Xiaomi has finally confirmed the existence of its first real proprietary processor, theXRING 01. After years of attempts and experiments, the Chinese company is now aiming for total independence also on the chipset front, at a time when theself-sufficiency tecnologica is worth more than a thousand promises. But will this new chip really be on par with giants like Snapdragon?
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Xiaomi Xring 01: The processor that challenges Qualcomm and MediaTek
After weeks of rumors and half-confirmations, the Xiaomi XRING 01 is finally here official. The announcement was made by Lei Jun, co-founder of Xiaomi, in a post published on Weibo that you can see below (translated into Italian). The processor is not a simple exercise in technological style: it is a calculated move, which comes at the right time and with implications much broader than they might seem at first sight.
The world of smartphone chips, up until now, has spoken almost exclusively two languages: Qualcomm and MediaTek. Xiaomi's top of the range models, such as the Xiaomi 15Ultra and POCO F7 Ultra, they mount the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite, the same chip that will dominate 2025. The alternative? The MediaTek Helio, in a dynamic similar to the one that has divided AMD and Nvidia for years in the world of PC graphics cards.
And then there's Apple, which is on its own. It has chosen to produce its own processors with an architecture ARM and manufactured by giants like Samsung and TSMC. This has granted it an enviable technological independence. And that is exactly on that road that Xiaomi has decided to take, only this time he stopped walking and started running.
Those who have been following Xiaomi for a while know that this is not the first time it has got its hands on the world of chips. In 2017 it had already presented the Surge S1, a mid-range processor mounted on the Mi 5c. Then came the C1 appears, a photography coprocessor, integrated into the Mi MIX Fold to improve ISP performance. From there, a flurry of other small supporting chipsets.
And finally, in May 2025, comes the XRING 01: the first primary chipset made by Xiaomi, designed for its smartphones and ready to debut in a few days. The company has not yet released technical data, nor benchmarks, nor even declared in which models we will see it mounted.
It could be the first step towards flagships, or the start on mid-range models to test the waters. But the signal is very clear: Xiaomi wants to stop buying brains, and start using one built in-house.
The economic and political question behind the choice
Behind the launch of the XRING 01 there is not only the ambition to compete with Qualcomm or MediaTek. There is a much more urgent strategic need: no longer dependent on the United States. At a time when tensions between China and the US have once again shaken supply chains, building chips at home is no longer a dream, but a matter of survival.
Xiaomi, like many Chinese companies, has often found itself on the edge. Just think about what would happen if tomorrow the United States blocked the export of Qualcomm chips to China. In that case, millions of devices would be left without processors and entire production lines would come to a halt.
By producing its own Xiaomi Xring 01 processor in-house, the company frees itself from this dependence and operational continuity is guaranteed that many other companies can only dream of. A move that seems to be going in the same direction as HyperOS and the SU7, Xiaomi's first electric car built with an almost entirely proprietary supply chain.
When will XRING 01 be released?
Less than two weeks from the official presentation, therefore maintenance May, of the Xiaomi XRING 01, expectations are sky-high. The question is whether this chip will be able to offer performance comparable to the latest Snapdragons, or whether Xiaomi will take a more cautious approach, using it first on less demanding devices.
