Setting aside our pseudo-pun in the title, it's possible that Qualcomm and Samsung might have some new competition in the SoC world very soon. According to the rumor-mill, Xiaomi is apparently developing their own mobile chipset codenamed "Rifle." This new custom chipset is supposedly based on an ARM architecture.
Furthermore, the intel indicates that Xiaomi's smartphone chipset might actually be unveiled as early as next month. The launch of the chipset is set to coincide with the May 10th reveal of the Xiaomi Max and Mi Band 2. On the other side of things, it seems like there might be incidental and indirect confirmation of this possibility.
Supposedly, Qualcomm has been dropping the amount of royalties it asks from Chinese vendors recently. Industry analysts suspect this is Qualcomm's attempt to "maintain its chips’ presence in the increasingly important Chinese smartphone market."
What do you folks think? With Qualcomm and Samsung dominating the larger markets, and MediaTek, Intel & NVIDIA controlling the mid-range and budget smartphone chipset markets, is there room for another player to gain traction?
Source: AndroidAuthority