0-20%: Unlikely – Lacks credible sources
21-40%: Questionable – Some concerns remain
41-60%: Plausible – Reasonable evidence
61-80%: Probable – Strong evidence
81-100%: Highly Likely – Multiple reliable sources

The XRING 01 is significant proof that Xiaomi can reduce its dependency on partners like Qualcomm and MediaTek to pursue its in-house solutions. With the ‘XRING 02’ trademark already filed, we have our fingers crossed for the company’s future announcements, and according to the latest rumor, a new SoC is not going to be the only surprise, because Xiaomi is said to be developing a smartphone that will ship with its own operating system and generative AI.

Some naysayers believe that while Xiaomi’s custom chipset could be legitimate, its in-house operating system could just be another forked open source version of Android, with the AI part coming from DeepSeek

Based on the Ice Universe’s latest post on X, Xiaomi is expected to unveil a device later this year that could feature the XRING 02, while also running a custom OS paired with a localized version of AI. The tipster says that if the company succeeds, it will be only the second Chinese smartphone maker, after Huawei, to achieve this feat. With TSMC kicking off the mass production of its 2nm wafers, it seems to be the logical move for the XRING 02 to adopt the cutting-edge lithography, but it appears that the latter will be retained at 3nm.

The upside is that the XRING 02 is expected to be found in more products than just smartphones and tablets, with Xiaomi evaluating the chipset to be outfitted in smart vehicles, which is a process that requires more time due to the sensitive nature of equipping cars with custom silicon. The smart move would be to shift to TSMC’s 2nm node to compete with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, Dimensity 9600, and Apple’s A20 and A20 Pro, but wafers mass produced on this lithography are estimated to cost $30,000, making it a costly undertaking for Xiaomi.

Breaking～
In 2026, Xiaomi is planning a smartphone with a very clear goal: bringing its in-house chip, in-house operating system, and in-house AI together on a single device.
This isn’t a set of isolated experiments, but a full system-level deployment.
If it succeeds, Xiaomi…

— Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) January 11, 2026

It is also a matter of whether the company can obtain advanced EDA tools, which are mandatory for designing chips below the 3nm process. Seeing as how the U.S. has limited the supply of this machinery to China, Xiaomi may have little choice but to stick with TSMC’s 3nm ‘N3P’ process. Additionally, some people aren’t convinced by Ice Universe’s claims, stating in the post thread that the company’s in-house SoC will continue to use CPU and GPU designs from ARM while being at the mercy of TSMC for bleeding-edge manufacturing, assuming the U.S. does not bring down the ban hammer on Xiaomi as it has done with Huawei.

Fold Universe has commented that the in-house operating system will be another forked open-source version of Android, supporting a customizable UI, with the local AI likely running on a DeepSeek LLM (Large Language Model). In short, perhaps the easiest thing to develop out of the three will be the XRING 02, but let us keep our fingers crossed for future developments. After all, Xiaomi’s XRING 01 became possible thanks to research efforts that lasted a decade, with the company CEO stating that the development was part of the investments touching a whopping $14.5 billion. In short, if there’s any phone maker that can pull off this ambition, it is Xiaomi.

News Source: Ice Universe

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