The mobile chip race was already crowded. Qualcomm has Snapdragon, Apple has its A-series silicon, MediaTek’s Dimensity chips have become genuine high-end contenders, and Samsung is making another serious push with Exynos. Despite Google’s best efforts, Tensor never really caught up to these chips in raw performance.
However, there’s another chip demanding a seat at the table. Xiaomi has officially unveiled the XRing O3, its second-generation flagship smartphone processor, and the numbers being claimed are difficult to ignore. The 3nm chip scored 5,228,014 in AnTuTu V11, while Xiaomi is calling it the fastest smartphone SoC currently available. Independent testing still needs to validate that claim. Still, the benchmark figures released are pretty impressive.
The XRing O3 uses a rather aggressive 10-core, all-big-core CPU design. It combines two C1-Ultra cores running at up to 4.35GHz, four C1-Premium cores reaching 3.68GHz, and four C1-Pro cores at up to 3.15GHz. Xiaomi claims scores of 3,945 single-core and 15,221 multi-core in Geekbench 6.5, representing improvements of 31% and 61% respectively over the previous XRing O1. The company also claims power consumption can fall by as much as 25% under low-to-medium workloads.
The new 16-core Mali-G2 Ultra NX GPU scored 4,567 in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite, according to Xiaomi, an 85% generational increase. Its Solar Bay Extreme result reached 3,628, with Xiaomi claiming a 182% improvement over XRing O1 and a 63% advantage over Apple’s A19 Pro.
The GPU contains dedicated neural hardware that allows AI-powered resolution upscaling and frame generation to happen directly within the graphics pipeline. Xiaomi stated that games can render internally at 540p before being upscaled to 1080p while using 20% less power than native 1080p rendering. It can also generate frames to turn 60fps output into 120fps.
A redesigned four-core NPU delivers a claimed 200 TOPS, while the chip becomes the first smartphone SoC to support LPDDR6 memory, reaching 113.8GB/s of maximum bandwidth. The entire chip contains 24 billion transistors across a 133mm² die manufactured using TSMC’s N3P process.
The XRing O3 will debut in the Xiaomi 18 Fold and Pad 9 Pro Max in September. Reuters reports that Xiaomi continues to develop its own silicon partly to gain more control over critical components and reduce dependence on suppliers such as Qualcomm and MediaTek.
Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.
The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.