Huawei has announced the Kirin XE90 and the Kirin X90 Plus, its latest proprietary silicon designed for laptops and desktops. The new hardware promises hardware ray tracing on HarmonyOS computers alongside major performance leaps in artificial intelligence tasks. However, full physical specifications remain under wraps until the upcoming laptops launch next week.
The flagship Kirin X90 Plus targets premium computing performance. Huawei indicated that this processor will use a more advanced fabrication process than the original X90 model. Industry analysts expect the chip to rely on 7nm technology from SMIC, specifically using their N+2 or N+3 process nodes. This high tier processor is scheduled to power the upcoming MateBook Fold Ultimate Design laptop.
For more portable machines, the energy efficient Kirin XE90 focuses on battery life and machine learning capabilities. Compared to the previous model, this chip delivers 23% faster single thread performance and a 25% increase in energy efficiency. The NPU module also sees a 40% bandwidth boost. This processor will debut inside the thin MateBook Pro S laptop.
Graphics tasks on the energy efficient chip are managed by the Maleoon 935 integrated GPU, which comes equipped with 6 compute units. This graphical processor is inherited from the older Kirin 9030 Pro and is responsible for enabling hardware ray tracing on HarmonyOS desktop systems. To handle heavy artificial intelligence workloads, the NPU has also been upgraded to a larger multicore cluster. Both chips are scheduled to hit the retail market next week as part of the new laptop lineup.
