyst at SemiAnalysis, reported that SMIC’s 7nm production line is doing well and is similar to TSMC’s advanced 7nm process.

Patel’s comments suggest that SMIC may only be a few years behind industry leaders like TSMC, Intel, and Samsung, despite US limitations.

Market Buzz and Sales Performance

In China, the release of the Mate 60 series created a buzz among consumers eager for new 5G phones from Huawei.

The timing was close to the iPhone 15 series launch, and it’s possible that Huawei’s new models diverted some of Apple’s potential customers in China.

The demand for the Mate 60 series has been so high that Huawei has had to take pre-orders, according to Wang Yang, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Subscription Plans and Delivery Schedules

To manage the high demand, Huawei has introduced a subscription plan in China, promising that customers will receive their Mate 60 series phone within 90 days of placing a pre-order.

Orders are limited to one unit per customer and are shipped randomly within that three-month window.

The delivery dates are spread out from the current month to February.

FAQs

What’s causing the high demand for the Huawei Mate 60 series?

The Huawei Mate 60 series is the first set of Huawei phones to come with an in-house 5G Kirin chip since the Mate 40, which has sparked significant consumer interest and led to high demand.

How did SMIC manage to produce the 7nm Kirin 9000s SoC despite US restrictions?

There’s widespread speculation on how China’s largest foundry, SMIC, was able to produce the sophisticated 7nm Kirin 9000s SoC for Huawei. Analyst Dylan Patel suggests that SMIC’s production capabilities may be closer to industry leaders than previously thought.

How is Huawei handling the Mate 60 series demand in China?

Huawei is managing the demand by taking pre-orders and offering a subscription plan that ensures customers receive their new phones within 90 days of ordering, with deliveries spread out over the coming months.

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