Huawei launches new homegrown PCs with homemade Chinese CPUs and operating systems

(Image credit: Huawei)

Huawei has introduced two new desktop systems in the Chinese domestic market. The Qingyun W515y and W585y leverage Huawei's homemade Kirin 9000X processor, complemented by the Tongxin UOS V20 or Galaxy Kylin V10 operating systems that aim to unseat Windows in the Chinese market.

The company has not officially unveiled the Kirin 9000X chip to the public yet. However, reports indicate that the octa-core, 16-thread processor, developed by HiSilicon, features a 2.5 GHz base clock. The Kirin 9000X succeeds the Kirin 9000C, which aligns with the recent release of the Qingyun W515y and W585y as direct replacements for the Qingyun W515x and W585x, respectively.

The original Kirin 9000, based on the Arm architecture, comprises three Cortex-A77 cores—one operating at 3.13 GHz and three at 2.54 GHz—and four Cortex-A55 cores at 2.05 GHz. Furthermore, the chip incorporates a 24-core Mali-G78 iGPU. Huawei has released multiple variants of the Kirin 9000 to accommodate various devices, including smartphones, laptops, and desktops. TSMC previously manufactured the Kirin 9000 for Huawei, using the 5nm+ FinFET EUV (N5) process node before the imposition of U.S. trade restrictions.

Huawei has not disclosed the complete specifications of the Qingyun W515y and W585y models. The manufacturer only states that these devices are equipped with quad-channel LPDDR5x memory, an unspecified SSD and hard drive, and offer the option to install an optical drive (DVD-RW). Both the Qingyun W515y and W585y have identical dimensions —11.5 x 3.7 x 12.4 inches (293 x 93 x 315.5 mm) —and weigh 7.9 pounds (3.6 kg) when the optical drive and hard drive are not included. They are the same size as their predecessors but just a bit lighter.

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Huawei has been vigorously promoting its HarmonyOS operating system across its product range for some time. Consequently, it is surprising that neither of these utilizes this operating system. The previous Qingyun W515x and W585x didn't use HarmonyOS, either. Instead, these devices offer consumers a choice between UOS V20 (Unified Operating System), developed by UnionTech (Tongxin), and Galaxy Kylin V10. Both operating systems are based on Linux with their respective modifications.

The designs of the Qingyun W515y and W585y haven't changed from their predecessors. The case still features a front panel equipped with one USB Type-C port, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, and a combined 3.5mm microphone and headphone jack. Conversely, the rear panel is furnished with four USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, a serial port, three 3.5mm audio connectors, one VGA port, and one HDMI port.

Huawei includes the K100 wired keyboard and M100 wired mouse with the Qingyun W515y and W585y models. The manufacturer has not disclosed the pricing or the availability dates for the new desktops.

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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

9 Comments Comment from the forums

bit_user

The article said:
these devices are equipped with quad-channel LPDDR5x memory
I'm pretty sure that just means the memory data path is 64 bits. I think LPDDR5X uses 16-bit subchannels, but I'm not finding a great source on that. I know LPDDR6 went all the way down to 12-bit subchannels, though.

As a point of reference, Intel's (now ~3-year old) Alder Lake-N also has just a 64-bit memory datapath, although running at lower frequencies.
Reply
zsydeepsky

bit_user said:
I'm pretty sure that just means the memory data path is 64 bits. I think LPDDR5X uses 16-bit subchannels, but I'm not finding a great source on that. I know LPDDR6 went all the way down to 12-bit subchannels, though.

As a point of reference, Intel's (now ~3-year old) Alder Lake-N also has just a 64-bit memory datapath, although running at lower frequencies.
did some research, this Kirin 9000X is pretty much a mobile SoC, so you are probably right.

Also, this "PC"...since it's in Huawei's QingYun series, it's mostly for government contract only. It only needs to be sufficient for office work...some spreadsheets and document editing, and some browser work...so, no need to expect anything spectacular from it.
Reply
hwertz

I'm all for an ARM desktop. I doubt it'll be available here in the states though and of course I'd throw on Ubuntu ARM rather than whatever OS.
Reply
bit_user

hwertz said:
I'm all for an ARM desktop. I doubt it'll be available here in the states though and of course I'd throw on Ubuntu ARM rather than whatever OS.
Here's a mini-ITX board with modern ARM cores and NPU, but it's currently quite a bit more expensive than it used to be.
https://radxa.com/products/orion/o6/
According to posts in their forum, Ubuntu seems to be working on it, at least to some degree.
https://forum.radxa.com/c/orion/o6
Reply
DS426

zsydeepsky said:
did some research, this Kirin 9000X is pretty much a mobile SoC, so you are probably right.

Also, this "PC"...since it's in Huawei's QingYun series, it's mostly for government contract only. It only needs to be sufficient for office work...some spreadsheets and document editing, and some browser work...so, no need to expect anything spectacular from it.
Yeah, looking at the ARM cores, it's basically a mobile SoC. Not sure if that's more GPU cores than typical smartphones without looking it up.
Moreover, Galaxy Kylin appears to be made for government, though probably also fine and common for business office use. Likely their #3 PC OS after Windows and MacOS.

Good on them for working to break Microsoft's OS stranglehold.
Reply
nookoool

hwertz said:
I'm all for an ARM desktop. I doubt it'll be available here in the states though and of course I'd throw on Ubuntu ARM rather than whatever OS.

You will never see it in the states as the US has forced ecommerce stores like ebay to remove all huawei product listings for us customers.
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Reace

You'd have to be a special kind of stupid to trust your stuff to a Huawei pc. And why is every other article i see from Tom's on google news seemingly Chinese propaganda?
Reply
charles_75

Kirin 9000 series? I guess they try clear stock since bad sales on phone. But this time they learn to support Linux. No one will buy if only harmonyOS
Reply
bit_user

Reace said:
why is every other article i see from Tom's on google news seemingly Chinese propaganda?
They're reporting on the Chinese tech industry. So long as it's made with the appropriate caveats and qualifications, I don't see it as propaganda. There are various reasons one might be interested in tracking those developments. I generally appreciate the coverage.
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