“We need to be able to make a
chipset to stand out as someone who was really innovative,”, John Chan (don't know if he is a brother to Jackie Chan).
Business as well as life itself
is a risk and only those who plunged into the risky terrains mostly at times
come out as a leader in innovation with an edge over others.
Mobile phones market has mostly
been dominated by big brands like Apple, Samsung, Microsoft (Nokia), Huawei and the
likes. At times, the geographical location determines which brand leads where
but we all know for now who leads who.
The issue has been disruption in giving the end user what they actually think they want. Putting the power in their palms and helping them toy with it in terms of mobile phones, accessories and mobile apps for different applications to make life easier. All these leads to Internet of Things and innovative smart homes.
I think one day, we will be able to change the colour of our bed sheet with a click of the phone and adjust the thickness of the mattress with the same phone app. (Muse mode).
In order for tech giants and new manufacturing entrants to achieve this feat, production base has sometimes been moved out of conception area to a location of cheaper labour and fast churn out of products to meet up with demands.
With competition becoming stiffer and the barriers of manufacturing becoming weakened (though not in the real sense), companies are already developing their own alternatives in chips production just like Apple, Samsung and Huawei to give them chance in putting their own standard functions into their brand of phones and reduce production time. The manufacturing of mobile phones with various disruptions in chipset productions is increasing and a major source concern is, maybe it will fail or succeed.
“When you make your own chips you can design them
to be ideal for your specific devices, rather than being designed for all
possible use cases,” says mobile analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.
Xiaomi is taking the plunge and I
learnt it has paid off.
“The key is having full
control of the chipset and integration with the phone.”
With that in mind, Xiaomi built the
Surge S1, an eight-core, ARM-based processor that, while not exactly a
powerhouse, can handle 4K video. More importantly, it’s fully integrated with
the new Xiaomi 5C smartphone, which launched with the chip.
 |
| Xiaomi’s 5C smartphone, with the company’s new chip inside. XIAOMI |
What of if they had looked at the cost of production and decide it is a
hefty risk to take considering the market acceptance and other unforeseeable
outcomes that may occur?
Apple’s success with the iPhone and its AX processors underscores
how much can go right for companies that invest in developing their own
silicon—but also belies how much can go wrong. “Unless you acquire an existing
chip maker or designer you’re going to be worse at this than established chip
makers,” says Dawson.
That doesn’t just mean potential performance issues, though those
are certainly possible. “Imagine if you messed up a chip and you’ve got to do a
metal layer spin,” says Moorhead, referring to a step in semiconductor
fabrication. “That could mean 90 days added to your schedule.”
Then there’s compatibility, which creates the potential
for pitfalls both specific and broad. A brand new chipset could create
performance issues for individual apps.
Nevertheless, their step in that
direction has put them in the limelight and it is paving way for that brand in the
mobile phone market.
Read
about the Xiaomi feat from WIRED.COM
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