Xiaomi and OPPO are considering developing their own 5G chips in collaboration with Unisoc, according to Digitimes sources. One of the main reasons for turning in this direction is the shortage of chips that has plagued the companies since the beginning of the pandemic, which would be forcing them to seek their supply.
Beyond the leak about the intentions of Xiaomi and OPPO, the source goes so far as to put dates: both brands will present their own sub-6GHz 5G chips between late 2021 and early 2022. The goal is both to compete with Qualcomm and MediaTek and to end the current dependence they have on these two manufacturers.
Xiaomi and OPPO will have in-house processors to fight Qualcomm and Mediatek, Taiwanese sources sayThe current market is governed by MediaTek and Qualcomm, with a significant growth of the Chinese manufacturer in 2020, which, for the first time, overtook Qualcomm and is already the leading supplier of mobile chips. Manufacturers such as Huawei can no longer manufacture their Kirin chip due to U.S. restrictions, leaving Samsung practically alone with its own Exynos manufacturing.
The situation could be reversed with two of the biggest players in telephony, Xiaomi and OPPO, manufacturing their own 5G processors hand in hand with Union. DigiTimes Taiwanese sources claim that between late 2021 and early 2022 both companies will present their self-developed 5G solutions, with long-term agreements with Unisoc.
According to the sources, the arrival of these processors is imminent, although there are no details on what they will look like, only that they will be compatible with the full 5G spectrum.
At the moment, neither of the two companies has confirmed this move, so we await further information. There is also no news that the agreements with Qualcomm and MediaTek will be completely broken, so both these processors and Xiaomi and OPPO’s processors could coexist within their catalogs.
