Ex-Leadcore team crafts SoC for Xiaomi

Xiaomi is developing an SoC for its upcoming Mi5C smartphone.

China insiders were not surprised when Xiaomi went vertical, designing its own smartphone SoC, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. This was a move foreshadowed two years ago with the arrival at Xiaomi of a team of engineers originally from Leadcore Technology.

The new wrinkle is that Xiaomi's homegrown custom-designed SoC will drive its soon-to-be-unveiled Mi5C smartphone, according to Alice Sun, formerly an analyst at EE Times China (Shenzhen) and now a founder of EE Insights.

Xiaomi's new SoC, based on eight ARM A53 cores, is capable of LTE Cat 6, Sun told us.

Good for optics

But why is it important for Xiaomi to design the company's own SoC for its smartphones?

The answer is that Xiaomi is under pressure to reclaim a top tier ranking in China's cut-throat smartphone race. This development serves to improve the company's optics, although it is hardly a technological leap forward. EE Insights' Sun believes it will create more market value for Xiaomi's brand. "But it is also important for the future," she added, as Xiaomi goes vertical.

To read the full article, go to EE Times.