Google’s next Pixel needs faster silicon, now that China is building beasts like this

Robert Triggs / Android Authority Custom mobile processor development was once reserved for the few who could absorb the huge engineering costs that accompany such an endeavor. In recent years, however, Arm’s expansive IP portfolio has lowered the barrier for consumer tech companies to design bespoke processors. Google’s Tensor series is perhaps the most well-known example, built in collaboration with Samsung using a healthy dose of Arm, Samsung, and Google parts. Now, it’s the turn of China’s giant Xiaomi, which has just announced its XRING O1 processor for its Xiaomi 15s Pro — essentially a Xiaomi 15 without Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite that’s destined for mainland China. Xiaomi probed the custom silicon waters back in 2017 with the Surge S1, but the XRING O1 is a much more ambitious effort. I’d go as far as to call it a monster: 10 high-performance Arm CPU cores and a massive 16-core Arm GPU that should blitz through today’s games — and likely tomorrow’s too. Xiaomi goes all-in ... Read full article.