As the Kirin 985 is a more economical version than the Kirin 990, it uses the 7 nm manufacturing process and comes with a 5G network module, in addition to conventional 2G, 3G and 4G. On paper, the Kirin 985 connectivity module is capable of achieving 1277 Mbps download rate and 173 Mbps upload, making it 40% faster than Snapdragon X55 in downloads and 75% in uploads. Without detailing its frequencies, Huawei revealed that there are eight cores on the Kirin 985 – a powerful main core, three intermediate cores and four other auxiliaries – complemented by the Mali-G77 octa-core GPU. In the presented benchmarks, they were able to identify a Cortex-A76 core (2.58 GHz), three Cortex-A76 cores (2.4 GHz) and four other Cortex-A55 (1.84 GHz). In addition to them, the SoC will also feature a dual-core NPU AI unit and an ISP 5.0 imaging unit, very similar to that used in the Kirin 990, making them almost equivalent in terms of performance. In addition, the manufacturer claims to have reached a new level of energy efficiency with its 5G module, consuming 504 mA in high traffic scenarios and 291 mA when idle. The official announcement also promises to use 5G on dual-SIM smartphones, in addition to compatibility with low-latency 5G, 5G focused on energy savings and 5G high speed. In the same presentation, Huawei announced the Honor 30 line, whose base model will be the first smartphone that will feature the Kirin 985 processor – while the busier models in the line will be equipped with the Kirin 990. In addition to it, we can also expect the presence of the CPU in the upcoming Huawei Nova 7. The announced smartphones are now available for pre-order in China and will hit shelves on April 21.
