Xiaomi's current flagship Mi 6 was launched in April this year. Just 6 months after its debut, rumours are already circulating about the specifications of its successor, the Mi7.
An industry insider has revealed to Weibo that, following the trend of the past 2 years, the Mi 7 will also get the current most powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset. There were rumours a couple of weeks ago that Samsung would try to keep its exclusive partnership for next year, meaning that they would be the only ones to get this processor in the first round. Qualcomm has also received a reprimand for this, and could face a series of lawsuits in the coming period.
What is rumoured about the Snapdragon 845: - 7nm production technology - Joint development between TSMC and TSMC (last time they worked together on SD810) (previous Snapdragon 820/821/835 versions used 14nm and 10nm FinFET nodes.) Second option, that the Snapdragon 845 still uses 10nm nodes, but at a higher frequency. Current chips use a heterogeneous architecture, which means that a chip is made up of different chips, including the CPU, GPU, memory controllers, dedicated video and audio chips (DSP), etc. The CPU itself is made up of larger and smaller cores. The larger ones operate at higher frequencies, while the smaller cores operate at lower frequencies. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 has 4xKryo 280 + 4xA53 cores. As for the SND845, it is rumoured that this chip will be produced with the A75 and A55. Thus, they can run on the same 10nm fabrication technology, but provide faster and smoother performance with lower power consumption. Not even the Kirin 970 has this configuration. Huawei's current top processor has 4xA73 (@ 2.4GHz) + 4xA53 (@ 1.8GHz) cores. If this happens, Qualcomm could once again overtake Huawei.
Finally, it's worth noting that the Snapdragon 845 may be the only chip that can safely 3D face recognitionre.
Changes are expected in display technology. There are rumours that Samsung OLED (Amoled) 6" displays would be installed in the Mi 7. As OLED panel manufacturing is no longer a curiosity, there are several potential partners that could be considered as suppliers (LG, Sharp, BOE Display, MicroOLED, AU Optronics, JDI...)
As for the Xiaomi Mi 7 release date should be presented in the first quarter of next year. (Like the Mi 6, the Xiaomi Mi 5 went on sale in April.) However, the Mi 7 could arrive between January and March 2018. Other 2018 flagships, such as the Samsung Galaxy S9 and LG G7, are expected to debut earlier.
From memory 6 - 8 GB of RAM is expected, matched to the size of the back and the quality of the material on the back. The Mi 6's dual camera system remains, with a wide-angle lens and a telephoto lens. The Mi 7 may use the same layout. Xiaomi is expected to continue the use of glass and ceramic backs for the Mi 7.
As mentioned above, the Mi 7 could come with a huge display. The current trend is for a full-screen display without a (separate) fingerprint reader on the front. If technology already allows it in 2018, biometric identification embedded in the panel could be implemented. (In 2017, Samsung wanted to use it for the Note 8 and Apple for the iPhone 8. For the time being, it will not be used this year due to existing problems)
The Xiaomi Mi 6 and Mi 5 also have a 5.15" display, while the older Xiaomi Mi 4 and Mi 3 smartphones have a 5-inch display. As the display on flagship phones increases every year, the Mi 7 is expected to be no exception to this trend. Of course, the aspect ratio will be adjusted to 18:9 accordingly. With this ratio, the MIX 2 is expected to be the first Xiaomi device.
Well, it seems it's not entirely out of the blue that the Mi 7 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor.
For the time being, we will wait for the next Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 and Mi Note 3 to arrive, and then we will be able to make a more realistic guess about the parameters of the Xiaomi Mi 7 that will be released next year.
More information about the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 7 is expected in the coming months.
An industry insider has revealed to Weibo that, following the trend of the past 2 years, the Mi 7 will also get the current most powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset.
Changes are expected in display technology. There are rumours that Samsung OLED (Amoled) 6" displays would be installed in the Mi 7. As OLED panel manufacturing is no longer a curiosity, there are several potential partners that could be considered as suppliers (LG, Sharp, BOE Display, MicroOLED, AU Optronics, JDI...)
