We have repeatedly reported in the past that, following the acquisition of the Leadcore company, Xiaomi intends to detach itself from its SoC suppliers (Mediatek and Qualcomm) in order to rely only on its own forces so as to also have lower production costs ( in the long run) and better optimization between software and hardware (which is fundamental for smartphones) | Xiaomi and the new rumors about proprietary SoCs |.
Recently the speech was also taken up by a Reuters report that said that the first smartphone with SoC owner Xiaomi will arrive in the second half of the 2016. Most likely it will belong to the Redmi series since initially it is reasonable to expect a low-end smartphone to touch the market and see how the user reacts.
China's most valuable start-up for Xiaomi Inc. [XTC.UL] is aiming to use smartphone processor chips designed in-house in some of its lower-priced handsets in the second half of this year
Xiaomi is copying the in-house design of processor chips from Apple Inc. (AAPL.O), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd (005930.KS) and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. [HWT.UL]
Indeed, with both Samsung and Apple and Huawei, this change has allowed smartphones to have exactly the technical specifications they want from the manufacturer. Huawei is still a couple of years planning and producing its own SoCs, but both Samsung and Apple have done it practically forever (Apple only designs them).
via | Xiaomi Fans Italia