The Next Generation Mobile Chip From Xiaomi Is Already In The Work Stage

Xiaomi Xring 01 which debuted earlier this year (photo; x @96thTatsuya)

JAKARTA - Xiaomi is planning a next-generation chip for smartphones, which has been confirmed by the company's top executives. However, the executive clarified that the Chinese mobile phone company will not release a new SoC (System-on-Chip) every year like Apple does. Xiaomi Xring 01 which debuted earlier this year, May to be exact, exclusively for Xiaomi 15S Pro.

Xiaomi made a pretty good debut with their chips, Xring 01. This chip is exclusive to the Xiaomi 15S Pro and managed to score more than three million in the AnTuTu benchmark, competing closely with competitors. It seems that there is no stopping now, as Xiaomi is working on next-generation chips for their smartphones, as confirmed by top executives of the brand to CNBC. This chip is likely to be XRing 02. However, the company will not be releasing new chips every year like Apple.

Xu Fei, Xiaomi vice president, detailed the company's ambitions in the semiconductor field, including its roadmap. Xiaomi aims to expand its global market share, especially in the upper class segment. XRing 01 is their first step in this direction. The chip is based on a 3nm manufacturing process and is able to compete tightly and stand parallel to its competitors.

Previously, Xiaomi committed to investing at least 50 billion yuan (approximately 7 billion US dollars) in the next 10 years to develop their internal chips.

Talking about the future, Xu Fei said that Xiaomi is "planning" for next-generation chips. However, he stated that the company will not release new SoCs every year like Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek. "We are newcomers here, we need to learn and we need to make plans," Xu said.

The peak executive also detailed how the company will determine the chip release schedule and its relationship with investment returns. Fei notes that companies realize they need to be patient for at least ten years so that the SoC business can break even. This means their initial focus is offering a premium experience. "So for the first time, we just need to make sure the experience is good enough, the performance is quite good," Xiaomi executive told CNBC.

Xiaomi phones currently use chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek for most of their models. The Xiaomi 17 series uses the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, while the Xiaomi 15T line uses the MediaTek chip. Xu Fei notes that the company will continue to use Qualcomm and MediaTek chips even as they continue to develop internal chips.

"For Qualcomm, MediaTek, they are super partners, very well. We have been working with them for 15 years, so we will continue this path. And at the same time, we will choose the right product to try our own chipset. We will use two solutions simultaneously. So we have made it clear to our partners, don't worry too much," said Xu Fei.