Xiaomi has announced a new self-developed XRING 01 smartphone processor. This chip is designed by the company in-house. Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, has also revealed the launch timeline. He also mentions that the new processor is the result of a decade-long research. Notably, this is Xiaomi’s second attempt at producing smartphone processors, as the brand already tried a similar move with the Surge S1 chip back in 2017.
Xiaomi XRING 01 Processor: Launch Date
In a Weibo post, Lei Jun announced the new XRING 01 processor. He says the chip will launch in May 2025. He also revealed that the company has been working on this project since September 2014, and the chipset is now ready for a consumer release.
Since we are already halfway into the month, we can expect an official launch event soon. However, Xiaomi or Lei Jun has not shared any technical details about this chip.
Xiaomi XRING 01 Specifications: What to Expect?
- Renowned tipster Fixed Focus Digital mentions that Xiaomi’s XRING 01 processor is based on TSMC’s 4nm architecture with the N4P node. It is said to be an octa-core chip with a 1+3+4 configuration.
- As per the leak, the XRING 01 will include a Cortex-X925 Prime Core at 3.2GHz, three Cortex-A725 Performance Cores at 2.6GHz, and four Cortex-A520 Efficiency Cores at 2.0GHz.
- The tipster also mentions that the XRING 01 chip could feature the Imagination Technologies IMG DXT72-2304 GPU with a clock speed of 1.3GHz. This GPU is said to be on par with the Adreno 720 on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
- If the leaked specifications are believed to be true, the XRING 01 is aimed to be a high-end processor that we could witness on some flagship killer smartphones by Xiaomi.
Xiaomi’s Surge S1 Chip From 2017
The XRING 01 is not Xiaomi’s first in-house processor. Back in 2017, the company unveiled the Surge S1 chipset and claimed it to be developed completely in-house. It was expected to streamline the brand’s smartphone production and reduce prices. More importantly, this move also helped Xiaomi to back its identity of “Apple of China”, where the company took chip production into its own hands.
The Surge S1 was an octa-core processor based on a 28nm architecture. It featured eight Cortex-A53 cores with a peak clock speed of 2.2GHz. The chip was paired with the Mali-T860 MP4 GPU. This was aimed to be a mid-range chip, comparable to the Snapdragon 625 from that era.
Xiaomi launched the Mi 5c smartphone in China with the Surge S1 processor. The device was appreciated by users and enthusiasts as it offered excellent performance at an affordable price. However, this was the ONLY phone with a custom chip, and we never heard an update from Xiaomi. The Surge S1 turned out to be the company’s first and last in-house processor.
We did see a glimpse of Surge-branded processors with the Surge C1 chip in 2021, but it was an image signal processor (ISP). Xiaomi also brought Surge P1 and Surge G1, but these were power management chips. The Surge T1 was the last chip in this series as a security and encryption processor.
After almost eight years, the XRING 01 is Xiaomi’s second attempt at making a complete smartphone processor. This appears to be a highly ambitious project. Xiaomi is currently on an innovation spree, as the company recently launched an electric car, the Xiaomi SU7. The brand also developed a new in-house HyperOS software system. Xiaomi is expected to carry forward the form and make XRING chips a successful project.
Xiaomi Can Learn From Samsung and Huawei
Samsung and Huawei remain the only active challengers to the Qualcomm-MediaTek duopoly. While their Exynos and Kirin chipsets may not yet rival the dominant players in scale, both companies have a longstanding history of developing in-house processors for their smartphones.
The Korean giant Samsung is capable of producing flagship-grade Exynos chips, which are also used on its top-end Galaxy S-Series smartphones in select markets like India. The company faces a fair share of stability issues, so it even had to skip using the Exynos 2500 on the Galaxy S25 Series. But credit to Samsung’s grit and determination, it has never given up on its in-house chips and continues to make new chips.
If that sounds like a chapter from a motivational book, then Huawei’s story is even more inspiring. Long before the United States sanctioned Huawei from using Qualcomm chips and other American technologies, the company’s Kirin chips were competing hard with their Snapdragon counterparts.
However, Huawei’s phones were priced significantly lower compared to its Snapdragon-powered competitors. To recall, the Honor Play with the Kirin 970 chip was the first smartphone in India capable of playing PUBG Mobile (now known as BGMI) at 60fps under Rs 20,000.
Unfortunately for Huawei, Xiaomi pulled a herculean move by introducing the POCO F1 with the Snapdragon 845 at the same price, which overshadowed the Honor Play. But that does not change anything about Huawei’s excellence in Kirin chips.
Huawei was sanctioned by the United States in 2019, which prevented it from using proprietary American technologies. Due to these sanctions, the company could no longer work with USA-based companies and its allies. This proved to be a massive setback for its Kirin chips, as the brand was not allowed to use TSMC’s foundries.
Any other tech giant would have crumbled after this, but not Huawei. The company went back to its drawing board and worked with Shanghai-based SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) to introduce the Kirin 9000S processor, without violating the USA sanctions. This was a massive move because developing a fully-fledged semiconductor chip was believed to be impossible without using USA technologies, but Huawei made it a reality.
Xiaomi should learn from Samsung and Huawei that developing in-house processors is a long-term project. While the company has already shown a great decade-long patience for its XRING 01 chip, it should continue this venture regardless of the results. Even Google is struggling with its Tensor chips on Pixel smartphones, which are notorious for thermal throttling, despite having superior AI capabilities.
It will be interesting to see how Xiaomi places the XRING 01 chip. We can expect the company to launch a smartphone with this new chip by the end of this year, but its more likely to remain exclusive to China.
