Xiaomi and Qualcomm puts their carts before their horses, renewing vows
While we appreciated the heads up, they should really get a room. #xiaomi #qualcomm
Qualcomm and Xiaomi enters a new multi-year agreement, expanding on product collaboration across more premium devices. Image: Qualcomm.
It looks like Qualcomm and Xiaomi will be sleeping in the same bed for many more years to come.
According to a joint statement from both international tech brands, Qualcomm and Xiaomi just entered another multi-year agreement, much like couples renewing their wedding vows, even though such unity is usually nobody’s business but theirs.
"Qualcomm Technologies has always been one of Xiaomi’s most trusted and vital partners, supporting our journey from a startup to a global technology leader. We look forward to continuing the next 15 years of our collaboration and leveraging Qualcomm’s cutting-edge Snapdragon platforms and technologies to deliver even more innovative and high-quality products to our customers worldwide,” said Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi.
Specifically, the announcement even said that Xiaomi and Qualcomm’s multi-year agreement sees both parties “committed” to Snapdragon 8-series chipsets appearing in Xiaomi’s premium smartphones for “multiple generations”, with “volume increasing each year of the agreement”, and that it applies to both China and international markets.
(Editorial Note: Get a room. Please.)
The 1m45s-long video summarises what Xiaomi and Qualcomm are expecting from each other for another 15 years. Screenshot: Qualcomm.
Beyond smartphones, Qualcomm and Xiaomi said the partnership also covers on-device AI for “edge devices”, which includes AR/VR glasses, wearables, tablets, and more (which covers EVs, too). There’s even an entire mushy video message by Lei Jun on Qualcomm’s website that rivals actual wedding vows we’ve heard.
Is this really all to it?
Eagle-eyed folks and industry followers would have noticed that Xiaomi also announced (on the same day) that it has developed a new high-end "application processor" called the XRing O1 with another chip designer. This processor directly competes with system-on-chip (SoC) makers like Qualcomm. Some super-hardcore tech websites have even tried a few Xiaomi phones with an XRing O1 prototype within.
Perhaps this little diagram will help show why it was necessarily for Qualcomm and Xiaomi to renew their vows. Look at the third-party baseband provider of the XRing O1 chipset. Image: Omdia, Canalys.
The announcement is couched with many softening blows: Xiaomi highlighted that it's just a work-in-progress and still has some way to viable, commercial use. It also said it's not the first time it has tried to make chipsets, citing the Surge S1 as a great example of how it self-manages phone battery efficiency. Xiaomi also added that it's not the first major Chinese tech company to do so (and name-dropping Huawei in the process). Finally, the firm finished it with a string of reasons why self-developing phone chips is good for everyone in its supply chain.
Taken into context, the Qualcomm joint announcement seems to assuage Qualcomm's stakeholders that one of its biggest clients isn't going anywhere, even if said customer is an independent, strong smartphone brand who don't need no fabless chip designer. Frankly, we think it's a bit overkill since all these brands can and will find ways to prosper together.
Anyway, congratulations to the re-wedded couple? Happy 520?
Source: Qualcomm (newsroom)
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