SHENZHEN, CHINA : Huawei released the HUAWEI Mate XT 2 | ULTIMATE DESIGN trifold smartphone on September 7. The phone is the first to run HarmonyOS 7, and is the slimmest and largest foldable smartphone in the industry. The Mate XT 2’s Kirin 9050 chip also includes a major breakthrough in semiconductor design. As the first smartphone to feature the LogicFolding Tau (τ) Chip, the Mate XT 2 marks the chip’s official entry into mass commercialization.
World-class engineering and design
The device is proving popular with consumers due to its foldable wing-like form, which means it can be opened up, transforming the phone into a tablet.
The engineering to make this possible is unprecedented. The glass screen must be tough enough to withstand daily use, whilst being able to fold thousands of times. The hinge to allow the screen to fold is the first of its kind. Once open, the handset is just 3.5mm thick. However, the screen is not the only remarkable folding technology in the device.
The first chip with semiconductor design breakthrough, LogicFolding
The Mate XT 2 Ultimate Design includes a major breakthrough in semiconductor design. The phone is the first to use Huawei’s LogicFolding Tau chip Kirin 9050 Pro. Designed by engineers in Huawei’s HiSilicon team, the chip offers a solution to the problem of geometric scaling.
With Moore’s law (the historical observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years) believed to be reaching its physical limit, making chips smaller is becoming more challenging and costly.
For Huawei, faced with external restrictions, the need to find a solution came sooner than expected.
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