As expected, Xiaomi has launched its in-house processor (codenamed: Pinecone) today at the Beijing National Convention Centre, China. The Chipset is named as Surge S1 which is an octa-core 64-bit SoC with 2.2GHz maximum frequency.
The Xiaomi Surge S1 has four ARM Cortex A53 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and the other four ARM Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.4GHz. The SoC is coupled with a quad-core Mali T860 GPU for improved power efficiency. Moreover, the Mali T860 is rated to be 40 percent more power efficient as opposed to its predecessor.
The Surge S1 has 14-bit dual core ISP for enhancing image processing capabilities. The Surge ISP algorithm improves camera light sensitivity by up to 150%. The Chip level security features include TEE architecture, high data integrity and a mechanism to prevent unauthorised network access. It has 32-bit high-performance DSP for better voice processing supporting HD calls (VoLTE) and dual microphones for noise reduction.
Xiaomi has revealed that the company took 28 months for the production of the Surge processor. Xiaomi and Pinecone together have created this processor. As per Xiaomi, their new Surge S1 SOC beats 14nm Snapdragon 625 as well as MediaTek Helio P10 and the p20 in the benchmarks.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi has also announced Xiaomi Mi 5C today at 1499 Yuan (US$ 218) or approximately Rs 14,567. It is the first smartphone powered by Xiaomi’s in-house Surge S1 processor and has a 5.15-inch full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) curved glass display. On the inside, as mentioned before, the device is powered by 2.2GHz Xiaomi Surge S1 64-bit Octa-Core processor with quad-core Mali-T860 GPU. It comes with 3GB RAM with 64GB of internal storage, which is further expected to be expandable via a micro SD card.
This dual SIM smartphone runs on Android Marshmallow operating system which is upgradable to Android 7.1 Nougat-based MIUI 8 update in March. It has 2860 mAh battery which supports 9V/2A fast charging promising full day battery life.The Xiaomi Mi 5C comes with a 12-megapixel Autofocus rear camera with LED flash, 1.25 μm pixel size, f/2.2 aperture, 6P lens 27-mm wide angle lens and an 8-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture, 27 mm Wide-Angle lens.