The Kirin 985 name has been thrown around for a while now, it was expected to launch last year, but then Huawei/HiSilicon announced the Kirin 990 5G and Kirin 990 4G, so it was assumed the 4G variant was just the 985.
However, leaks have been hotting up again it looks like the Kirin 985 will be a 5G chipset that sits just above the recently launched Kirin 980.
The latest news comes from a benchmark posted on AI Benchmark, which is still live on the site. The current speculation is that this is what will be featured on the up and coming Honor 30 phone.
The benchmark listing doesn’t mention anything about 5G, but all other reports of it suggest it is, and the Kirin 820 was launched as 5G only so this would make sense.
| Kirin 820 | Kirin 985 | Kirin 990 4G | Kirin 990 5G | |
| Prime cores | 1x A76, 2.36GHz | 1x A76, 2.58GHz | 2x A76, 2.86GHz | 2x A76, 2.86GHz |
| Big cores | 3x A76, 2.22GHz | 3x A76, 2.40GHz | 2x A76, 2.09GHz | 2x A76, 2.36GHz |
| Small cores | 4x A55, 1.84GHz | 4x A55, 1.84GHz | 4x A55, 1.86GHz | 4x A55, 1.95GHz |
As for the spec, it only states the CPU configuration, adopting a 1x3x4 layout the same as the Kirin 820 with its prime A76 core clocked a 2.58GHz then he three big cores clocked at 2.40GHz.
It’s four small efficiency A55 cores are then clocked the same as the Kirin 820 at 1.84GHz, which is fractionally below the Kirin 990 4G but quite a bit behind the Kirin 990 5G.
The AI specification is then the same as the Kirin 990 4G with a dual-core Da Vinci series NPU, this places it ahead of the Kirin 820, but being the tri-core HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G.
I am not a big fan of AI Benchmark due to the wildly different results between semiconductor brands, but the benchmark places this about where you expect it, ahead of the 820 and being the Kirin 990 5G (and MediaTek Dimensity 1000).
The Honor 30 Series of smartphones will launch on April 15 and will include the Honor 30 and the Honor 30 Pro.
Previous leaks indicate that the Honor 30 series will use the same or similar Sony 50-megapixel IMX700 sensor that is found in the superb Huawei P40 Pro.
