Delayed Huawei Mate X primed for Kirin 990 SoC upgrade and P30 camera setup

While the delayed launch of the Mate X is surely off-putting for fans and customers that have been waiting to get their hands on the new foldable handheld since the February MWC event, Huawei is apparently planning to make it worth the wait, as the model scheduled for the November launch should come with significant spec upgrades.

Neowin reports that the upcoming Mate X will come equipped with the Kirin 990 SoC that should be officially unveiled at IFA Berlin this September. The next gen SoC is said to be among the first to integrate a 5G modem, which could free up space for a larger battery, so we can expect to see capacities in excess of 4,500 mAh. Other rumored features for the new SoC include an improved core cluster featuring the latest ARM Cortex-A77 CPUs and the Mali-G77 GPU, plus support support for 4K@60 fps recording capabilities, which also ties-in with an upgrade to the initial camera setup.

According to Neowin, the November model will include the same camera setup from the P30 series, which integrates RYYB sensors known to provide better low-light picture quality over the traditional RGB sensors. Since the mate X comes with a thicker edge that integrates the imaging hardware and other needed sensors, Huawei may also include the 5x periscope lens from the P30 Pro model.

With the addition of the improved specs, there is some concern regarding a price bump, but, hopefully, Huawei will keep the MSRP close to US$2,000.