What is the difference between SoC developed by Xiaomi and Huawei and Qualcomm?

Recently, a new millet machine with a wave of real machine photos on the Internet exposure, relative to the netizens' attention to the new millet phone, more users focus on the mobile phone chip, according to a photo display, the phone The screen is 5.46 inches (there is news that it is actually 5.15 inches) 1080P display, 8-core CPU, the highest frequency of 2.2GHz, GPU is Mali-T860 MP4, security Bunny Run points 63581, run points and about the results Dragon 625 is at the same level.

In addition, there is a picture on the system Android 6.0 and pinecone (pineapple).

So, what is this suspected mobile phone SoC developed by Xiaomi, which is roughly equivalent to Qualcomm, Huawei's which product? What will be the future development prospects?

Just as any technological achievement will not come down from heaven, nor will it come out of thin air, the SoC developed by Xiaomi is also the result of technical support to the outside world and its hard work within 2 years.

As early as the end of 2014, Xiaomi started technical cooperation with Datang Lianxin. Datang Telecom licensed the LC1860 platform developed and owned by Lianxin Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary, to Beijing Songguo Electronics Co., Ltd. for a license price of 103 million yuan— - Beijing Songguo Electronics Co., Ltd. was jointly established by Xiaomi and Lianxin . Xiaomi holds 51% shares and Lianxin holds 49%. The English name is exactly the pinecore that appears in the real machine photo.

It is thanks to the technical cooperation between Beijing Songguo and Lianxin Technology that Beijing Songguo has the ability to participate in the development of 4G multimode SOC serialized chip products and is used in Xiaomi’s mobile phone—in fact, this time. The open cell phone chip is not the first product developed by Lianxin for Xiaomi cell phone. As early as 2015, LC1860 was used for red rice 2A cell phone, and more than 5 million units were shipped in that year. The performance was significantly better than that of Huawei's early trials of K3 and K3V2, and almost equal to Hasslean 910.

The recently revealed SoC designed by Pineapple Electronics is clearly the latest result of the cooperation between Xiaomi and Lianxin Technology. What about the performance of this chip?

First look at the CPU , according to the existing news, this SoC's CPU part is a quad-core 1.4G clocked Cortex A53 and quad-core 2.2G clocked Cortex A53, and Hassling Unicorn 650 (4-core 2.0GHz A53+4 The nuclear 1.7GHz A53), Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 (4-core 1.7GHz A53+4 core 1.2GHz A53) and Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (8-core 2.0Ghz A53) belong to the same grade.

Secondly, looking at the GPU , the GPU of Pinecon is the Mali T860MP4, which is clearly better than the Mali T830MP2 from the Hessian Kirin 650.

Looking at the manufacturing process again , there is no news about the specific manufacturing process of the SoC at this stage. However, according to the SMIC announcement in February of this year that its 28nm HKMG process has been successfully taped, and with Lianxin Technology launched a 28nm HKMG-based mobile phone SoC, and Datang Telecom is a major shareholder of SMIC, Lianxin Technology is Datang Telecom's According to the facts of the company, the pinecone SoC exposed this time is likely to use the SMIC 28nm HKMG process. Although there is a gap between the 28nm HKMG process and the 16nm manufacturing process of the Huawei Unicorn 650 and the 14nm process of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, it is superior to the 28nm LP process of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615.

As to why the 14nm/16nm process is not used, on the one hand, because the 28nm HKMG process is relatively mature , the mask cost is only about 6 million US dollars, the mask cost is significantly lower than the 14nm/16nm process; on the other hand, it is because millet is difficult to reach the apple, Huawei, Qualcomm, Samsung and other international giants have grabbed 14nm and 16nm chip production capacity . Together with SMIC and Lianxin Science and Technology, they are under the control of Datang Telecom. The adoption of SMIC's 28nm HKMG process will become a reality. In addition, the A53 using the 28nm HKMG process is also fully functional, and 28nm is a very cost-effective manufacturing process, which is also very consistent with the consistent style of millet / Lei Jun.

Although the use of 28nm HKMG process will be greater than the 14/16nm power consumption in the process, the heat and life experience will be worse, but the 28nm HKMG process has been able to suppress the A53's power consumption, does not appear that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 Fever situation. Looking at the situation where Ann Bunny ran, if the security Bunny didn't do a special optimization on the Pinecon SoC, then on the run point, the Pinecon SoC is obviously a SoC that can compete with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 and the Unicorn 650.

At the bottom of the list , Huawei's Kirin 650 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 are all 7-mode basebands. Contacting VIA once sold their patents. After licensing CDMA patents to MediaTek, they immediately sold them to Intel. Presumably Huawei obtained CDMA. The method of patent licensing is similar to that of MediaTek (of course, it may be bought from Intel or Qualcomm, but this is less likely). Lianxin did not buy CDMA patent licenses, so it can only do 5-mode baseband. Therefore, Pinecon SoC may not support telecommunications 2G and 3G. There is a certain gap between baseband and baseband manufacturers such as Huawei and Qualcomm.

To sum up, the SoC CPU developed by Xiaomi is a quad-core 1.4G clocked Cortex A53 and a quad-core 2.2G clocked Cortex A53. The GPU is Mali T860MP4. The manufacturing process is 28nm HKMG, and the baseband is 5-mode baseband. Running points is equivalent to Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, which is a sufficient level of SoC, and is ideal for replacing high-pass Snapdragon 615, Snapdragon 616, MT6750, and MT6755 SoCs in low-end mobile and Unicom mobile phones.

At present, more and more mobile phone companies have begun to develop their own mobile phone chips. In addition to veteran players such as Apple, Qualcomm, Huawei, and Samsung, LG has also chosen to develop its own mobile phone chips. ZTE has also invested 2.4 billion yuan to develop its own mobile phone chips. Cell phone chips, joint ventures between Xiaomi and Lianxin are also in line with this trend.

The cooperation between Datang Lianxin and Xiaomi is obviously a win-win result. For Datang Lianxin, looking for Xiaomi as a partner can not only obtain a sum of money, but also provide Lianxin with a stable platform to enable it to replicate the vertical integration model of Huawei Unicorn and Samsung Orion. For Xiaomi, not only can SoC's design technology be learned in cooperation with contacts, but also Datang Telecom's support in communications technology. Especially for Xiaomi, which is relatively poor in patents, the next step is to enter the international market. It is necessary to build its own patent wall or seek patent protection. Only in this way can we avoid the recurrence of lawsuits filed in foreign markets. Datang Telecom, as a traditional communications company, has a certain amount of accumulation in communications patents, and it is also the main owner of TDS technology. The patents held by Datang Telecom can have a certain protective effect on Xiaomi in overseas markets.

Judging from the role that can be played now, Xiaomi cooperates with Datang Telecom, which not only helps increase the bargaining power of Xiaomi and Qualcomm and MediaTek negotiations, but also reduces the cost of purchasing mobile phone chips, compresses handset production costs, and helps Xiaomi better. Master the shipping rhythm.

Some people commented that SoC developed by Beijing Pinecon Electronics is actually a core product of the core. For this argument, the author does not make an evaluation, but only elaborates the situation. Beijing Songgo Electronics’ employees are mainly diverted from Lianxin employees. There are also many employees who have been swept away from other old IC design companies in China. For example, Xiaomi once paid a high salary to loot technical personnel from Loongson’s ZhongKe – although due to his ideal ambitions. With the reason that Mao Zedong Thought was armed with his head, Godson’s technical backbone is highly stable. However, since Godson’s salary has been below the industry average for a long period of time, ordinary technicians are still hard to entice. Although Pinecon is entrusted with Datang Lianxin’s responsibility for wafer manufacturing and packaging testing, the design of the SoC has been led by a joint venture company, and it has already had the ability to design SoC. As for whether SoC developed by Pinecon Electronics is a vest of Datang Link's products, it would be wise to see the benevolent wise.

Since millet has a large volume of shipments on mid-to-low-end models, once the red rice mobile phone, even if it is only part of the Red rice mobile phone adopts SoC designed by Pineapple Electronics, its life cycle shipments can fully 10 million levels, and over time, once the pineapple electronic products get better and better, more and more recognized by the market, most red rice mobile phone SoC designed with Pinecone is not impossible.

As the second mobile phone chip developed by Xiaomi's second joint venture company, its overall performance fully meets the level of HiSilicon 930, and shipments are likely to reach 10 million. This is not easy. And as long as millet invests in R&D, plus communication technology support from Datang Telecom and CPU and GPU support from ARM, the possibility of being another Hassian Kirin five years later is not at all impossible.

From the fact that Huawei, Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, and ZTE have started to design their own mobile phone chips, it can be seen that the development of mobile phone chips by mobile phone companies is a general trend. And from the fact that there are many ARM camp IC design companies in the country, and after purchasing ARM's IP license, it can quickly come up with products (Hai Si, ZTE Microelectronics, Spreadtrum, Lianxin/Songge, Quanzhi, Rockchip, the new shoreline, Actions, etc., ARM design IC company), after the purchase of ARM public version of the design to develop their own mobile phone, tablet chip threshold is not high.

In the past, fans of Xiaomi used “not to run a single point” to sneak up their friends, and they were then hit back by Huawei fans “not willing to make a U”. So, Xiaomi responded to Huawei's fans' ridicule with practical actions, and this is just the technical achievement that Xiaomi made in the two years after the joint venture with Lianxin. On the one hand, actual actions have shown that it is not difficult to purchase the ARM public version of the design and development of the SoC. It can also regain the initiative for Xiaomi.

In fact, from the rise of Huawei mobile phones, the key to the rise of its mobile phone is a key factor in the rise of Hessian Kirin chips. The success of Glory 6. Mate7 is inseparable from that of Kirin 920/925 series chips. And using its own chips for Huawei has won the propaganda initiative and catered to the full support of some Chinese people who have a patriotic heart. At the same time, Hassell Kirin also enabled Huawei to acquire a technological halo, making the corporate image even bigger.

Compared with Huawei's technological aura, Xiaomi has become a powerful marketing force in terms of public opinion. However, it is technically poorly represented, making it very passive in its publicity. Huawei's fans' phrase "not obedient to creating a U" has hit millet's. Soft ribs. In these years, the average price of mobile phones and high-end models have increased steadily, and it is difficult for Xiaomi’s 2,000-grade mobile phone to sell hotter, and more rely on the low-end red rice models to take the lead, which is the reason for this phenomenon. One of them is that Huawei owns Hassling Kirin, which has acquired a technical aura and supported the brand's added value. However, Xiaomi does not have such a fulcrum.

This time, SoC’s SoC was designed to solve this problem, so that millet fans can boldly and powerfully respond to the “unconvinced U” ridicule, and this SoC is not inferior to comprehensive performance. Kirin 930. What is even more inconvenient is that this SoC is manufactured by SMIC, and Huawei's Kirin series chips are for TSMC. Taking into account the Taiwan authorities' guilty conscience against the Chinese mainland, they are swayed by the United States and Japan and are willing to walk away with it. Before the People's Liberation Army recovered Taiwan, it did not regard the United States and Japan as their own people. Therefore, from this point of view, the SoC designed by Songguo Electronics is higher than Haisi Kirin in the degree of “localization”, and this is exactly the way that Xiaomi wins the initiative in reversing the dilemma of the past.

Finally, because the millet pineapple electronics and Huawei Hassleech's CPUs and GPUs are all purchased from ARM , the difference is that Huawei has more money, and has the capital to purchase better CPU cores and GPU cores to integrate into its own designed SoCs. There are three advantages of Unicorn vs. millet pineapple:

One is that baseband integrates CDMA and can achieve 7 mode;

The second is to use TSMC's latest 16nm process;

The third is to use ARM's relatively high-end A72 and Mali T880.

Because CDMA retreat is only a matter of time, the disadvantages of Xiaomi Songuo on the baseband will no longer exist. If Huawei cannot develop a CPU core that is significantly better than the public version of the architecture.

Then, in the near future, when CDMA withdraws from the network, if Xiaomi fully grasps the ability to buy IP for integration, he does not hesitate to purchase ARM's best CPU core and GPU core, and pays for the best of TSMC. In the manufacturing process, Huawei's advantage over Xiaomi in mobile phone SoC will no longer exist.