Xiaomi’s Custom Phone Chip Will Debut Before the End of the Month

Apple is the perfect example of the heights a smartphone company can reach if it has precise control over the hardware and software on its smartphones. As much as I might not be a fan, the efficiency of iOS is enabled by Apple making the software and the chip for its devices. That’s probably why I expected a lot more from the Tensor experiment.

There are a few other smartphone companies that make their own chips, but the list isn’t particularly extensive. That club had less than five members before, so it is a rather an exclusive bunch, and then we heard a rumor that Xiaomi was planning to join the club. Well, that time is finally here, and we know something about its pioneering chip.

Xiaomi Will Unveil Its First Smartphone Chip, the XRING 01, Later This Month

It’s been quite some time, but I remember we reported on an article from Bloomberg stating Xiaomi’s intentions to produce its own custom smartphone chips. For a company like Xiaomi, the second-largest Android manufacturer in the world, it’s hard to say that the decision isn’t appropriate. If a company like Google can get into it, then there shouldn’t be much stopping Xiaomi from making the same move.

Well, after about half a year, that news has come back around, and this time, in official form. Coming from one of the co-founders of Xiaomi on Weibo, we now know that Xiaomi’s custom chip is real and will be available before the end of this month. That’s pretty exciting, and it’ll put Xiaomi in the same category as the following OEMs that have custom chips:

• Samsung
• Apple
• Huawei
• Google

The chip is going to be called the XRING01, but that’s pretty much all we know. Lei Jun, Xiaomi co-founder, says that the chip is self-developed and designed by Xiaomi. Interestingly, Xiaomi has jumped into custom SoCs before, the first of which was the Surge S1 in 2017, but it never saw a sequel. This could be the time for the company to show it can actually get it right.

The XRING 01 Is Expected to Have Power Akin to an Older Flagship Chip From Qualcomm

Considering that Xiaomi is essentially just starting afresh in the chip-making business, there should be no surprise whatsoever that its product won’t be trading blows with the Dimensity 9400 or the Snapdragon 8 Elite. When you start from scratch, especially in something as technically demanding as manufacturing SoCs, it’s challenging to start at the top.

According to Yogesh Brar last year, the chip is expected to deliver power similar to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which came out in 2022. Sure, that’s not a competitive chip anymore, but it’d be dishonest to act as if it isn’t powerful in isolation. However, what makes it even better is that a recent rumor from WHYLAB on Weibo says that it’ll be more like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 instead.

What makes it even better is that Xiaomi isn’t even likely to use its XRING 01 in top-end flagships. So if an upper-midrange device could get the new chip without a price increase, everyone is happy.