Huawei provokes USA during secretary visit to China and launches 5G cell phone – 08/31/2023 – Market

Chinese technology giant Huawei has launched its new smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro, claiming to be the most powerful it has ever produced, without detailing specifications. Tests indicated that it uses a more advanced chip, with speed to sustain a 5G connection.

Newspapers like the Taiwanese Digitimes, a reference in technology coverage, claim that it contains “in fact a SoC [chip que integra vários componentes] qualified for 5G” and even follows the market trend of offering satellite connection. Caixin magazine, from Beijing, also confirmed.

One test in particular, reverse-engineered on video by Chinese tech influencer Lou Bin of the Wekihome channel, showed the Mate 60 Pro reached speeds for 5G. He had purchased two devices at the Huawei store in Shenzhen, the only one selling beyond online platforms.

“It definitely has solid 5G speeds,” says Lou. “It really is a historic moment. Huawei did it, everyone knows it’s not easy.”

He pointed out that the equipment seeks self-sufficiency from top to bottom: battery and accessories are all manufactured by Huawei itself, plus Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ICs (integrated circuits) for power management from its subsidiary HiSilicon and audio solutions from AAC Technologies, as well. from Shenzhen.

The launch was scheduled for the 12th of September, but was brought forward by two weeks to this Wednesday (30th), apparently to coincide with the visit to China by the US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo. It appeared online when she was on the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai.

Raimondo runs the department that has sanctioned Huawei the most over the past four years. The company was banned from using 5G chips from Taiwanese TSMC, which was its supplier and also from Apple, as of May 2019. It even passed Korean Samsung and led in global smartphone sales.

Other actions taken against Huawei included a ban on the use of Google tools and the Android system itself, hence the development of its HarmonyOS, which was updated along with the Mate 60 Pro. Also the house arrest for almost three years of CFO Meng Wanzhou, Canada.

The newspaper Global Times, linked to the Chinese CP, ironized in an editorial the “coincidence” of the launch with the visit. Quoting Raimondo by name, he published that “the Chinese people no longer expect major adjustments from the US, but if it eases its extreme restraint against China, we will certainly welcome it.”

With a price set at 6,999 yuan, around R$ 4,770, the Mate 60 Pro has a maximum download speed, according to tests reproduced online, between 500 and 800 megabits per second (Mbps), above the ceiling of 300 Mbps and typical speed of 100 Mbps for 4G.

A note from investment manager Sanford C. Bernstein said it was not clear which company has been manufacturing the Kirin 9000S chips, developed by Huawei itself for 5G, but believed to be Chinese. Most likely they were produced by SMIC in Shanghai.

The technology used for manufacturing would be N+2, which SMIC itself has described as being several years behind TSMC, which supplies its most advanced chips for Apple’s iPhone. The competitiveness of the Mate 60 Pro would also be affected abroad by not being able to use Android

On the other hand, a note from the investment company HuaJin Securities, from Shanghai, predicted a positive impact on the technology supply chain in the country and risked that the Mate 60 Pro would serve as a catalyst for more advanced smartphones, of Chinese origin.