JAKARTA – Xiaomi officially confirmed that the latest flagship series, Xiaomi 16, will be powered by the latest generation chipset from Qualcomm, Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. This announcement also dismissing speculation that had circulated about the potential for division between Xiaomi and Qualcomm. Conversely, both of them actually strengthen their strategic cooperation through the New Testament which will take place in the next few years.
This information emerged along with confirmation from Qualcomm that the Snapdragon Summit 2025 will be held in September, strengthening the allegation that Xiaomi 16 will debut global at the end of the month.
Through their official press release, Qualcomm stated that they and Xiaomi had signed a multi-year cooperation agreement for the use of the Snapdragon 8 Series chipset in various Xiaomi flagship models. Under this agreement, Xiaomi 16 is certain to be one of the first devices to carry Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, the temporary name for the next generation of SOC that promises higher performance and efficiency than its predecessor.
Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, also emphasized that Qualcomm remains the main partner in the company’s global expansion strategy. He highlighted the importance of synergy between hardware performance from Snapdragon and the development of Xiaomi internal technology, as a key to strengthening the brand position in the premium smartphone segment.
XRing chip made by Xiaomi is ready to strengthen the high-end model
Interestingly, Xiaomi will also continue the use of homemade chipsets, namely Xring, which will debut with Xiaomi 15s Pro in China. This in-house chip is expected to continue to be used in selected flagship models such as Xiaomi 16s Pro and Xiaomi 16 Ultra to come.
The use of this Xring chip selectively shows that Xiaomi is not fully replacing Snapdragon, but rather makes Xring a complement to create a more integrated device experience between software And hardware. Moreover, the current Xring chip production capacity is still in the improvement stage, so Xiaomi still relies on Qualcomm for mass production of its flagship model.
With a dual chipset strategy – Snapdragon for flagship and xring volumes for exclusive models – Xiaomi shows a new direction in developing ecosystems smartphone premium. Xiaomi 16 debut with Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 at the end of this year will certainly be the spotlight, as well as a benchmark for high performance integration and technological innovation of two industrial giants: Xiaomi and Qualcomm.
