Xiaomi is reportedly joining the ranks of the big players in the smartphone market by building its own processor. The Chinese phone manufacturer intends to regain its hold on the phone market starting on its home nation then eventually penetrate the international scene.
Xiaomi has recently slipped down to the fifth place in its home country in China. It has also failed to make a noise in the international market despite earlier intention to ship its devices to the U.S.
A report from Wall Street Journal reveals that Xiaomi has dreams of joining the "top tier," which could explain why the Chinese have been reported to be building its very own System-on-Chips (SoC). Apple, Samsung, and Huawei are the key players in the market that have their own in-house team making its smartphone processors.
Xiaomi is following suit with its own Pinecone processors. The mobile processor technology was acquired from Leadcore Technology Ltd., a subsidiary of state-owned Datang Telecom. Xiaomi paid $15 million dollars in a deal sealed by Beijing Pinecone Electronics.
Pinecone may be the processor for the soon-to-be-released Xiaomi Mi 6 according to Ars Technica. If Xiaomi keeps to its yearly release schedule, then the phone with the new processor may debut next month. The Chinese may unveil more details on their current project soon but not at MWC 2017, which Xiaomi will not be attending.
Xiaomi's decision may have something to do with the latest troubles of Qualcomm. Not only is the mobile chip maker been plagued by lawsuits, but performance and production delays added to its problems.
This is not to say that Qualcomm chips are inferior for, in the contrary, the Snapdragon 810 was quickly embraced by several OEMs. Even Samsung has many devices with Qualcomm inside it, though it still uses its own Exynos brand.
However, Xiaomi could benefit by making its own processors assuming the Chinese could make a superior one. First, it would allow the company to keep their devices cheaper. Second, it can easily add creative features like the artificially intelligent Mate 9 thanks to its Kirin processor, Engadget has learned.
