Xiaomi has just announced its first in-house flagship chipset, the Xring O1, and it’s packed with enough power to rival Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. Alongside the new chip, Xiaomi revealed the 15S Pro smartphone and Pad 7 Ultra tablet, both powered by the Xring O1, as well as an updated version of the Watch S4 featuring a new Xiaomi-designed chip.
While this isn’t Xiaomi’s first mobile processor—remember the midrange Surge S1 from 2017—it’s certainly the most ambitious and powerful to date. Built using a cutting-edge second-generation 3nm process, the Xring O1 aims to compete with industry giants like the Snapdragon 8 Elite, MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400, and Apple’s A18 series. On paper, it looks ready to take on the best.
The chipset features a 10-core CPU, which is more than most competitors offer. It includes two Arm Cortex-X925 prime cores running at 3.9GHz, four cores at 3.4GHz, two at 1.9GHz, and two at 1.8GHz. The GPU, a 16-core Immortalis-G925, delivers top-tier graphics performance comparable to flagship offerings from MediaTek.
Performance benchmarks like Xiaomi’s claimed AnTuTu score of over three million suggest the Xring O1 is a serious contender in the flagship arena. Xiaomi also emphasizes its power efficiency, indicating that this chip is built for high performance without draining the battery.
What does this mean for Xiaomi? It’s clear the company is serious about making the Xring O1 a true flagship contender—on par with or even surpassing existing Android chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek, and far ahead of Samsung’s Exynos options. To showcase its capabilities, Xiaomi is debuting the Xring O1 in the 15S Pro, a refreshed version of the 15 Pro that swaps out the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Xiaomi’s own chip. The device sports a sleek carbon fiber design, emphasizing its premium appeal.
The company isn’t stopping there. The new Pad 7 Ultra, also powered by the Xring O1, is a high-end tablet featuring a stunning 14-inch OLED display and a hefty 12,000mAh battery. At just 5.1mm thick, it’s among the slimmest tablets on the market.
Xiaomi’s ambitions extend beyond smartphones and tablets. The company has introduced the Xring T1, a flagship chipset designed for smartwatches. While details are limited, it includes a 4G modem and has powered an eSIM version of the Watch S4, hinting at Xiaomi’s push into the wearable tech space.
This move poses a challenge for Qualcomm, which has long been Xiaomi’s primary chip supplier. Xiaomi has traditionally announced phones powered by the latest Snapdragon flagship chips, and as one of the world’s top smartphone manufacturers, it’s a key partner for Qualcomm. However, just this week, Xiaomi and Qualcomm signed a multi-year agreement to continue using Snapdragon 8-series chips, suggesting that Qualcomm isn’t ready to lose Xiaomi just yet.
Still, Xiaomi’s development of its own flagship chipset signals a bold long-term strategy: to reduce reliance on external chipmakers and establish itself as a major player in semiconductor design. If Apple can succeed in making its own chips, why not Xiaomi? The future looks exciting for the tech giant as it charts its own course in the mobile chip industry.
