The Huawei Mate 40 series is expected to feature a free-form camera lens and new 5nm Kirin 1020
International analyst Ming Chi Kuo laid-out a few educated predictions about Huawei's upcoming Mate 40 family of handsets. The latter, of course, expected to come no sooner than September and likely even later, given the ongoing global health crisis. Regardless, all the suggested info sounds pretty believable and deserves at least some attention, even if not backed by any hard proof.
Starting with the chipset, apparently we can look forward to a Kirin 1020, also known by its Baltimore codename. The source claims it will take advantage of TSMCs 5nm manufacturing node. Though, its a bit unclear on whether this refers to the N5 process, which promises 15% higher performance than 7nm, combined with 30% extra power efficiency, or the superior N5P process, which further drops power consumption by an estimated 15%.
The exact ARM reference cores to be used in the chipset or their configuration are still largely a mystery, as well. The source hints at a Cortex-A77 or Cortex-A78, but those are the only viable options anyway. As far as time-frames go, the analyst claims that the new Kirin 1020 can be delivered on a large scale around August. Huawei hasnt been particularly thigh-lipped when it comes to its silicon lately, detailing the Kirin 820 5G and letting some major Kirin 985 leaks through the cracks. So, it probably wont be too long now before we get the scoop on the Kirin 1020.
On to the camera department, where the main new piece of information is an expected free-form lens design. The analyst says this will benefit the ultrawide camera on the Mate 40 series, minimizing distortions and aberrations Apparently, the particular design will be patented by Huawei and thus be exclusive to its products.
Free-from lens design is kind of a vague term, but we do have a pretty-good idea of what it typically refers to in optics. Some of its alternative designations, like digitally surfaced, cut-to-polish and direct-to-surface are arguably a bit more descriptive. In overly-simplified terms, free-form lens design refers to an advanced process that spans from preliminary work on the lens shape and materials through advanced software and multi-point complex mathematical calculations of refractions and optics all over the surface of the lens. Finally, culminating in machines and manufacturing processes that can work with extreme precision. We are talking measurements as little as 1 micron or 1/25,400 of an inch. Impressive stuff, but were sure Huawei will do a much better job eventually hyping the tech up in its presentations.