The Xiaomi Mi 5 is taking a long time coming, but what we knew was that it would have a Snapdragon 820 processor. It turns out, there’s a twist to the story… at least a possibility.
Word is that Xiaomi isn’t too happy with the royalties Qualcomm will charge for the Snapdragon 820, which has prompted the Chinese phone maker to look elsewhere for an SoC for its next phone. You would expect things such as these to be cleared well ahead of launch normally, but for a company like Xiaomi that operates on a razor thin margin, every penny is important (figurative speaking, of course).
Gizchina News of the week
And by ‘looking elsewhere’ for an SoC you probably know what I meant — MediaTek. Ever since their MT67xx series of 64-bit processors came out, MediaTek have been making big strides not only in the entry-level and mid-range market, but also the high-end market with the Helio X10 and upwards.
As for the Mi 5, the MediaTek Helio X20 looks like an obvious choice for Xiaomi. It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out in the end, however, because almost exactly one year back, Xiaomi were asked to stop selling their MediaTek phones in India… a market that happens to be of immense importance for Xiaomi and one where they’ve gone closest to replicating their Chinese success.
I don’t see it happening for three reasons:
1. India is too big of a potential market for them not to get the Mi5.
2. Xiaomi is Qualcomm’s biggest customer, they aren’t paying the same price for chips as everyone else.
3. Qualcomm is a minor investor in Xiaomi and was one of the original investors. Xiaomi has been incredibly loyal too them over the years.
Well Xiaomi did use Mediatek for Redmi Note 2 so I can understand the rumours, I just personally don’t think it will happen.
My personal views are shaped by years of experience with Xiaomi products, a knowledge of the inner workings of Chinese phones and actual experience working with this industry.
That’s why we trust you more than the companies you deserve a big Thank You.
don’t trust him when he speaks about Gionee phones though.
😉
Yea that part’s a little sketchy ;-]
I actually haven’t been as impressed with them lately. The new S6 looks like a shameless Iphone 6 clone. Gionee has always had their own unique designs it’s a shame to see them go down that road.
Of course, but we saw the original redmi note with both mediatek and snapdragon as well, and no one was like “xiaomi mi4 will have mt6595″… This year we are seeing rumors like this because of the great improvement made by mediatek, but there is no reason to think it’s a real thing!
MTK has gained significant ground in terms of processing they are still far behind in GPUs. They are closing the gap though. Neither of them come close to Samsung Exnyos though, a Xiaomi with a Exynos would be epic!
Yeah, what’s really bothering me is that gpu is where they cut the price, and same goes for kirin too.
A xiaomi with exynos 7420 this year would have kicked ass, but let’s be honest: we all know meizu has worked far too hard to have monopoly on those socs! 😀
Samsung would sell to Xiaomi if they really wanted it and they have the capacity to meet the demand. Xiaomi has just never been interested. They have a good relationship with Qualcomm, they probably wouldn’t even give it a thought.
4: a new Xiaomi phone with the SD820 just showed up on Geekbench.
but i have to be honest, i wouldn’t be surprised if they launch two variants:
the basic one with Helio X20, 3GB/16GB
priced at their usual 1999 CNY
and a premium version with SD820 4GB/64GB and maybe a bigger display priced at 2499 CNY
what’s your thoughts?
I could see a similar situation to Mi4i down the line, with a phone specifically for India. But not at launch, the cots of the R&D for two models with different tech would be too much of an initial blow.
that was brain gymnastic, they will make a SD820 MI5 for sure.
we saw the Tenaa certification and Geekbench sheet, so there’s no secret about it.
I liked the idea of the 2 variants though and i really don’t find it so unrealistic.
I mean, if LeTV did it at their first approach on this industry then i don’t see why Xiaomi couldn’t.
But again, that’s just brain gymnastic.
Lol. Anything is possible in this industry. But if there were two variants I think both would be SD SoCs. The main reason I expect only one version at launch is because the Mi4c is still relatively new, a weaker Mi5 would be competing with that directly. Instead I like the idea of Mi5 in January/February and a Mi5ii/c in summer. Similar to how Apple uses the “s” line to freshen up phones
they better hurry up with whatever they decide to do.
I’m in need for a new phone pronto!
Mi5 is probably the only phone that could pry me away from MX5. For me though there’s 4 thing it has to have (could care less about SoC as long as it doesn’t overheat):
1. 5-5.5 inch display
2. Fingerprint scanner
3. IR
4. Metal (just like the feel)
If it has those 4 I’ll buy it day one.
– 5.2-5.7 inch (no more 5″ for me)
– Fingerprint scanner
– NFC (i wanna use my phone to pay my Latte at Starbucks :D)
– IR (i like it, but no biggie if isn’t there)
– I like metal better
My first request would be LTE bands but i know it’s not going to happen.
Yea I know LTE is a long shot lol. You don’t just use the Starbucks app? I just load $25 a week and use it to pay for my coffee.
yeah but then you have to have an app for every single store.
with the Google Pay you just tap your phone on it and authorize the payment through the fingerprint scanner.
I only use Starbucks and Dunkin App anyways so its really no biggie for me.
Lol was actually there this morning for a bagel! But don’t go often, do like their coffee though
Dat Segway to coffee shops…
adding to wishlist,superb 16 mp camera..13 is also fine provided there is great details!…Fingerprint scanner desirable but no way a deal breaker,never used NFC.5’2 3GB 1080p is ideal size,ram,ppi,not too small,not too large…and oh yes,3000-3400 mAH battery
I wish I could up-vote you and Balco twice for that! 😀
do you like Lattes too? 🙂
how did you know that. 😀
Latte over cappuccino or anything else, always. No latte, then I think tea first. 😉
I hope they start selling the Mi5 in India with SD820 before Christmas. You’d be my Santa! 😀
i don’t want to ruin your Christmas, but i don’t see that happening for logistic issues.
Let’s suppose that it will be launched as early as end of November ( I strongly doubt that).
Then they start shipping let’s say between the first 2 weeks of December…
Now,to get one of those you have either live in China and be one of the lucky ones to get the phone due to limited stock/huge demand or buy it from resellers adding at least $100 over the retail price.
Not fun my friend, not fun 🙁
voted you up. that led me down a path of research that enlightened the whole india/mediatek/ericsson thing for me.
regarding 1. They could use a X10 (src http://www.themobileindian.com/news/16999_LeTV-Le-1s-smartphone-unveiled-with-MediaTek-Helio-X10-coming-to-India-later-this-year ) or Snapdragon 820 variant in India. The Qualcomm variant might be wildly upscale in India though… and this is a basic problem with the article here not being true.
Actually, the requirement to find a solution for India means the 820 might be chosen because they also get the american market (how did the american market not end up with the same patent problem, one wonders? I guess that agreement Mediatek and QC signed included each’s home market), without getting too many, too wildly different variants. They could not do the X20 in india, I think, because it is 20nm and Mediatek’s india fab is 28nm.
The patent holders are different for each country depending on network infrastructure. Ericsson pretty much built the Indian networks from the ground up.
did they keep the patents before selling to Lenovo?
Smartasses!
speaking of Google I’m going to give a try to their Project FI this month.
Yea of about 20,000 parents they gave Lenovo around 2,000 (just those directly associated with Moto phones). Google never actually wanted the Moto phone line, it was always about the patents.
Yup. Google kept the patents. The smarter part was, they thought losing ~10 billion was better than keeping Moto alive, where they had no experience. Google bought Moto for ~12 billion and sold ’em off for ~2 billion to Lenovo (hope my memory isn’t bad).
I think they know what they are doing. They are looking at the big picture:
they are starting their MNVO in the US (I’m going to give it a try this month).
Also they are investing a lot on fiber optics.
So if you do 1+1 it’s getting clear that they want to become the big provider of wired and wireless.
And don’t forget YouTube…
sooner we will be watching TV through internet.
No more cable or satellite
Yup, I agree. Sometimes it makes me wonder if Google and LeTV come together, they could take on Netflix. On second thoughts, naah! unless they start capturing the new markets. BTW, the government of India has okayed Google to connect a whopping 60% population (or so …. 1.25 billion’s 60%, you do the math) with Google powered balloons. They could do what Netflix does in US and LeTV in China.
Good stuff coming out for tech lovers like us.