Huawei unveils blazing fast mobile processor, Xiaomi to join fray

Journalists follow the presentation of Huawei's smartphone, the Mate S, ahead of the IFA Electronics show in Berlin, Germany, in this file picture taken September 2, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING - Huawei, like Apple, is one of the only phone brands that makes its own processors. Its newly-unveiled gizmo Kirin 960 processor has caught the eye of many.

According to reports from Android Central, the Huawei device powered by Kirin 960 outperformed iPhone 7 and a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in the launch speeds of 13 out of the 14 most popular apps in China during test.

The mobile processor is the heart of any smart device. It is designed to support the running of applications, including graphics processing, memory management and multimedia decoding.

Currently the more popular processors on the market include Qualcomm's Snapdragon (used in phones like the Samsung Galaxy S7) series as well as Apple's A-series chipsets used in iPhones.

Huawei's arch-rival in China, Xiaomi Inc, currently relies heavily on Qualcomm's processors. Faced by the competition, Xiaomi is also looking to produce its own in-house processor so as to lower production costs, according to news circulated online.

The Kirin 960 will most likely power Huawei's upcoming, long-rumored Mate 9.