Xiaomi wanted to join the league of Samsung, Apple, and Huawei and become one of the few smartphone manufacturers to design its own chips. In line with that, the Chinese company had launched the Surge S1 chip in 2017 and that is the only smartphone processor launched by the firm so far.

The company recently launched the Surge C1 chip for image signal processing that is used in Mi MIX Fold. While it was believed that Xiaomi has given up on chip manufacturing, it turns out that that is not the case.

As per the latest report, Xiaomi is recruiting new people as it eyes reorganization of the team for the chip production to re-enter the market. Apart from that, it has also started the process of license negotiations with IP providers.

A person familiar with the matter says that while Xiaomi’s aim is to make chips for mobile phones, the next chip getting launched by the company may not be related to phones as it may start with a peripheral chip.

Xiaomi had established a wholly-owned subsidiary named Beijing Songguo Electronics in 2014 to enter the chip manufacturing industry and after three years, the company launched its first-ever smartphone chip — Surge S1.

After the launch of Surge S1 in 2017, nothing was heard from this department for a long time until the company launched the Surge C1 image signal processing chip this year. However, Lei Jun, Founder and CEO of Xiaomi recently said that despite setbacks, the development of chips will continue.

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Huawei is one of the three smartphone brands in the world that makes its own chipsets, apart from Apple and Samsung. However, with the new sanctions on the company by the United States, Huawei CEO recently revealed that it will stop making flagship Kirin chipsets.

Xiaomi, another Chinese smartphone maker tried making its own chipset — Surge S1 which was launched in 2017. Years after its launch, there’s no follow-up from the company in this segment and we have seen only one smartphone being powered by Surge S1.

This led to many people think that the company has given up on its own chipset plans. However, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has confirmed that the company has not given up on its Surge chipset plan and added that he will not disappoint everyone’s expectations.

It remains to be seen what exactly is the company planning in terms of its second smartphone chipset and when it will get launched. Given that Huawei is out of the flagship chipset market, at least for the time being, Xiaomi seems to be in a good position to boost its chipset dreams and could rely on domestic players for this.

EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi Mi TV LUX OLED Transparent Edition is the cheapest transparent TV at 49,999 yuan ($7,195)

The Xiaomi Surge S1 was an octa-core chipset that packed four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.4GHz. It was built on a 28nm HPC+ process and used ARM Mali-T860 as GPU.

It had 32-bit DSP support, VoLTE, 14-bit dual ISP with support for dual noise optimized night picture improvement. The chipset also included Xiaomi’s own chip-level security that’s upgradeable via OTA, having mechanisms to prevent data leakage.

Soon after the launch of the Surge S1 chipset, Xiaomi had launched the Mi 5C smartphone, making it the only smartphone in the world to come powered by the Surge S1 SoC. Nokia had reportedly partnered with Xiaomi to use the same chipset, but the brand has not launched any devices that use the Surge series of chipsets.

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Xiaomi’s chip-making plans may have taken a backseat in the past couple of years, but the company is still determined to improve its position in the industry. In this regard, Xiaomi has taken a strategic stake of roughly 6% in the chip designer company, VeriSilicon Holdings Co Ltd. With this investment, Xiaomi is now the second-largest external shareholder of the company. 

The investment was made by a fund run by Xiaomi in June and was revealed in a filing to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) published online last Thursday. It’s worth noting that China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, a nation-level fund for the domestic semiconductor industry is its largest external shareholder.

VeriSilicon is based in Shanghai and has over 700 employees with 5 R&D centers in the US and in China and 10 sales offices worldwide. Founded in 2001, it is a Silicon Platform as a Service company which acts as a contractor to other semiconductor companies.

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History has shown us that making chips is not an easy business and Xiaomi sure had its share of struggles. After establishing its semiconductor division back in 2014, it took three years for Xiaomi to release its independent processor called the Surge S1. After using it in just one model, we haven’t heard much about its chip making plans. Earlier this year, we received a short update from one of the Xiaomi executives that the second generation Surge S2 chip was still in development but was delayed due to unexpected issues. Later it was said that Xiaomi was focusing its semiconductor business for IoT devices. However, since then we haven’t heard much from this division. 

Processors are the heart of any electronic device, including smartphones. And US based Qualcomm rules this market which puts many Chinese smartphone companies at risk. So it is no surprise that China is trying hard to strengthen its position in this industry to support its tech companies.

The Chinese semiconductor industry is growing pretty quickly. For example, China’s Huawei Hisilicon unit is doing well, with its flagship Kirin chipset capable enough to take on Qualcomm’s high-end Snapdragon models. Even Xiaomi backed Huami has developed its own Huangshan No.1 chip for wearables based on RISC-V architecture. 

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(Source)

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In February 2017, Xiaomi stunned the industry when it launched the Mi 5C as its first phone that features the company’s self-developed Pinecone Surge S1. The device was expected to get a successor in the Mi 6C last year that would be powered by a Surge S2 chipset but that didn’t happen. As early as April last year, it was reported that TSMC was manufacturing the Surge S2 for Xiaomi using the chipmaker’s 16-nanometer FinFet process.

The Mi 6X was expected to be launched at MWC 2018 with the new chipset but that didn’t happen. The S2 was even tipped to be released along with the Mi 8. That also did not materialise. However, Xiaomi’s product director Wang Teng Thomas has thrown some insight as to why the chipset is delayed. He responded to a netizen’s question if the chipset has been abandoned., hinting that it has not been abandoned but that it is still under development. He also hinted that the process is being belayed by some unexpected issues.

Read Also: Xiaomi Surge S1 Antutu Performance inside the Mi 5C Revealed

The Surge S2 is expected to utilise an octa-core design comprising four Cortex-A73 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. The Cortex- A73 cores are clocked at around 2.2GHz while the Cortex-A53 will come with a clock frequency of around 1.8 GHz. The device will come with a Mali G71MP8 GPU which will support UFS2.1 and LPDDR4 memory. Unfortunately, the chipset will still not feature support for CDMA network. However, the Surge S2’s comprehensive performance evaluation seems to be the same as the Kirin 960. In contrast, the Surge S1’s performance is slightly higher than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 chipset. The S1 is an octa-core processor with four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and another four A53 clocked at 1.4GHz while the GPU is ARM’s Mali-T860.

(via)

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In February 2017, Xiaomi had debuted the Mi 5C smartphone. What’s special about this smartphone is that it is powered by Xiaomi’s in-house chipset called Surge S1. The rumors that had surfaced in the latter half of 2017 had claimed that the company is working on the Surge S2, the second-generation edition of its chipset. Fresh leaks suggest that the Chinese manufacturer will launch the alleged Surge S2 chipset at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 in the next month.

After the launch of the Surge S1 chipset, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun had claimed that the company will continue to develop more chipsets in future. It is now speculated that the Surge S2 will be a powerful chipset unlike the Surge S1 that had powered the mid-range Xiaomi Mi 5C. Rumors have it that the Surge S2 that is based on TSMC’s 16nm manufacturing processor features an octa-core processor. It reportedly features four cores of Cortex A73 that clocks at 2.2 GHz and four cores of Cortex A53 that processes at 1.8 GHz.

The other rumored features of the Surge S2 include Mali G71 MP8 graphics, UFS 2.1 storage and LPDDR4 RAM. Also, it does not carry support for CDMA network. These specifications suggest that the performance of the Surge S2 will be on par with Kirin 960 chipset by Huawei.

Read More: Xiaomi Mi 6X Render Suggesting 18:9 Display, Vertical Dual Camera Has Appeared

Previous rumors have claimed that the Surge S2 will be powering the Xiaomi Mi 6C smartphone. However, recent leaks suggest that the first phone to feature the Surge S2 could be the Xiaomi Mi 6X. It is speculated that this smartphone will be sold globally as Xiaomi Mi A2. Leaked information have suggested that the Mi 6X will be sporting a full screen design and it will be featuring a dual camera setup on its rear.

Will Xiaomi unveil the Surge S2 chipset at MWC 2018? Will it be seen first on Mi 6X? Let us know your views by posting your comments below.

(source)

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Xiaomi and Nokia are said to have been in talks in recent times. Some speculated that Xiaomi was looking to use some of Nokia’s patents so it can penetrate foreign markets like the US but there have been no official statement on that. As at yesterday, sources said both corporations have signed a partnership and will reveal the details in the near future.

The good news is that we won’t have to wait to find out what the partnership is about. Leakster @Reviewer_ 小康 took to Weibo last night to disclose what Nokia and Xiaomi are up to.

According to him, an insider revealed that Nokia will use Xiaomi’s Surge S1 processor in its new phone. The phone wasn’t specified but it sure will be a mid-range device since the processor is a mid-range one.

Earlier this year, Xiaomi unveiled its own home-brewed System-on-Chip, the Surge S1. The Surge S1 currently powers the Xiaomi Mi 5c and it will be nice to see it in a phone from another manufacturer, a big one for that matter.

While we are all excited about the news, we should still take it with a pinch of salt until we get an official statement.

READ MORE: Xiaomi Surge S2 Mass Production to Begin in Q3, May Power Xiaomi Mi 6c, 6s

The Surge S1 is an octa-core processor with 4 x Cortex A53 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and another four clocked at 1.4GHz. These are power-efficient cores so battery life will be impressive. GPU on the other hand is ARM’s Mali-T860.

Performance benchmark results show that the Surge S1 even performs better than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625.

(Source)

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In February, Xiaomi had introduced its in-house chipset named as Surge S1. It was introduced through the Xiaomi Mi 5c phone. The chipset was after more than two years of development. Fresh information that has appeared this morning states that Xiaomi is now working on its second-generation in-house chipset that is expected to arrive as Surge S2.

The Surge S1 was manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). It was built with 28nm manufacturing process. With few months of launching the Surge S1, the Chinese company has begun working on its successor. Rumors have it that the mass production of Surge S2 chips will begin soon, revealed a Taiwanese publication by citing Chinese media.

Read More: Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Review; The Best Big Budget Smartphone of 2017?

Xiaomi has conducted sampling of its upcoming Surge S2 chip. TSMC will be manufacturing the new chipset and it will be built with 16nm process technology.  Its mass production is expected to begin in the third quarter of this year. Since the Surge S1 powered the Xiaomi Mi 5c, speculations are rife that the upcoming Surge S2 would be present under the hood of Xiaomi Mi 6c and 6s. Both the smartphones are rumored to debut in the last quarter of 2017.

The Xiaomi Surge S1 is an octa-core processor that feature four Cortex A53 cores running at 2.2 GHz and another four Cortex A53 cores working at 1.4 GHz. It is coupled with Mali-T860 MP4 chipset and features Cat. 4 LTE modem. It supports LPDDR3 RAM and eMMC 5.0 storage. In terms of performance, it is not on par or better than the Snapdragon 625 chipset (built with 14nm process). Hence, there is a possibility that the Surge S2 could be as powerful as the Snapdragon 625 or 652 SoC. It seems that it will take some for Xiaomi to manufacture a higher-end chip that can power a flagship phone.

(source|via)

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The Xiaomi Mi 5C is still fresh out of Xiaomi’s oven. The new mid-range device is the first phone to feature the new Surge S1 processor. Excluding the new chip, another interesting specification of the phone is its cameras.

The Xiaomi Mi 5C is equipped with a 1.25μm 12MP camera on the rear. Xiaomi calls it Night Eye and says it features high quality dual noise reduction algorithm that preserves detail in low light. The Surge ISP algorithm also helps to improve camera light sensitivity by up to 150%. So whether you are taking pictures under very bright light or under low-light conditions, you should end up with clean and clear images.

READ MORE: LG G6 vs Xiaomi Mi MIX: Display, Specs & Price Compared

The front facing camera is an 8MP shooter with 36 intelligent and real-time beauty modes that produces selfies showing you in your best moment.

The Xiaomi Mi 5C sports a 5.15-inch display, 3GB RAM, 64GB of storage and comes with a 2860mAh battery. It is priced at ¥1499 (~$218).

Xiaomi has provided image samples taken with both cameras. What do you think? Do they live up to expectations?

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After so many months of leaks and rumors, the Xiaomi Mi 5C smartphone is finally officially. And just as expected, the Mi 5C is the first smartphone to feature Xiaomi’s newly announced Pinecone S1 /  Surge S1 chipset. The phone is essentially a mid-ranger, but the design and the overall looks of the phone are pretty top-notch.

The Xiaomi Mi 5C comes in multiple color options, including gold, black, and pink. The phone looks a bit different than other Xiaomi smartphones in the market mainly because of its four curved corners and smoother metal finish. Xiaomi is known to equip its mid-range phones with a large battery, but for some reason, the company decided to keep the battery under 3000mAh. This, in turn, helps in making the Xiaomi Mi 5C super light, weighing just 134 grams and 7.09mm in thickness. The full measurements of the Mi 5C are as follows: 144.38 x 69.68mm x 7.09mm.

The phone comes with a 5.15-inch 1080p display from JDI with 550 nits brightness, 2048 intelligent brightness adjustments, and ultra-narrow 1.66mm bezels. The battery on the phone is just 2860mAh but the company claims that this is good enough for a day’s usage. The phone supports 9V/ 2A fast charging as well. Xiaomi has also promised Android 7.1 Nougat upgrade for the Mi 5C in March.

Coming to the camera, the Xiaomi Mi 5C comes with a 12MP sensor with large 1.25um pixels enabling better low-light photography. The dual ISP algorithm reportedly improves the camera speed by up to 150%. Also, the double noise optimization feature helps in reducing the noise in the images while retaining important details. With support for pixel level dynamic range adjustment, the pictures shot from the phone come out rich as well. Of course, these are the official camera details, only a real life test of Mi 5C’s camera will reveal its actual capability.

The Xiaomi Mi 5C goes on sale on March 3 at 1499 Yuan (~218) for the 3GB + 64GB version.

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