Xiaomi Confirms XRING 01: A Dive into Their New In-House Chipset
Finally, after all the weeks of speculation and fuss in the tech world (who would forget about the 'Xring' moniker being kicked around), Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has finally pulled back the cover just a notch. The company's first internally developed chipset in a very, very long while is indeed true, and its called the XRING 01.
Lei Jun himself took to social media to announce the news, saying that the XRING 01 is coming. But in typical tech-reveal tradition, the juicy details – like exactly what this chip can do – are being kept secret until later. We only know for sure that we'll learn more this month.
What's Cooking in Xiaomi's Labs: A Sneak Peek at Potential Specs
While Xiaomi keeps us in suspense, historical rumors and leaks leave us with some interesting clues as to what the XRING 01 might be packing under its hood. The new silicon looks like it will be the workhorse for upcoming Xiaomi devices.
Street rumor is that the initial XRING 01 chips may be built on TSMC's mature 4nm process. Interestingly, this chip reportedly includes ARM's new-generation CPU blueprints, and the performance-oriented Cortex-X925 supposedly running at around 3.20GHz. This is a different route than, say, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which tells us something about Xiaomi's own game plan.
The Strategy Behind the Silicon
Why use slightly older 4nm process in the first place. It might be a wise decision on the part of Xiaomi to keep costs minimal as they return to designing chips. But don't take them out of the running for revolutionary tech yet. Rumor has been floating around for some time that Xiaomi was able to "tape-out" a 3nm iteration of their chip last year, and so an even more advanced one might just be on the way, maybe even later in the year in 2025.
There's another perspective: Perhaps Xiaomi is taking a conservative approach. Not going straight for the newest and best (and maybe more surveilled) tech to begin with, they may be trying to avoid attracting undue scrutiny from international forces, something their competitor Huawei is well aware of.
A Massive Undertaking
Creating a bespoke chipset is no small feat. Rumor has it that Xiaomi has assigned a team of some 1,000 staff to develop the XRING 01. The team is even supposedly led by an ex-senior director at Qualcomm, reporting directly to Lei Jun. That's a huge investment and a strong sign of where Xiaomi is heading.
So the die is cast. The XRING 01 is not just hardware; it's a statement of intent from Xiaomi. We can't wait until later this month when we'll get the full announcement and see exactly what this new chip will mean for our phones.
