Xiaomi Surge S2 SoC may be facing 10 nm fabrication issues

Now that Xiaomi has officially unveiled its first in-house SoC as the 28 nm "Pinecone" Surge S1, rumors are already swirling about its V970 Surge S2 successor. The next Xiaomi SoC had been expected to be produced in a 10 nm fabrication process with four Cotex-A73 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. Ultimately, these Xiaomi SoCs are to be cheaper alternatives to the Qualcomm Snapdragon, Samsung Exynos, and MediaTek Helio series for makers of Android devices.

Unfortunately, Xiaomi's initial goals for the Surge S2 may have been too bullish. Sources close to MyDrivers are reporting that the 10 nm fabrication process is still in its infancy and would cause Surge S2 prices to skyrocket as a result. Subsequently, the Chinese manufacturer will instead dial back to the more reliable 16 nm process in order to meet a Q3 or Q4 2017 launch window. The actual core configuration and features of the Surge S2, however, should all remain intact. Xiaomi smartphones sporting the brand new SoC should be announced later this year as well.

The next generation Snapdragon 835 will be one of the first mass-produced consumer SoCs utilizing a 10 nm fabrication process. Nonetheless, issues related to its production have caused delays on numerous flagship phones of 2017 with some manufacturers even opting to launch with the older Snapdragon 821 instead.

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