China Huawei Mate 70 Review: Kirin Chipset, HarmonyOS NEXT and Global Impact
The Huawei Mate 70 represents a milestone in China's semiconductor self-sufficiency journey. Powered by the domestically produced Kirin 9100 chipset and running HarmonyOS NEXT (fully independent of Android), the Mate 70 demonstrates that Huawei has achieved meaningful technology independence despite years of US sanctions. The device has generated enormous domestic enthusiasm and significantly impacted Apple's market share in China's premium smartphone segment.
TL;DR
Huawei Mate 70 launched with the Kirin 9100 chipset (7nm-class, SMIC-produced) and HarmonyOS NEXT, achieving 95% domestic component integration. Pre-orders exceeded 10 million units in the first week. The device recovered Huawei's smartphone market share to approximately 19% in China, directly impacting Apple which saw its China share decline to 15%. Benchmark performance reaches 85% of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 levels.
Key Insights
First-Week Pre-Orders
Huawei Mate 70 series pre-orders exceeded 10 million units in the first week, reflecting massive pent-up demand and patriotic purchasing sentiment. Sales exceeded the entire Mate 60 series launch quarter within just two weeks.
Domestic Component Rate
The Mate 70 achieved over 95% domestic component integration, including the Kirin 9100 chipset from HiSilicon/SMIC, BOE display panels, Wingtech camera modules, and ATL batteries. Only a few specialized sensors remain imported.
Huawei China Market Share Recovery
Huawei's smartphone market share in China recovered to approximately 19% in Q4 2025, making it the second-largest vendor behind Vivo at 20%. This is a remarkable recovery from a low of 7% in 2023 when sanctions were most impactful.
Apple China Share Decline
Apple's iPhone market share in China declined to approximately 15% in Q4 2025, down from 20% a year earlier. The Mate 70 launch, combined with growing domestic brand preference, significantly impacted premium segment demand for Apple products.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Spec | Huawei Mate 70 Pro | iPhone 16 Pro Max | Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra | Xiaomi 15 Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Kirin 9100 | A18 Pro | Snapdragon 8 Elite | Snapdragon 8 Elite |
| Process | 7nm-class (SMIC) | 3nm (TSMC) | 3nm (TSMC) | 3nm (TSMC) |
| Display | 6.9" LTPO OLED | 6.9" LTPO OLED | 6.9" LTPO OLED | 6.73" LTPO OLED |
| Camera | 50+50+12+48MP | 48+48+12MP | 200+50+50+10MP | 50+50+50MP |
| Battery | 5700mAh | 4685mAh | 5000mAh | 6100mAh |
| Charging | 100W wired+80W wireless | 27W wired+25W wireless | 45W wired+15W wireless | 120W wired+50W wireless |
| OS | HarmonyOS NEXT | iOS 18 | One UI 7 | HyperOS 2 |
| Price | 6999 RMB | 9999 RMB | 9699 RMB | 4999 RMB |
Frequently Asked Questions
The Kirin 9100 achieves approximately 85% of the multi-core performance of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and roughly 90% in single-core benchmarks. In real-world usage including gaming, photography processing, and multitasking, most users report performance that is virtually indistinguishable from Snapdragon-powered flagships. The chip is produced by SMIC using a 7nm-class process (likely N+2 equivalent), which while trailing TSMC's 3nm node, demonstrates that China's domestic semiconductor manufacturing can produce competitive mobile processors. Power efficiency lags behind leading nodes by approximately 15-20%, resulting in slightly higher thermal output under sustained load.
HarmonyOS NEXT is Huawei's fully proprietary operating system that completely removed Android AOSP code. Unlike earlier HarmonyOS versions which maintained Android app compatibility through a compatibility layer, HarmonyOS NEXT requires apps to be natively developed or adapted for the platform. This matters because it represents the first successful mobile operating system to challenge the Android-iOS duopoly at scale. Within six months of launch, over 1 million apps had been adapted or developed for HarmonyOS NEXT, and the platform served over 800 million devices. The ecosystem migration demonstrates that a viable third mobile OS ecosystem is technically feasible when backed by sufficient device volume and developer incentive programs.