Honor had held a press conference on the evening of 31st March 2020. While the focus of the conference was the Honor 30S, the President of Honor, Zhao Ming (or George Zhao) also accepted an interview after the event.

In the interview, the senior executive from the Huawei subsidiary answered various questions regarding the new products and the company’s current direction and plans for the year 2020. One such question was regarding the new proprietary chipset the Kirin 820 5G SoC, which is housed in the Honor 30S. The chipset is notable because it is a great balance between powerful performance and pricing, according to the President.

Honor Kirin 820 5G featured
Kirin 820 5G SoC

The Kirin 820 SoC utilizes much of the same architecture as the company’s current flagship processor, the Kirin 990. It is built on a similar 7nm process technology and features a built in 5G modem, which is impressive considering it will be found in a smartphone priced between 2000 to 2500 Yuan (roughly 281 to 352 US Dollars). So, it can be assumed that it fills in the gap between high end and mid range smartphones.

In regards to one of its primary rivals, Qualcomm, George Zhao stated that Kirin 820 is a mid to high end SoC with an integrated 5G modem. This is different from Qualcomm’s current flagship the Snapdragon 865 SoC which features a discrete 5G modem. In simpler terms, the latter is capable of noticeably better performance, but the key difference here is pricing as the Qualcomm chipset is primarily found in premium grade flagships which are generally expensive.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Soc
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC

Thus, in this regard, Qualcomm has no immediate and direct competitor to the Kirin 820 SoC, since the Snapdragon 865 is a flagship processor while the SD700G series have yet to catch up. During the interview, George Zhao also placed an emphasis on competition, stating that rivalry and innovation is what drives the industry forward in advancement.

 

(Via)