Huawei has been facing a plethora of US restrictions around the export of 5G and other technologies for the past few years. Since 2021, the Chinese smartphone brand was solely depending on Qualcomm for chipsets. Now, a Chinese tipster has hinted that Huawei is gearing up to announce a new chip in the second half of this year. The surprise chip is said to be based on new packaging technology. The tipster also suggests that the preparations for Huawei’s Mate X3 foldable smartphone will begin in a couple of days.

A Chinese tipster on Weibo claimed that Huawei is looking to bring small surprises this year in the form of a new chip. The upcoming chip designed with new packaging technology is said to be launched in the second half of this year. There’s, however, no official confirmation from Huawei regarding the reported details.

American officials had placed Huawei on a trade blacklist back in 2019. As per a recent report by Reuters, the Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for US companies to export most items to China’s Huawei. Californa-based Qualcomm received permission to sell 4G smartphone chips to Huawei in 2020.

The tipster also suggests that preparations for the Huawei Mate X3 foldable smartphone will start in another two days. It is expected to come with the next-generation satellite connectivity. Using this advanced communication feature, users will be able to send and receive short messages through a direct satellite network. The Huawei Mate X3 foldable smartphone is said to be in the works as a successor to Huawei Mate X2, which was launched in February 2021.

The Huawei Mate X3 is expected to run on the latest HarmonyOS 2.0.1 edition and could be powered by a Kirin 9000 4G SoC. The unannounced handset appeared with model number PAL-AL00 on China’s state telecommunications certification authority TENAA last year. The listing suggested 4G connectivity and dual-SIM support. It is tipped to pack a 4,500mAh battery. An alleged China Compulsory Certification (3C) listing suggested support for 66W fast charging.