Honor View 30 set to be just as powerful as Huawei's Mate 30 and Mate X
The first 5G Honor phone
Huawei has confirmed that the Kirin 990 chipset, which we're expecting to see in the Mate 30 Pro and Mate X, will also run the upcoming Honor View 30.
The View 30, which Honor had suggested (but not confirmed) would have a 5G version, is the next handset we're expecting to see from Huawei's sub-brand, Honor. Unlike the Mate 30 and Mate X, the Honor View 30 is a mid-range phone, so it'll be the first non-premium device to come with Huawei's cutting-edge processor.
One of the improvements the Kirin 990 brings to smartphones is improved performance, which is pretty important for high-end phones.
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Honor focuses on the 'great-for-gaming' angle of its smartphones, and if the View 30 had a cutting-edge processor to rival premium handsets, it'd be great for mobile gaming but at a lower price tag to its competitors.
That also means the Honor View 30 could be just as powerful as the Mate 30 and Mate X, due to having the same chipset, although it could have less RAM.
Extended battery life is another improvement that you can expect with the Kirin 990, so a battery with the same capacity will be able to power a device for much longer than on a comparable device with the Kirin 980.
However the main upgrade the Kirin 990 brings is 5G compatibility, which could mean the Honor View 30 comes with a 5G version. That's actually something Honor CEO George Zhao suggested at MWC Shanghai, when he said Honor would have a 5G phone by the end of the year.
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The Honor View 30 will likely release as the Honor V30 in China in December, before becoming available as the View 30 for the rest of the world in January, if the Honor View 20's roll-out will be emulated.
We won't know for sure until later in 2019, though – before that, Huawei is set to launch the Huawei Mate 30 series on September 19, so come on back to TechRadar then to find out all about the new series of phones.
Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.
He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist.