The chipset will go under the bonnet of the Mate 10 which is being pitched at those who are thinking of splashing out a fortune on the new iPhone. The concept of a better faster chip going into a rival to the iPhone has gotten the tame Apple Press’s goat.

Huawei touted the Kirin 970 AI mobile chipset's built-in "neural processing unit" at the IFA consumer electronics trade show in Berlin, claiming that the technology is "20 times faster" than a traditional processor.

It claims that the Kirin 970 will be able to "truly know and understand their users," by supporting real-time image recognition, voice interaction, and intelligent photography with ease.

The Kirin 970 integrates 5.5 billion transistors in a single square centimetre, which includes an octa-core central processing unit, a 12-core graphics processing unit, a dual-image signal processor, a high-speed 1.2Gbps Cat.18 modem, and AI mobile computing architecture.

The Kirin 970 is said to be based on the same 10-nanometer technology as Apple's existing A10X Fusion processor and the A11 processor that will power its new iPhone range, set to debut this month.

The Mate 10 is said to be a bezel less all screen handset with a 6-inch, 2:1 display and a 2,160 x 1,080 resolution. Another similarity with Apple's "iPhone 8", the Mate 10 is also expected to feature some form of facial recognition and improved cameras.

All up, it is looking like the Mate 10 could be a serious tech spec rival to the coming iPhone so we will expect to see some major knifings in the tech press in the coming weeks.