Yesterday was a day of those who are marked in history. Xiaomi presented his own chip And, although it is not the first time that the Chinese company enters the world of semiconductors, the Xring 01 It is a blow to a table where the entire industry is sitting.
This is a very special chip. It works in a very different way from that of its Rivals of Qualcomm and Mediatek, in addition to having some much more advanced technologies. Understanding how Xring works is important, since this processor can mark a before and after in the own way in which the current leaders design their processors.
The good, the ugly and the bad. To understand how the Xiaomi Xring works, it is necessary to understand how its rivals work in A high -end chip. And you just need to understand three keys to know what is happening at all times by the mobile chip.
For more than ten years the chips have a Big.little architecture. The name perfectly explains what happens: there are “large” nuclei, “medium” nuclei, and “small” nuclei. Simplifying a lot, the nuclei are processing units within the chip that allow you to execute different tasks.
The big ones are the most powerful and in, beginning, (this point is key) should only be activated for high demand tasks, such as high -resolution, export and video editing games or video, etc. The little ones are oriented to day -to -day basis, they are less powerful, but they consume less energy.
When Little is not so little. MediaTak and Qualcomm have a problem. They have been engaged in a career for offering the most powerful chipand although the efficiency of its chips is enviable, it still has a lot of improvement margin.
In the case of Qualcomm, in its 8 elite There are not even efficiency nuclei.
- Two very large nuclei (prime)
- Six large nuclei (performance).
There are two prime nuclei at 4.32 GHz (a barbaric frequency), and six yield cores at 3.53 GHz, another tremendous figure. According to Qualcomm, this processor is more efficient than its predecessors. In our experience, having tried dozens of telephones with this processor, we can assure you that it is a chip prone to heating and quite swallow.
Mediatek, with his Dimensity 9400It has a very different, similar architecture.
- A very large nucleus (Cortex-X925 at 3.63 GHz)
- Three large nuclei (Cortex-X4 to 3.3 GHz)
- Four medium nuclei (Cortex-A720 to 2.4 GHz)
There is no need to learn any name but keep the concept that, in the two high -end Android processors, there are really no low consumption nuclei. Everything is more or less large nuclei that, yes, distribute the workload according to the task, but remain great.
Apple’s case is different. His Apple A18 Pro It only has six nuclei (instead of eight) and there are more for efficiency than to performance.
- Two “large” nuclei (A18 P-Core at 4 GHz).
- Four “small” nuclei (A18 e-core at 2.2 GHz).
How Xiaomi has resolved. You already know that on Android We are going crazy with the large and powerful nucleiand that Apple is at its pace with large nuclei but focusing on the little ones. How has the Xiaomi ballot resolved? Looking for the maximum balance and with a unique architecture of ten nuclei.
- Two “large” nuclei (x925 to 3.9 GHz)
- Four “medium” high frequency nuclei (A725 to 3.4 GHz)
- Four “medium” cores at low frequency (A725 to 1.9 GHz)
- Four “small” nuclei (A520 to 1.8 GHz).
Xiaomi’s idea is completely different from that of its competence and, at least at a technical level, a genius. If you want power, you have two more than capable nuclei, the same X925 of Dimensity 9400 with even more clock frequency.
For the rest of the powerful but not so demanding tasks, A725 to 3.4 GHz nuclei are used. What Mediatek understands as low -consumption nuclei Xiaomi understands it as nuclei capable of executing virtually any task (even games).
And, for low consumption tasks, A520 A520 nuclei are combined (really small nuclei, which have renounced Qualcomm and Mediatek) at a very low frequency.
What they have achieved. Chinese chip analysts, such as Geekerwan, have already been able Try Xring 01and their conclusions are clear. In addition to having managed to package the set on an area of only 109mm2 (smaller than that of its direct rivals), Xiaomi has achieved what could be expected from the design of its chip: They are leaders in energy efficiency in low and medium load tasks.
This is especially relevant to the foot user. The high -end chips are designed to execute demanding tasks, but a mobile is a mobile, and the main load of tasks can be resolved by a group of low consumption nuclei, something that its direct competition (except Apple) seemed to have forgotten.
Stay with three data: the FPS that reaches in games such as ‘Genshin Impact’, the watts it consumes and the temperature it reaches.
Regarding performance, it varies quite a lot for task. In games that are currently Benchmark, such as ‘Genshin Impact’, manages to maintain the same stability as their direct rivals with a similar consumption and a temperature contained.
In other games, Apple is still the king in energy efficiency.
In short, when it works to the maximum it is at the level of the best, and when it works at half gas it consumes less energy. A Win-Win of manual. This does not translate into an absolute victory over its rivals, since the performance is not measured in absolute terms and depends completely on the specific task to be executed. What is clear is that, being the first chip that Xiaomi takes seriously, being at the level of Apple, Qualcomm and Mediatek is a key milestone.
Not everything is CPU. So far we have focused on the CPU because the structure of this processor is unique and is a milestone in energy efficiency. But Xiaomi has also worked at the GPU, the part of the processor in charge of the graphics. It is the Immortalis-G925 of AR (The same of the Dimensity 9400), but with a configuration 16 cores instead of the 12 for which Mediatek bets.
With this design, they promise to be 35% more efficient at the energy level compared to A18 Pro of Apple, and up to 30% faster opening heavy applications.
How it affects you. The step that Xiaomi has taken, although at the moment it seems restricted to China, affects the entire industry. Xiaomi now has in his hand the power to negotiate, Pressing about both Snapdragon and Dimensity in the medium term.
It is also a new reference point. Qualcomm has been dragging temperature and efficiency problems in its processors for years. Xiaomi has just demonstrated that, with the same Lithography of TSMC, results can be achieved more adjusted to the real demands of the average consumer.
Image | Xiaomi
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings