Xiaomi set to unveil Pinecone mobile chipset on 28 February

After a spate of rumours, Xiaomi has finally announced it will introduce its own system-on-chip (SoC) dubbed Pinecone on 28 February at 2 pm China Standard Time.

In a post on its Weibo account, Xiaomi wrote the launch will take place at the Beijing National Convention Centre. Xiaomi would be the second Chinese smartphone manufacturer to build its own mobile processor after Huawei. The development has been also shared on the official MIUI forum.

Other manufacturers who have implemented their own chips in their devices are Samsung with its Exynos series, and Apple.

Not much is known about the functionality of Xiaomi's home-grown processor, although it has been in the news for a while now. Details about Pinecone first surfaced in mid-2015 when Marshal Cheng, the vice president of Leadcore, revealed Xiaomi wanted its custom-designed processor to differentiate its product from its rivals. Leadcore is owned by China's Datang Telecom Technology and Industry Group.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Xiaomi was planning to launch a phone powered by its own custom-made processor. Beijing Pinecone Electronics, a private entity, is the firm Xiaomi reportedly set up to develop its in-house processor chipset. According to a regulatory filing, Pinecone Electronics has an equity pledge agreement with Xiaomi.

Xiaomi's Mi 5c, codenamed Meri, was rumoured to pack octa-core Pinecore processor clocked at 2.2GHz.