14 DAY TRIAL // In early August, we told you that Xiaomi, just like other mobile players on the market (Samsung, Huawei), was apparently looking to start developing its own processors that would go into its upcoming phones and tablets.
According to the previous rumors, these chipsets will become available in early 2016 and will probably be making it into the first devices later on, as we advance into the new year.
And today we get more information about Xiaomi’s upcoming processors. Apparently, the Chinese tech giant plans to develop two different versions of the chipset, one that will go into low-end devices like the Redmi series and one for middle-range devices, Gizmo China reports.
That being said, with the first version, Xiaomi will be focusing on decreasing the cost of the chipset, so future handsets powered by its own silicon are bound to cost even less. Which is good news for consumers, bad news for competing companies like Meizu or Huawei.
Xiaomi won't break ties with Qualcomm in 2016
The second silicon will be a higher-end octa-core chip that will go into middle-range devices. Still, the source says that Xiaomi will continue to rely on Qualcomm and its Snapdragon processors for its high-end products. For example, the Mi5 Pro is expected to be the first smartphone to arrive with a next-gen Snapdragon 820 chipset featuring Qualcomm’s own custom cores dubbed Kyro.
After Xiaomi launches the initial two chips and sees how the market reacts to devices taking advantage of these platforms, it might start thinking of going to the next level, meaning designing and producing its own home-grown chips for high-end products.
The company has reportedly already purchased an entire range of ARM core licenses. What’s more, Xiaomi is said to have hired Qualcomm’s former China President Wang Xiang, who is expected to bring his expertise to benefit the device maker’s goals.
At this point, the company hasn’t made any official statements about the matter at hand, but if everything we just told you turns out to be true, it would certainly mean a lot for the Chinese company in its quest of reducing reliance on outside parties.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 failure has prompted big names in the industry to turn their back on the US chip giant and try to handle things on their own terms. This is exactly what Samsung did with the Galaxy S6 flagship. And in a few years, Xiaomi might be able to do the same too.