- Xiaomi has unveiled the XRING 01, its first fully self-developed smartphone chip in seven years, as part of a renewed push into in-house semiconductor design.
- The XRING 01 follows Xiaomi’s earlier efforts with the Surge S1 and S2 chips, marking a shift from auxiliary chips like power management and display processors back to full mobile SoCs.
- Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun confirmed that the XRING 01 will launch in China by the end of May 2025, though global availability has not been announced.
Xiaomi has officially announced the XRING 01, a new self-developed and self-designed mobile System on Chip (SoC), as a key milestone of the company’s semiconductor plans. The announcement was made by Xiaomi’s founder and CEO Lei Jun, showing the company’s return to chip development after a hiatus of several years.
A decade-long journey to self-reliance
Lei Jun revealed that Xiaomi began its pursuit of chip-making in September 2014. The company’s first attempt materialized with the Surge S1 chip, launched in 2017 and featured in the Mi 5c smartphone. A follow-up, the Surge S2, was showcased at Mobile World Congress 2018, and was initially expected to power the Mi 6X. However, those plans were shelved in favor of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660.
Since then, Xiaomi shifted its focus to designing specific-purpose chips, including the Surge P series for fast charging, G series for power management, T series for signal enhancement, and D series for display processing. The debut of the XRING 01 represents a full-circle moment for the company as it reenters the highly competitive SoC space.
What we know about the XRING 01
While Lei Jun held off on releasing technical details at the announcement, he did confirm that the XRING 01 will launch in China by the end of May 2025.
Digital Chat Station shared the chip’s performance as, saying that initial test results “exceed expectations.” Further, he said the XRING 01 will probably surpass Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, one of the top chips found in Android flagship smartphones as of early 2025.
These claims, while unconfirmed by Xiaomi, portend a potentially transformative chip in the market for high-performance mobile SoC, currently dominated by Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Samsung.
Strategic shift toward in-house hardware
The creation of the XRING 01 fits into wider trends in the industry towards vertical integration. Apple and Samsung are already major players who have invested significantly in chip design within their companies in order to have more control over performance, power consumption, and software optimization.
With the launch of XRING 01, it seems like Xiaomi is also jumping into the fray, seeking to minimize the use of third-party suppliers and differentiate its product platform.
