A recent teardown analysis has revealed that Huawei Technologies’ latest high-end smartphone, the Pura 70 series, incorporates more components from Chinese suppliers.
What Happened: The Pura 70 series, released by Huawei in late April, features a memory chip likely packaged by Huawei’s in-house chip unit HiSilicon, as well as other components from Chinese suppliers, Reuters reported, citing a teardown analysis by online tech repair company iFixit and consultancy firm TechSearch International.
The phone is powered by an advanced processing chipset, the Kirin 9010, also made by Huawei. This chipset is believed to be a slightly improved version of the Chinese-made advanced chip used in U.S.-sanctioned Huawei’s Mate 60 series.
Huawei is expected to follow it up with the Mate 70 series, scheduled to launch in September this year, setting up a clash with Apple Inc.’s iPhone 16.
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Shahram Mokhtari, iFixit’s lead teardown technician, emphasized the significance of this shift, stating, “This is about self-sufficiency, all of this, everything you see when you open up a smartphone and see whatever are [sic] made by Chinese manufacturers, this is all about self-sufficiency.”
See Also: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Says US Is Ahead Of China In AI By ‘2-3 Years’
Why It Matters: The Pura 70 series, with its significant reliance on Chinese-made components, points at China’s progress towards technology self-sufficiency, a topic that has been under scrutiny amid ongoing U.S.-China trade tensions and sanctions on Chinese tech companies.
The U.S. government has now stepped it up a notch by revoking Intel Corp. and Qualcomm Inc.’s export licenses to sell chips to Huawei.
Earlier in April, Huawei’s use of the Kirin 9010 processor in the Pura 70 series was seen as a significant development in China’s semiconductor ambitions, especially in light of U.S. sanctions on chip exports to China.
However, the recent revocation of export licenses for Intel and Qualcomm to sell chips to Huawei may pose new challenges for the company’s future smartphone releases.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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