Xiaomi’s next in-house smartphone chip, the Xring O3, will run its prime core above 4GHz, a clock speed no production mobile processor has reached before, according to company statements and reports.
Xiaomi president Lu Weibing confirmed the milestone. The chip uses a three-tier CPU setup Xiaomi calls Prime, Titanium and Little, a departure from ARM’s big.LITTLE naming. The prime core tops Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, which peaks near 3.8GHz. Xiaomi also claims a 68% efficiency gain over the Xring O1 and a 25% GPU boost.
DigiTimes reports the chip is nearing launch on TSMC’s N3P process, with founder and chairman Lei Jun confirming a new Xring generation this year. The O1 predecessor shipped on a 3nm node and moved more than a million units.
The push is backed by a CNY 50B ($7B) ten-year semiconductor R&D commitment. Chinese phone makers face tightening restrictions on advanced manufacturing from TSMC and US-aligned suppliers, giving in-house silicon a strategic edge.
Xiaomi joins Apple, Google and Samsung in the custom silicon club, and the O3 is expected to power the Mix Fold 5. The chip turns Xiaomi from a chip buyer into a designer with options.
