Xiaomi $285 5G is Not Crazy

 A Chinese teardown of the Xiaomi Redmi K30 5G estimates the component costs at $250*, leaving almost nothing to cover assembling, distribution, support ... It will lose money on each one. Prices under $300/2000 yuan were expected by summer 2020. Xaiomi is six months ahead. It's a decent phone: 6.7", 120 Mhz screen refresh, 4 rear cameras including Sony's 64-megapixel IMX686, fast charging,sensor. It also supports 30W fast flash charging, and has a 4500 mAh battery.

Xiaomi founder, Le Jun, explains, " Today's China is an era of overcapacity." There are nine 5G phone makers in a market where it will be hard for even 4 or 5 to be profitable. Xiaomi has no choice but to find dramatic ways to break out of the pack.

The low price is probably a good idea. Since the days of the Hewlett-Packard calculators, electronics companies have often "forward-priced." Costs go down with scale and as the company advances "down the learning curve."The low price builds the volume to a point the company gets better parts prices. Low prices also build demand, for this and other Xiaomi models.

* The actual price may be lower. The price of components are usually confidential. Breakdowns like this are based on analysts estimates. That isn't always accurae however, because manufacturers sometimes reduce prices to strategic reasons. In particular, this is the first phone with the 765G. Qualcomm may be pricing very low to get a reference customer.

 

 

Qualcomm Extends its Mobile Leadership by Bringing 5G Experiences to More Users Around the World

— Snapdragon 765 and 765G Integrates Best-in-Class 5G Connectivity and Artificial Intelligence —
— Devices Expected to be Commercially Available in First Quarter 2020 —

DEC 4, 2019HAWAII

Qualcomm products mentioned within this press release are offered by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

 

 

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. unveiled the first 7-series Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ mobile platform to help make advanced 5G available to more consumers. The new Snapdragon 765 and 765G unite the second-generation Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 5G Modem-RF System and 5th generation Qualcomm® Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engine to deliver best-in-class mobile experiences, including intelligent multi-camera capabilities, breakthrough entertainment, and high-speed gaming, while also preserving battery life.

 
“We expect 5G to be the fastest cellular transition in history. As the world’s leading wireless technology innovator, we are committed to driving 5G throughout our Snapdragon tiers in record time,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, mobile, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Our expanded portfolio including Snapdragon 765 and 765G has the potential to make 5G accessible to billions of smartphone users around the world and help enable experiences like high-speed gaming, intelligent multi-camera capture, and all-day battery life, on a global scale.”

Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 5G Mobile Platform Reference Design

Benefits of the Snapdragon 765 include:

  • End-to-End 5G Connectivity: Snapdragon 765 with the Snapdragon X52 Modem-RF System is a huge milestone on the path to commercializing 5G globally. The Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X52 5G Modem-RF System is designed to deliver the trifecta of fast multi-gigabit peak download speeds of up to 3.7 Gbps and upload speeds of up to 1.6 Gbps, superior coverage for users around the world and all-day battery life. The comprehensive Modem-RF System-approach allows advanced technologies such as Qualcomm® 5G PowerSave, Qualcomm® Smart Transmit™ technology, Qualcomm® Wideband Envelope Tracking technology and Qualcomm® Signal Boost to help deliver these superb 5G capabilities. Dedicated to bringing superior 5G multimode connectivity far and wide globally, the Snapdragon 765 supports all key regions and frequency bands including 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz, 5G SA and NSA modes, TDD and FDD with Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), global 5G roaming and support for multi-SIM.
  • 5th Generation AI Engine: The new 5th generation Qualcomm® AI Engine, combined with the new 5G Modem-RF System, heightens nearly every mobile experience including camera, audio, voice and gaming. Snapdragon 765’s AI Engine features a new Qualcomm® Hexagon™ Tensor accelerator that is 2x faster than its predecessor[1], fueling mobile experiences that are sophisticated and seamless. Also, the new low-power Qualcomm® Sensing Hub enables your device to be contextually aware of your voice commands – without excessive battery drain.
  • Intelligent Multi-Camera Capture: Snapdragon 765’s intelligent multi-camera capture allows users to choose from telephoto, wide, and ultra-wide lenses and create breathtaking photos without any extra equipment. Snapdragon 765 can also capture 4K HDR video in over a billion shades of color.
  • Breakthrough Entertainment: Snapdragon 765 delivers intelligent, binge-worthy media at breakthrough 5G speeds enabling extremely fast downloads and seamless 4K HDR video streaming so you can get the latest movie or TV show in brilliant quality and in a short matter of minutes. And even while offline, on-device AI processing can transform standard video quality into the vibrant, electrifying visuals you’d expect with 4K. Qualcomm® aptX™ Adaptive audio auto-adjusts between high definition mode and low latency mode, keeping audio in sync with media and reducing audio/lip-synchronization issues.
  • Enhanced Performance: The new Qualcomm® Kryo™ 475 will feature speeds of up to 2.3 GHz and the state-of-the-art Qualcomm® Adreno™ 620 GPU delivers up to 20% performance uplift2, creating seamless gaming, video rendering and more. In addition to incredible battery life, on-device AI helps ensure peak efficiency throughout daily use, intelligently monitoring battery health and safety while ensuring everything runs more intuitively. And Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ AI enables the extension of battery life cycles up to 200 days and helps you achieve peak charging speeds so you can get back to the activities you love without hesitation.

Snapdragon 765G

Snapdragon 765G combines a dual force of 5G and AI, along with a host of select Qualcomm® Snapdragon Elite Gaming™ features to deliver unbridled gaming performance. Built upon Snapdragon 765, Snapdragon 765G offers up to 5.5 TOPS of AI performance and 10% faster graphics rendering[2] with a bolstered Adreno GPU. Next-level Snapdragon Elite Gaming features are included to provide special game extensions and optimizations, smoother gameplay and more enhanced detail and colors with true 10-bit HDR to deliver high quality mobile gaming experiences. Snapdragon 765G is designed to deliver select premium tier experiences to gamers and with multi-gigabit 5G gaming, we’ve made it possible for players to game on the go, virtually anytime and anywhere.

Devices based on Snapdragon 765 and 765G are expected to be commercially available in the first quarter of 2020. For more information on the Snapdragon 765 5G Mobile Platform, please see our product brief. The product brief for the Snapdragon 765G 5G Mobile Platform can be found here. Watch the livestream and replays on the Snapdragon Tech Summit Event Hub.

Battery life varies significantly based on device, settings, usage, and other factors.