Xiaomi Mi5c with in-house processor ‘SurgeS1’ launched in China

The most speculated Xiaomi Mi5c gets unwrapped by the Chinese smartphone maker in China. The phone is priced at CNY 1,499 (around Rs. 14,600) and will go on sale in the country on March 3 in Rose Gold and Black colour variant.

The Mi5c smartphone is powered by Xiaomi’s in-house processor dubbed as the ‘Surge S1’. The new octa-core 64-bit processor which is notably the big highlight of the Mi5c device is fabricated on a 28nm processor. The new system-on-chip (SoC) is said to run up to 2.2GHz. Xiaomi claimed that the ‘Surge S1’ is 40 percent more power efficient and it will bring improvement in images captured at low light with increased light sensitivity.

Packed with specs you love. #Mi5c #SurgeS1 pic.twitter.com/rP4QXW3mQn

— Mi (@xiaomi) February 28, 2017

In terms of design, the Mi5c features a metal unibody. The upgrade version of the Mi5 sports a 5.5-inch full HD (1920×1080 pixels) JDI display with a pixel density of 428ppi. It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with company’s MIUI 8.0 layered on top. Xiaomi claims that new smartphone will receive Android 7.0 Nougat update in March. The Mi5c packs 3GB of RAM and 64GB on-board storage. It comes with a 2860mAh battery with 9V/2A fast charging support. In terms of imaging, the device features a 12-megapixel rear camera with 1.25-micron pixels, an f/2.2 aperture, and LED flash. The Mi5c house an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture, and 27mm wide-angle lens. The fingerprint sensor is located on the front underneath the home button. Xiaomi cited that with the in-house Surge S1 processor inserted inside the Mi5c, the new device will offer ‘aforementioned’ camera, power and performance benefits for the users.

Lei Jun, Xiaomi CEO in a statement said, “For Xiaomi, the move is an essential next step in our development. In order to deliver on our promise to make innovation available to everyone, we need to master the core technologies of our industry and tightly integrate the development of our hardware with our software, helping us to make even better smartphones that will consistently surprise the industry and delight consumers.” Xiaomi further said that the process to build the chipset took 28 months, starting October 2014.

With Xiaomi introducing its first in-house processor powered smartphone, the Chinese company has entered the chipset market dominated by the tech giants-Samsung, Apple who build its own custom-made processor for its smartphones.