((Automated translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))
Huawei’s new high-end Pura 70 smartphone series sold out quickly after its launch last month. Analysts see it as a new challenger to Apple’s iPhone AAPL.O and add signs of how the Chinese company is fighting U.S. restrictions.
The Pura series developed by the Shenzhen-based company features advanced cameras and is known for its sleek design. In comparison, the Mate 60 series, which marked Huawei’s return to the high-end smartphone market last year, emphasizes performance and professional features.
US companies iFixit and TechSearch International, which provide product teardown reports, examined the interior of Huawei Technologies’ Pura 70 Pro for Reuters. Here are their conclusions:
CHIP PROCESSOR
The Pura 70 phones use an advanced system-on-chip that bears exterior markings matching the older Kirin 9000, the chip used by Huawei’s Mate 60 series that was produced by China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp’s (SMIC) 7-nanometer foundry (nm) N+2 manufacturing process.
IFixit, TechSearch and other teardown companies call this chip Kirin 9010.
MEMORY CHIPS
Like the Mate 60, the Pura 70 uses a DRAM chip made by South Korean company SK Hynix.
The Pura 70’s NAND flash memory chip, however, bears markings indicating that it was likely manufactured by Huawei’s in-house unit, HiSilicon, according to iFixit and TechSearch. In comparison, the Mate 60 used NAND chips from SK Hynix.
The Pura 70’s NAND chip offers 1 terabyte (TB) of storage capacity – equivalent to that found in many high-end laptops – but it’s only made up of 8 NAND dies, which means that each has a capacity of 1 terabit (Tbit). This capacity is comparable to products made by major foreign flash memory producers such as SK Hynix, Kioxia and Micron
MU.O.
iFixit added that it believes HiSilicon may also have produced the memory controller for the NAND chip.
The density obtained depends on the wafers used in the chip. However, the companies were unable to positively identify the wafer manufacturer because the markings on the NAND chip were unfamiliar, although they believe it is a domestic producer , they added.
OTHER COMPONENTS MADE IN CHINA
The Pura 70 Pro phone integrates a series of other essential components designed by HiSilicon, such as WiFi and Bluetooth modules and power management chips.
Components such as audio amplifiers and LED flash drivers are sourced from other domestic suppliers such as Goodix 603160.SS and Awinic 688798.SS.
PARTS MADE ABROAD
However, the phone still incorporates some components from foreign suppliers. The battery charger comes from the Taiwanese company Richtek and, above all, the motion and rotation sensor is supplied by the German company Bosch.
IFixit noted that it was curious that Chinese manufacturers had the capacity to produce these sensors domestically, which raises the question of why it was necessary to use a foreign-made sensor.
