A teardown of the Mate 60 Pro allows us to understand a little better how Huawei circumvents the American embargo to come back in force.
The Huawei Mate 60 Pro has not finished making headlines. Unveiled in China at the very end of August, the smartphone recorded excellent sales in the first weeks of its launch. The device crystallizes Huawei’s efforts to circumvent the American embargo, although very severe, which has been imposed on it.
Gold, Nikkei Asia provides new proof of the snub that Huawei seems to be giving to the US authorities. The Japanese business media worked with Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, a disassembly specialist, to look at what was in the bowels of said Mate 60 Pro.
The observation is interesting: the Chinese components of the Mate 60 Pro constitute 47% of its value. This is a significant increase of 18% percentage points compared to the Mate 40 Pro released three years ago. This is quite a tour de force on the part of Huawei and, to understand why, we need to recall a little context.
The Mate 60 Pro against the embargo
Since 2019, the American embargo has prevented Huawei from collaborating with American companies without special authorizations, and the brand’s smartphones can therefore no longer benefit from Google services. But, since 2020, the measures taken by Washington have also prohibited foreign companies from supplying the Chinese firm with components that have used American technologies to be designed.
As a result, we have seen Huawei encounter a lot of difficulty in producing interesting smartphones; the models of recent years were notably deprived of compatibility with the 5G network. A huge weak point in 2023.
Except that the Mate 60 Pro, in addition to being a high-end smartphone packed with interesting technologies, benefits from 5G. Something that seemed impossible as Huawei’s supply lines were suffocated by the United States.
The American authorities were quick to take a close interest in this Mate 60 Pro, suspecting it of having violated the embargo through the use of American technologies. The government has also indicated that it intends to inquire in more detail.
Huawei relies on Chinese suppliers
At the heart of the suspicions is the Kirin 9000S chip. It is this which allows the Mate 60 Pro to taste 5G. According to the disassembly of the smartphone carried out by Fomalhaut, it is an SoC designed by HiSilicon – the Huawei subsidiary dedicated to semiconductors – and manufactured by the Chinese SMIC (Semiconductor International Manufacturing Corp.).
We learned that SMIC would have used old equipment not affected by the American embargo. Then, thanks to a few technical adjustments (repeated exposures to engrave and movement of the substrate on which the engraving is made), the company could have engraved this Kirin 9000S chip with a size equivalent to 7 nm. Ingenious tricks that show strong determination to circumvent sanctions.
Beyond that, Huawei turned heavily to Chinese suppliers to create its Mate 60 Pro. Nikkei cites in particular more screens from BOE and components for touch controls now purchased from a Chinese partner.
Huawei in force in China
In other words, Huawei has refocused on its domestic market both for smartphone sales and for their design and manufacturing. Several analysts also evoke a patriotic feeling in China which pushes consumers to buy Huawei products. This is reflected in particular by a sharp increase in sales in the third quarter of 2023.
Huawei is therefore not dead, far from it. The giant seems well on its way to regaining its glory, at least in its native country, China. Finally, let us point out that the sanctions against the firm were imposed after the American intelligence services accused it of using its network infrastructure to carry out espionage operations on behalf of Beijing.