The event that HUAWEI held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, not only debuted new devices, it also announced something big for the company, something that we’ve almost taken for granted, and that’s 5G connectivity.
5G connectivity has sort of been a sore point for HUAWEI these past few years. The company was forced to use 4G connectivity for all the global versions of its smartphones because of a whole kerfuffle with the U.S. government that resulted in sanctions, but that’s all water under the bridge.
Instead, we’ll focus on how HUAWEI has achieved such a feat, five years after its last 5G phone.
What Powers the 5G Comeback?
If you’re wondering whether existing global HUAWEI phones will gain 5G through an update, then the answer is no. The reason being, 5G bands were artificially restricted for the global market, but the HUAWEI Pura 90s Pro and Pro Max‘s Kirin 9030S unlocks those bands.
But HUAWEI didn’t stop there, instead of just unlocking the 5G band for everyone, HUAWEI built the Pura 90s series to be compatible with every band on the planet. Whether you’re in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, or Southeast Asia, the Pura 90s series delivers ultra-fast 5G download and upload speeds. It’s as if they were never gone…
HUAWEI was able to overcome these restrictions through a two-pronged engineering strategy:
- Domestic RF Supply Chain Reconstruction: Instead of banking on US-reliant components, HUAWEI worked closely with domestic Chinese semiconductor firms to redesign and manufacture its own 5G RF front-end modules.
- Kirin 9030S Processor: Their collaboration culminated in the launch of their brand-new Kirin 9030S processor featured in the Pura 90s Series, integrating the ultra-efficient and proprietary 5G modem directly onto the chip.
What This Means for Us
Wherever you are on the planet, the 5G modem found in the new HUAWEI Pura 90s Series gives users added value for their money. These include:
- True Gigaspeed Performance: If you think HUAWEI will settle for just having 5G, well, you’d be wrong. The Kirin 9030S modem is expected to deliver up to 1.1Gbps of real-world download speeds, putting it on equal footing with those made by Qualcomm.
- Dual-SIM and eSIM Integration: China-exclusive releases have had this feature for quite some time, but we’re only getting it now in global releases.
- Signal Stability (NearLink E2.0): The new modem also improves on HUAWEI’s NearLink technology, which acts like Bluetooth but is faster and has lower latency.
Final Thoughts
We actually got firsthand experience trying out the new 5G modem in the HUAWEI Pura 90s Series, and the results did not disappoint. For context, we ran the test around the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. We compared it side by side with the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and the OPPO Find X9 Ultra, both of which use a Qualcomm Snapdragon X80 modem.
In both tests, the HUAWEI Pura 90s Pro Max managed to edge out the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and the OPPO Find X9 Ultra. Here are the results:
| HUAWEI Pura 90s Pro Max | Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|
| Download speed | 590 Mbps | 540 Mbps |
| Upload speed | 125 Mbps | 91 Mbps |
| HUAWEI Pura 90s Pro Max | OPPO Find X9 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|
| Download speed | 356 Mbps | 309 Mbps |
| Upload speed | 102 Mbps | 85.5 Mbps |
Just from these results, HUAWEI is off to a promising start. The company will finally be able to lose the massive caveat of 4G-only connectivity. Don’t get me wrong, 4G is still quick by today’s standards, even more reliable than 5G, but if you’re paying 50 to 60K for a flagship smartphone, you expect it to have all the bells and whistles, including 5G connectivity.