Xiaomi has dubbed its first processor as 'Rifle' and may announce it as early as next month. The launch could take place at the same event where Xiaomi is rumoured to launch Mi Max, a 6.4-inch phablet with a Full HD display, 15MP and 5MP cameras, 10GB of storage and 2GB of RAM. 

Xiaomi's 'Rifle' will be a smartphone an APU. By developing the 'Rifle'  Xiaomi will eventually reduce its dependence on Qualcomm's processors and licences and in turn, offer a large number of premium smartphones to buyers at lower prices.  Rifle is being developed with designs licensed from ARM Holdings which have also been used in Qualcomm's, Samsung's and MediaTek's processors.

There's no mention as to whether the custom cores will be built on a 14nm manufacturing process like the latest offerings from Qualcomm and Samsung, or whether they'll stick to the more standard 28nm node. We'll know more on May 10 when we expect Rifle to be announced.

Mi 5, Xiaomi's latest flagship phone, launched in February this year and came with Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 820 processor along with an Adreno 530 GPU. This means that Rifle will probably be targeted for mid-range phones.

This could be another public humilation of Qualcomm in as many weeks. Last Friday, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf announced that a major customer may order future LTE modem chips from a rival, thus inflicting a major loss of business to the company. Apple is also hiring Intel to manufacture some of its LTE Modem chips for its future iPhones.