Update 1 (02/07/2020 @ 12:28 AM ET): Xiaomi mentions that it will dual-source LPDDR5 RAM for the Mi 10 from both Micron and Samsung. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on February 6, 2020, is preserved as below.
At the Snapdragon Tech Summit last year, Xiaomi confirmed that its upcoming flagship — the Xiaomi Mi 10 — would feature Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 865 SoC. Soon thereafter, we also confirmed that the company was planning on launching another device alongside the Mi 10 — the Mi 10 Pro. The pro version was spotted in an MIUI 11 build for the Redmi K30 5G, which confirmed the names of the two devices along with their marketing names. At the time, we also learned that the Mi 10 Pro will also feature 66-watt fast charging but we didn't know much else about the two devices. Earlier this month, we managed to obtain build.prop files for the two devices which confirmed that they'd also include a 108MP primary sensor. Now, we have some more information about Xiaomi's upcoming flagship Mi 10.
According to a recent report from a Chinese publication, American memory manufacturer Micron has managed to mass-produce the world's first low-power LPDDR5 DRAM chip which will be used in upcoming high-end smartphones. Micron's LPDDR5 RAM makes use of advanced packing technology that allows the company to cram 12GB of RAM on a single die. The RAM boasts of a transmission rate of up to 6.4 Gbps, which is nearly twice as fast as LPDDR4, 20% faster than LPDDR4x, and features a 50% improvement in data access speed. In terms of power consumption, the LPDDR5 module reduces power consumption by more than 20% compared to the previous generation.
Additionally, the report also reveals that the Xiaomi Mi 10 will be the first device to feature the new LPDDR5 module. This information has been confirmed by Xiaomi's CEO and co-founder Lei Jun through Weibo. In a recent post on the Chinese social media platform, Jun revealed that the company initially planned on including the LPDDR5 module only on premium variants of the Mi 10. However, owing to the significant improvement in performance, the company chose to include the new LPDDR5 module in all Mi 10 variants.
Micron further claims that LPDDR5 powered devices will have 5-10% improvement in battery life while delivering better operation speeds. Compared to LPDDR4 RAM modules, the new faster RAM can also improve performance in demanding AR apps, reduce processing time for 100MP photos and high-resolution video editing. The company believes that devices equipped with LPDDR5 RAM will include 8GB or 12GB of memory in the first half of this year, but could bump up to 16GB in the second half. This leads us to believe that the Xiaomi Mi 10 could feature up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM.
Update: Xiaomi will dual-source LPDDR5 RAM modules for the Mi 10 from both Samsung and Micron
Xiaomi Vice President Mr. Lu Weibing took to Weibo to mention that Xiaomi will be dual-sourcing LPDDR5 RAM modules for the Mi 10 from both Micron and Samsung. Dual-sourcing and even multi-sourcing components is common for products that are expected to have very high demand, enough to exceed the production capacity of a single provider -- so the decision does not come as a complete surprise. The variance in performance remains to be seen, but usually, there isn't much perceivable difference in the end user experience.
Source: Weibo