Huawei Mate 40 has flown off the shelves and restocking could take a while

The phones are high in demand in the company’s home turf, particularly the Pro variants. It could be a while before the phones go on sale again as Huawei is reportedly facing issues related to supply constraints and production capacity currently.

This was expected, as a US-imposed ban means Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the foundry which formerly made chips for Huawei, had to halt shipments to the company on September 15. 

The Taiwanese foundry apparently received a license to resume business with Huawei recently, but it is not clear if it has been granted permission to make 5nm chips for the company.

The Mate 40 series was announced on October 22 and pre-orders started in China the next day. The standard variant is powered by the Kirin 9000E and the Pro models are fueled by the more powerful Kirin 9000 chip. Both SoCs have been manufactured using the 5nm fabrication technology. 

Before the ban into effect, 9 million 5nm Kirin chips were apparently shipped to Huawei. The projected demand for the Mate 40 lineup for 2020 is seemingly 10 million units, which means there is a shortfall of 1 million Kirin chips.

Although supply of the standard Mate 40 model is expected to increase gradually, the higher-end models will likely remain out of stock for a long time. Demand for the specced-out models is apparently so high that some people are even willing to pay a premium for them.

The report also says that demand for other Huawei phones remains high in China.