The Mate 10 line-up. Image: Huawei
We are firmly in the era of the AI-powered handset.
The spokesperson for Huawei was resolute. The Mate 10 is not a smartphone. It is an intelligent machine.
The Chinese tech manufacturer is pulling out all the stops to swat away competitors – from Apple to Google and Samsung – in terms of claiming the crown in a new epoch for smart devices.
‘As we enter the age of intelligence, AI is no longer a virtual concept but something that intertwines with our daily life’
– RICHARD YU
AI is the watchword as devices will come with additional chipsets on top of CPUs and GPUs that employ machine learning in everything from photography to security.
Last month, Apple revealed its new iPhone X, which features the new A11 X Bionic chip, Face ID’s ability to detect 33,000 IR dots on the human face, and machine learning in the camera to compose perfect shots before they are even taken.
Neural brains now inside smartphones
Image: Huawei
Not to be outdone, Huawei this week revealed the Huawei Mate 10 and the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, which it describes as AI-powered devices.
“They are not smartphones, they are intelligent machines,” the spokesman said, pointing to the Kirin 970 processor, an AI chipset designed to get the device to think like the human brain.
The Kirin 970 chip – obviously Huawei’s rival to Apple’s A11 X Bionic chip – is built using an advanced TSMC 10nm semiconductor manufacturing process and features an octa-core ARM Cortex CPU, a Mali-G72, 12-core GPU and its first NPU designed for a mobile device. It also has a new dual ISP for AI-powered intelligent photography.
The combination of the NPU with Huwaei’s HiAI mobile computing platform delivers a boost 25 times the performance and 50 times the energy efficiency of last year’s Mate 9.
The Mate 10 also comes with an AI accelerated translator that works with Microsoft’s translator engine as well as an easy projection feature that connects the device to a larger screen, turning it into a personal computer.
“As we enter the age of intelligence, AI is no longer a virtual concept but something that intertwines with our daily life,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group.
“The Huawei Mate 10 series introduces the first mobile AI-specific neural network processing unit, launching a new era of intelligent smartphones.”
