Xiaomi’s XR01 Chip Defeats Apple ARM, MediaTek Dimensity, And Qualcomm Snapdragon

Xiaomi has officially launched its latest flagship, the Xiaomi 15S Pro, in China—and the spotlight is firmly on its in-house XR01 processor. This marks the tech giant’s debut in the high-performance chipset arena, going head-to-head with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, MediaTek’s Dimensity, and Apple’s A-series chips. 

As Xiaomi’s first-ever custom flagship processor, the XR01 has sparked huge curiosity, and early tests suggest it might just be the most disruptive move in recent smartphone history.

XR01 Architecture: A Serious First Attempt

Built on TSMC’s 3nm process, the XR01 is a 10-core chip consisting of two high-performance cores, six performance cores, and two efficiency cores. It might not boast the highest clock speeds on paper, but it features the smallest chip size among its competitors, which could offer thermal and power efficiency benefits.

The GPU used in the XR01 is derived from the Dimensity 9400’s flagship GPU, but it features more cores at lower clock speeds. The chip also integrates a six-core NPU rated at 44 TOPS, along with MediaTek’s T800 modem for Ultra-Wideband support. For imaging, it uses Xiaomi’s 4th-gen in-house ISP, making it a truly vertically integrated effort. The phone comes paired with 16GB of LPDDR5T RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage, with LPDDR5T offering a 13% speed advantage over LPDDR5X.

Benchmark Beast With Impressive Stability

When it comes to benchmark results, XR01 performs unexpectedly well. According to online reports, it scored over 2.5 million points on AnTuTu, beating the Dimensity 9400 and falling only slightly behind Snapdragon’s flagship. On Geekbench, it outruns the Dimensity 9400 in single-core performance and even beats Apple’s A18 Pro in multi-core tests—a remarkable feat for a first-gen chip.

In OpenCL GPU tests, XR01 comes out on top, although it ranks lowest in Vulkan graphics. Still, the margin is minimal. While 3DMark tests are currently blocked, Xiaomi’s chip was the most stable in both 15- and 100-minute CPU throttling tests, showing impressive thermal and power management.

Gaming performance is equally strong. According to a video by Beebom, COD Mobile runs at 120fps max settings without dips. Genshin Impact, known for stressing hardware, maintained an average of 59.8fps over 15 minutes. Even in demanding games like Fading Waves and BGMI, performance was smooth and consistent. During gameplay, temperatures remained well within normal limits, although benchmarks showed slightly elevated heat.

ISP Performance and Final Verdict

Xiaomi’s custom image signal processor is another impressive debut. Photos from the 50MP main, ultrawide, and 5x telephoto lenses turned out sharp with good dynamic range and detail. According to GizmoChina, XR01’s ISP offers better white balance, improved dynamic range, and superior night video quality compared to Snapdragon’s ISP. However, downsides include a greenish tint in ultrawide shots, less clarity in the viewfinder, and toned-down Leica color effects.

The Beebom video also showed network tests using a Jio SIM delivered solid connectivity and download speeds, even outperforming Google’s Tensor G-series in some cases. While it’s not perfect, the XR01 stands out as a solid and polished entry into the flagship silicon space.

Xiaomi has proven itself capable of making high-end chipsets, and if they scale this to the mid-range or budget segments, it could be a game-changer for markets like India. For a company that started by tweaking ROMs, launching a serious Snapdragon rival in under 15 years is nothing short of incredible.