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Xiaomi may introduce a custom smartphone chip and revolutionary battery tech on Monday

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By Anam Hamid

Updated: Mar 29, 2021, 12:33 AM

Xiaomi may introduce a custom smartphone chip and revolutionary battery tech on Monday

Xiaomi could be planning to revive its in-house chipset efforts.

The Chinese company is going to host an event on March 29 to reveal new Mi 11 series and Mi Mix phones and a teaser posted on the social networking website Weibo says a custom chipset will be unveiled the same day.

What's not clear is whether this is a full-fledged mobile SoC or a peripheral processor.

Xiaomi's subsidiary Pinecone unveiled a 28nm SoC called Surge S1 back in 2017 but it never followed up with a successor. Then in March 2020, it was reported that the company has abandoned work on mobile SoCs and has decided to focus its efforts on RF chips like Bluetooth and other peripheral components.

At that time, the development of mobile SoCs was supposedly considered a complicated and cost-intensive venture. That's not to say that Xiaomi gave up on chip development completely, as it bought a 6 percent stake in the semiconductor company VeriSilicon Holdings in 2019.

MyFixGuide claims the chip is actually an Image Signal Processor. The forthcoming Mi Mix is confirmed to have a camera with a liquid lens, so it could be that the company has made an ISP to go with it.

Xiaomi's new silicon-oxygen anode battery tech

Xiaomi has also announced that the Mi 11 Ultra will feature a new silicon-oxygen anode battery tech, which would be a first for smartphones. Despite being smaller, the battery will have more capacity than graphite cells and it will also charge faster.

The Mi 11 Lite, Mi 11 Pro, and Mi 11 Ultra are expected to be the newest additions to the Mi lineup. The higher-end models and the Mi Mix will likely be fueled by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888.

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Anam Hamid is a computer scientist turned tech journalist who has a keen interest in the tech world, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. She has previously written for Android Headlines and has also been a ghostwriter for several tech and car publications. Anam is not a tech hoarder and believes in using her gadgets for as long as possible. She is concerned about smartphone addiction and its impact on future generations, but she also appreciates the convenience that phones have brought into our lives. Anam is excited about technological advancements like folding screens and under-display sensors, and she often wonders about the future of technology. She values the overall experience of a device more than its individual specs and admires companies that deliver durable, high-quality products. In her free time, Anam enjoys reading, scrolling through Reddit and Instagram, and occasionally refreshing her programming skills through tutorials.

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