This article has been updated to include OPPO's announcement.
What you need to know
- The upcoming Xiaomi 12 will be the first device to get Qualcomm's next-generation premium chipset.
- Xiaomi has confirmed this information at the Qualcomm Tech Summit.
- OPPO has also confirmed that its upcoming flagship smartphone will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Xiaomi's Lei Jun has announced that Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform will make its way first to the upcoming Xiaomi 12 series, contrary to a previous rumor.
The company's founder and CEO has confirmed the latest development at Qualcomm's Tech Summit in Hawaii. He noted that Qualcomm and Xiaomi collaborated for several months to bring its latest flagship SoC to the Xiaomi 12.
.@Qualcomm has always been one of the most important partners of Xiaomi. Today I'm proud to announce that after months of joint effort between Xiaomi and Qualcomm, Xiaomi 12 Series will be the world's first smartphones powered by the new @Snapdragon 8 5G Gen 1 mobile platform. pic.twitter.com/U7l3BytRce.@Qualcomm has always been one of the most important partners of Xiaomi. Today I'm proud to announce that after months of joint effort between Xiaomi and Qualcomm, Xiaomi 12 Series will be the world's first smartphones powered by the new @Snapdragon 8 5G Gen 1 mobile platform. pic.twitter.com/U7l3BytRce— leijun (@leijun) December 1, 2021December 1, 2021
Xiaomi has been among the first to release devices powered by Qualcomm's latest designs, and this trend is unlikely to change anytime soon. Last year, the Chinese phone maker beat Samsung to the punch by introducing the Snapdragon 888-powered Xiaomi Mi 11 series. Having said that, Xiaomi took a few months to launch that phone outside of China.
Jun also highlighted a number of improvements made by Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in terms of AI capabilities, camera, gaming, and other areas. Previous rumors suggested that Xiaomi's answer to the best Android phones next year could include an insanely large camera sensor based on Samsung's 200MP ISOCELL HP1.
OPPO has also revealed that its future flagship device will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. That said, details of said phone are limited at the moment.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is built on a 4nm process and includes a 3GHz ARM Cortex X2 high-performance core that should provide a 40% performance boost over its predecessor. The chipset can also achieve faster AI capabilities thanks to Qualcomm's 7th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine.
There is no set date for when the Xiaomi 12 will be available to consumers, but Jun stated that it will arrive soon. According to the latest leaks, Xiaomi will unveil the next flagship phone in late December.
