Huawei Launches Pura 70 Equipped With China's AI Chip

Buyers have been queuing since the morning before Huawei Pura 70 was launched (photo: dock. huawei)

JAKARTA The Chinese technology giant, Huawei, started the sale of two models from the highly anticipated Pura 70 mobile series on Thursday, April 18. Many analysts estimate this phone is equipped with advanced Chinese chips such as on the Mate 60 series phones.

The Pura series developed by the Shenzhen-based company has an advanced camera and is known for its elegant design. While the Mate series emphasizes the performance and features of the business.

The Chinese state media celebrated the launch of the Mate 60 Huawei series last year as a victory over US sanctions against the company. Because the phone is supported by advanced Chinese chips whose computing power is considered to be several generations behind the chips used by Western tech giants such as Apple and Google.

Eric Xu, interim CEO of Huawei, on Wednesday 17 April, said at a forum in Shenzhen that the company is also planning to launch a Mate 70-year-old phone.

Pro and Ultra versions of Pura 70 are available on Thursday, while Plus versions and bases will go on sale on April 22. The phone immediately sold out at Huawei's official online store just one minute after sales started. In fact, hundreds of fans of the brand have to queue at Huawei stores in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.

One of the customers, Lucas Zhuang, tested the Pura 70 network speed and said that the speed was equivalent to 5G. Washington has banned 5G chip licenses to China, but the Mate 60 Huawei phone has been able to reach 5G speeds in many cases even though Huawei is not banned as 5G.

"Our mother doesn't know what chips are in Pura 70. We'll only know after buying them," Zhuang, who already has Mate 60, said after waiting at Huawei's main store in Shanghai. "But we believe the chips it has will definitely meet our needs."

Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at research firm Counterpoint, said he expects a shipment of around 60 million units from Huawei this year, where the Pura 70 series is an important catalyst. Last year, Huawei sold about 32 million smartphones.

"There is a possibility of availability in various channels, but supply will be much better than when Mate 60 was launched. We don't expect any sustainable shortages," he said.

The Pura 70 series has four variants: 70, 70 Plus, 70 Pro, and 70 Ultra. The initial price for the Pura 70 series is 5,499 yuan (IDR 12.3 million).

The launch of the Mate 60 Pro in August last year caused a surge in sales of Huawei smartphones. According to Counterpoint, in the first six weeks of 2024, Huawei's unit sales rose 64% on an annual basis. On the other hand, Apple's iPhone sales in China fell 24% during the same period.

China's Kirin 9000S Huawei chip is reportedly produced by China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) despite facing US export restrictions aimed at limiting the country's bamboo curtain chip manufacturing capabilities.

After the launch of Pura 70, several content creators immediately made a live broadcast of their process of dismantling the phone on Chinese social media, where thousands of Huawei fans watched it. According to these viewers =, the smartphone is equipped with the Kirin 9010 chip, which appears to be a slight upgrade from Kirin 9000S on the previous Mate 60 Pro.

Several viewers also noted that the phone was not as hot as Mate 60.

Huawei's new chips are considered a symbol of the rise of Chinese technology despite Washington's ongoing efforts to destroy its capacity in producing advanced semiconductors.

US President Joe Biden's administration began a review of the chip earlier this year and said last month that SMIC may have violated US export rules. He added that they were still evaluating the situation.

In addition to targeting Chinese chipmakers, the US has imposed trade restrictions on Huawei since 2018, seeing its companies and products as a national security risk, which the company has rejected.

Retailing about the upcoming Mate 70 phone on Tuesday, April 16, Xu said the goal was to use a "pure" version of his HarmonyOS operating system, which was developed in 2019 after US sanctions cut Huawei's access to US technology like Android Google.

HarmonyOS is already dependent on the Android app ecosystem but Huawei plans to cut ties and make HarmonyOS independent and able to compete with iOS Apple and Android.