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TMTPOST -- On the eve of unveiling its first self-developed mobile SoC, the "XRing O1," Xiaomi put market speculation to rest with a joint statement alongside Qualcomm, signaling a continued reliance on Snapdragon chips for its flagship smartphones.
The two companies announced a new multi-year agreement that will see Xiaomi's premium handsets powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 series chips across multiple generations, with shipment volumes projected to grow year over year.
Xiaomi will also be among the first manufacturers in China—and globally—to adopt Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon 8 platform, slated for launch in late 2025.
"Qualcomm Technologies has always been one of our most trusted and important partners," Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said in the statement. "We look forward to another 15 years of collaboration, leveraging Snapdragon platforms to deliver innovative, high-quality products worldwide."
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon echoed the view, saying the companies "celebrate 15 years of collaboration" and see potential to deepen cooperation beyond smartphones into areas such as automotive, wearables, AR/VR, and smart home devices.
The announcement signals that Xiaomi is embarking on a long-term dual-chip strategy—pursuing both self-developed and third-party solutions—as it prepares to launch the XRing O1.
The new chip, produced using TSMC's second-generation 3nm process, boasts 19 billion transistors and a high-frequency 10-core architecture. Benchmark scores put its single-core performance ahead of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen3, and its multi-core results in line with MediaTek's Dimensity 9400+.
The XRing O1 is set to debut in the Xiaomi 15S Pro Special Edition, a mid-range flagship device featuring a 2K quad-curved display and Leica camera system. Initial production volumes are expected to range between 2 million and 3 million units, with a primary focus on China and Southeast Asia.
Xiaomi's in-house chip ambitions date back to 2014, with the launch of the Surge S1 in 2017. But technical limitations led to a multi-year pause in SoC development. The company shifted focus to peripheral chips, including ISPs and charging ICs, before reviving core chip R&D in recent years. Its latest efforts are led by former Qualcomm executive Qin Muyun, with a dedicated team of over 2,500 operating under strict confidentiality.
While the XRing O1 marks a significant milestone in Xiaomi's quest for semiconductor independence, the company acknowledges that Qualcomm's flagship chips remain critical for premium devices, particularly in GPU performance. As such, its dual-track strategy is expected to persist well into the future.
Xiaomi has committed to long-term investment in chips, pledging over 50 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) over at least a decade. As of April 2025, cumulative investment in the XRing series had surpassed 13.5 billion yuan, with more than 6 billion yuan earmarked for R&D in 2025 alone.
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