Xiaomi 17 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Teased

Xiaomi and Qualcomm have each taken a bemusing flip within the naming of their subsequent flagship merchandise: the Xiaomi 17 smartphone and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip that may run on it.

Let’s begin with the Xiaomi 17. Final yr’s mannequin was named the Xiaomi 15, and there’s no unfortunate component to the quantity 16 in Chinese language tradition (that I do know of). What offers?

Xiaomi president Lu Weibing has issued a Weibo publish saying (by way of machine translation) that “The all-new Xiaomi 17 collection shall be launched this month.”

We additionally get affirmation that the line-up will encompass the Xiaomi 17, the Xiaomi 17 Professional, and the Xiaomi 17 Professional Max.

Apple

Curiously, the manager additionally confirms why the quantity skip. You might need guessed it your self.

“5 years in the past, we launched into our premium technique, studying from our biggest competitor and resolutely benchmarking towards the iPhone,” he explains. “To this present day, Apple continues to excel. The success of the iPhone 17 collection is clear to everybody, however we stay assured, which is why we’re immediately competing with the iPhone in the identical era and on the identical stage.”

In impact, Xiaomi doesn’t need its new flagship telephones to be perceived as being a step behind the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Professional, and iPhone 17 Professional Max. To which it’s tempting to reply, maybe you shouldn’t have copied its naming scheme so intently within the first place, then.

Xiaomi 17 Professional Max second show confirmed

Speaking of the newly dubbed Xiaomi 17 Professional Max, Xiaomi has individually confirmed (albeit by accident) that its new flagship cellphone will certainly function a secondary show on the again.

The corporate posted the next picture (by way of Gizmochina) to its Weibo account, earlier than swiftly pulling it down.

Gizmochina

It’s giving us main flip cellphone cowl show vibes, a la the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 (or certainly the Xiaomi Mi Combine Flip).

This secondary show was tipped final week in a separate leak. As we identified on the time, this wouldn’t be the primary time Xiaomi has included such a design flourish. Again in 2021, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Extremely featured a rear show, albeit a lot smaller.

Qualcomm confuses us all

Going again to that Xiaomi identify change, no less than there’s a transparent market-led motive behind the choice. The identical can’t be stated for the chip that’s going to run those self same Xiaomi 17 telephones.

In separate information, Qualcomm has introduced its next-generation flagship smartphone System on Chip (SoC), and its identify is greater than a little bit complicated.

The chip that may presumably energy the Samsung Galaxy S26 Extremely, the OnePlus 15, and a complete bunch of Android units, all through a lot of 2026, would be the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

After all, the truth that this had been leaked in sure quarters does nothing to make this announcement any much less complicated. Final yr’s chip was the Snapdragon 8 Elite, in any case.

Xiaomi

Qualcomm explains (type of)

Which might be why Qualcomm has dedicated a whole weblog publish to explaining it. The very first query Qualcomm asks itself right here is instructive: “Why Gen 5? Didn’t we skip a couple of?” Properly, fairly.

“Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 marks the fifth era of our premium 8-series platforms since we launched our new single digit naming and visible identification,” explains Don McGuire, Senior Vice President & Chief Advertising Officer for Qualcomm.

None the wiser? Don’t fear, there’s extra: “By aligning with Gen 5, we’re reinforcing its management place and simplifying how shoppers perceive our product roadmap.” Nope, nonetheless not getting it.

“Consider it like this: Gen 5 isn’t only a quantity. It’s a sign that this platform leads the household ahead.” So there you go. Clear as mud.