Xiaomi seems to be working on their second SoC, a more powerful processor compared to the Pinecone Surge S1. As many of you know, Xiaomi had recently introduced the company’s first ever mobile SoC, the Pinecone Surge S1, and that chip is fueling the Xiaomi Mi 5c mid-range smartphone. That being said, a new rumor is claiming that Xiaomi is working on a new, more powerful processor, which will be called the Pinecone Surge S2, read on.
This new SoC is rumored to land soon, as its mass production is said to begin in Q3, and first Pinecone Surge S2-powered smartphone is expected to land in Q4 this year. Now, this new processor will, allegedly, be built using TSMC’s 16nm manufacturing process, and we’re looking at an octa-core processor here. Now, some of you might think that a 16nm manufacturing process and a high-end processor don’t really go hand-in-hand any longer, well, the Pinecone Surge S2 was supposed to be made using a 10nm process, it seems, but due to the low yield of the 10nm process, Xiaomi opted to turn to a 16nm manufacturing process instead. So, this SoC might be less power efficient than a 10nm processor would, well, it definitely would, but that’s a price Xiaomi will have to pay if they opted to turn to a 16nm manufacturing process, depending on whether you’d like to believe in this rumor or not. Now, this processor will quite probably be even more affordable considering it’s made using a 16nm manufacturing process, which is, on one hand, a plus for Xiaomi.
The Pinecone Surge S1 is a mid-range smartphone, it’s a quite capable processor it seems, though we still have to test the Xiaomi Mi 5c in order to be able to tell you more. The Pinecone Surge S2 will be considerably more powerful, if a new rumor is to be believed, though we still don’t have all the necessary info. New rumors / leaks are expected to land in the coming weeks, so do stay tuned for more info, as you can expect one of Xiaomi’s higher-end devices to ship with the Pinecone Surge S2 SoC in the fourth quarter of this year, though we still don’t know which one, maybe the company even opts to introduce a completely new line of smartphones.