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(Pocket-lint) – Xiaomi’s mega launch is set to take place today, 29 March, and as well as announcing a couple of new phones, the company is also preparing to unveil its own custom processor.
In a poster teaser on Weibo the company has announced that (roughly translated) “a small self-developed chip” is going to be shown off before ending with “on March 29th, my heart surged”.
This is likely a nod to its first custom processor from 2017: the Surge S1.
What we don’t know is what this custom silicon might be used for. Currently its flagship smartphones tend to be powered by Qualcomm’s top tier Snapdragon chipsets.
It’s worth noting that the Surge S1 was, in fact, used in a smartphone: the Mi 5C which launched with the processor inside in 2017. But since then, Xiaomi’s not updated it.
If it is a new processor for smartphones it would deal something of a blow to Qualcomm, especially if it was used in one of the company’s most powerful flagships.
However, it wouldn’t be the only mega tech company to launch its own platforms rather than rely on Qualcomm. Huawei, of course, has been building its phones on the foundation of its own Kirin processors for years.
Likewise, Samsung has many devices running on its Exynos platform while – away from Android – Apple has been using its own custom A-series processors for over 10 years.
Shifting away from the tried-and-tested Snapdragon platform wouldn’t be easy however, since designing and building processors in house is expensive and complicated.
Because of this – and as noted by Android Authority who shared the original story from Weibo – it could be that it will be a lower power processor to go in its more affordable device, rather than a competitor to the Snapdragon 888 which is used inside Xiaomi’s Mi 11.
Whatever the exact details, we should see the full picture emerge this week as Xiaomi announces the platform alongside the Mi 11 Ultra and new Mi Mix at its launch event today.
Writing by Cam Bunton.
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