Huawei Mate XT Minor Update Imminent: Will the Renewed Imaging System and Kirin 9000 Series Chip Reignite the High-End Foldable Market?

Huawei Mate XT Minor Update Imminent: Will the Renewed Imaging System and Kirin 9000 Series Chip Reignite the High-End Foldable Market?In a smartphone industry grappling with innovation fatigue, foldable phones, with their revolutionary designs, have emerged as a new market growth driver, offering users unprecedented experiences. High-end consumers increasingly demand foldable phones, making them a crucial avenue for brands to enhance their competitiveness

Huawei Mate XT Minor Update Imminent: Will the Renewed Imaging System and Kirin 9000 Series Chip Reignite the High-End Foldable Market?

In a smartphone industry grappling with innovation fatigue, foldable phones, with their revolutionary designs, have emerged as a new market growth driver, offering users unprecedented experiences. High-end consumers increasingly demand foldable phones, making them a crucial avenue for brands to enhance their competitiveness. Huawei, a leader in the foldable phone sector, maintains a leading position thanks to its strong performance in both large and small foldable phone segments. The previously released Huawei Mate XT, with its innovative tri-fold design, redefined the competition in the high-end market exceeding 10,000.

The success of the Huawei Mate XT wasn't accidental. While consumers are captivated by the stunning visual experience of its 10.2-inch screen, few appreciate the 137 patented technologies behind this flexible display. Huawei's R&D team revealed that the hinge alone went through 12 iterations, ultimately adopting an innovative "Z"-shaped design that seamlessly combines the advantages of inward and outward folding, achieving a dual-track linked folding mechanism.

However, the initial Mate XT didn't feature the most cutting-edge Huawei technologies. Now, while other manufacturers are still catching up to the first-generation tri-fold technology, Huawei is announcing a significant update: a minor update to the Huawei Mate XT.

Reliable sources indicate that the upcoming improved model will focus on upgrading two core areas: the XMAGE Red Maple Original Color Imaging System and the new generation Kirin 9000 series chip. In terms of imaging, the XMAGE Red Maple Original Color Imaging System has become a key feature of the Huawei Mate 70 series and is expected to be gradually adopted in the Pocket 3, Nova 14 series, and Pura 80 series. This system, utilizing over 1.5 million spectral channels, captures richer environmental spectral information, improving color reproduction accuracy by 120%. Combined with XMAGE imaging technology and the phone's own lens sensors, its photographic capabilities will be significantly enhanced.

For core configuration, a Kirin 9000 series processor for the high-end flagship Mate XT is expected. This chip is not without merit. It's the industry's first 5G-ASOC to support 3GPP R18, and its CPU's large, medium, and small cores are all Huawei's own design, featuring a self-developed small core that significantly outperforms generic small cores. Its CPU architecture includes 1 large Taishan core (2.5GHz) + 3 medium Taishan cores (2.15GHz) + 4 small cores (1.6GHz), and a Mali-G920 GPU, delivering strong performance. Importantly, this chip excels in power consumption control, ensuring extended usagea crucial aspect of this minor update.

Furthermore, the new phone will be equipped with HarmonyOS NEXT. This system, based on a completely self-developed underlying architecture, abandons the traditional Linux kernel and AOSP code, focusing on the HarmonyOS kernel and its ecosystem support. This not only streamlines the system code, reducing redundancy, but also results in a smoother user experience and higher energy efficiency. It also enhances interconnectivity between devices. While smoothness is anticipated, the maturity of the HarmonyOS ecosystem still requires further observation. Notably, the Huawei Pocket 3 may be the first phone to ship with native HarmonyOS NEXT, while the Huawei Mate XT minor update will require more patience.

Huawei's choice to release the minor update between the end of the year and June cleverly avoids the impact of Apple's autumn launch event while targeting the high-end gift market around Chinese New Year. More profoundly, Huawei's "small steps, fast pace" update strategy creates a unique technology iteration rhythm. While competitors are undertaking annual updates, Huawei maintains market buzz. However, this also means no major updates are expected in the short term, allowing Huawei more time for R&D and future preparations.

For those who love tri-fold phones, this minor update might be worth anticipating. The combination of the XMAGE Red Maple Original Color Imaging System, the self-developed Kirin 9000 series chip, and HarmonyOS NEXT will give the new phone strong competitiveness.

So, are you looking forward to the Huawei Mate XT minor update? Share your thoughts in the comments.