Last year Xiaomi was the world's third largest smartphone manufacturer after Apple and Samsung. The similarity between Apple and Samsung is that both produce their own chips to reduce costs and have better feature control. Now there is a report that Xiaomi will also return to produce its own designed chips through ARM collaboration.
This was revealed by the CEO of MediaTek in their financial report who said that ARM is working with Xiaomi after the collaboration with Oppo did not continue. Oppo stopped producing the MariSilicon X imaging chip due to market factors.
Xiaomi once offered the Surge S1 standalone chip in 2017 but it was discontinued due to various factors. After that they simply produced imaging chips like the Surge C1. If Xiaomi returns to produce its own chip, it is still unknown whether it will be an entry-level or flagship chip. The only issue is that among Android users, Snapdragon chips are preferred and other chip offerings such as MediaTek or Exynos often get negative reactions.