Xiaomi are the darling of the Chinese tech world, but as they have grown they have started to step on a few toes, one being their long time partner and chip supply Mediatek.
It’s not secret the Qualcomm is a larger investor of Xiaomi’s, but it has been Mediatek who have largely helped the brand gain a foothold in the bread and butter smartphone market. The original Redmi and Redmi Note both came with Mediatek chips at launch, but later replaced with Qualcomm chips, this obviously hurts Mediatek (as customers are shown Qualcomm is an upgrade) but not so much as Xiaomi buying it’s own processor manufacturer.
Gizchina News of the week
Just a few weeks ago Xiaomi bought the controlling stake in Chinese SoC maker Leadcore. The idea being that Xiaomi can produce it’s own low-cost chips and cut out Mediatek to reduce retail costs further. This has not gone down well with Meidiatek though it sounds as though the two companies might come to an unhappy split.
On the grand scheme of things this is barely going to hurt Mediatek’s business as they are still the leading supply of processors to Chinese and Indian smartphone makers, but hopefully it wakes them up a little and explorer newer, more open source avenues to build a larger user base.
Mediatek are currently on top form with the launch of their powerful MT6595 chip in the Meizu MX4 and a couple of 64Bit SoC’s headed in to mid-range phones before the end of this year.
I can understand the decision by Mediatek if this news is true. Leadcore chips are basically competing with Mediatek chips and Xiaomi is now a major investor.
Also, hopefully this does not have an effect on the release of the Redmi series phones (rumors say it has a Snapdragon 615 chipset I believe).
I can understand this, Xioami bought it is own processor manufacturer, it would be redundant and a waste of money to continue using Mtek. It would be like LG not using their own displays and buying them from Sharp.
Guys, I can’t help to join the conversation, but Mediatek had told me rumor is just rumor, Mediatek and xiaomi has a long way to go.
A Redmi Note with MT6595 5.5 FHD and Android One would perfectly be my daily driver.
Hope Hugo Barra turns MI out of the Applelike spirale
It wouldn’t that cheap with MT6595 and they woudn’t made a phone without MIUI.
Leadcore’s currently best SoC isn’t sufficient for next year’s mid range requirements.
If that’s true Xiaomi have to depend on Qualcomm more until Leadcore keep up. Also I guess Leadcore doesn’t real manufacturing process like others. They just design it.
Lately Xiaomi already turned it’s face to Qualcomm. They implemented Snapdragons on Redmi 1s and Redmi Note 4G and Mi4. But an absolute ending of their business relation in the short term could gave Qualcomm a chance to raising prices of entry level and mid range SoCs IMO.
That’s assuming Leadcore doesn’t already have a full line of chips under development specifically for Xiaomi.
Well, seems like I had forgotten something. According to Leadcore’s roadmap they are already working on a 64-bit mid range SoC.
I can understand the decision by Mediatek if this news is true. Leadcore chips are basically competing with Mediatek chips and Xiaomi is now a major investor.
Also, hopefully this does not have an effect on the release of the Redmi series phones (rumors say it has a Snapdragon 615 chipset I believe).
I can understand this, Xioami bought it is own processor manufacturer, it would be redundant and a waste of money to continue using Mtek. It would be like LG not using their own displays and buying them from Sharp.
Guys, I can’t help to join the conversation, but Mediatek had told me rumor is just rumor, Mediatek and xiaomi has a long way to go.
A Redmi Note with MT6595 5.5 FHD and Android One would perfectly be my daily driver.
Hope Hugo Barra turns MI out of the Applelike spirale
It wouldn’t that cheap with MT6595 and they woudn’t made a phone without MIUI.
Leadcore’s currently best SoC isn’t sufficient for next year’s mid range requirements.
If that’s true Xiaomi have to depend on Qualcomm more until Leadcore keep up. Also I guess Leadcore doesn’t real manufacturing process like others. They just design it.
Lately Xiaomi already turned it’s face to Qualcomm. They implemented Snapdragons on Redmi 1s and Redmi Note 4G and Mi4. But an absolute ending of their business relation in the short term could gave Qualcomm a chance to raising prices of entry level and mid range SoCs IMO.
That’s assuming Leadcore doesn’t already have a full line of chips under development specifically for Xiaomi.
Well, seems like I had forgotten something. According to Leadcore’s roadmap they are already working on a 64-bit mid range SoC.
After using 2 devices with MTK chips. I can say that my next phone will be Snapdragon 64bit. Snapdragon is just Snapdragon. On the MTK even the GPS is not that reliable, I remember I was owning a old Snapdragon device that was able to mount NFS shares (back in 2011) …of course MTK can’t do that (2014) – no modules available.
So MTK served OK to me ….but it is time to move on!
I have had good and bad luck with Samsung, Qualcom and Mediatek chips. It depends just as much on the other parts used and the quality of the product as it does the chip.
Both Companies should open a branch at Chennai – Tamilnadu – India Shortly.
After using 2 devices with MTK chips. I can say that my next phone will be Snapdragon 64bit. Snapdragon is just Snapdragon. On the MTK even the GPS is not that reliable, I remember I was owning a old Snapdragon device that was able to mount NFS shares (back in 2011) …of course MTK can’t do that (2014) – no modules available.
So MTK served OK to me ….but it is time to move on!
I have had good and bad luck with Samsung, Qualcom and Mediatek chips. It depends just as much on the other parts used and the quality of the product as it does the chip.