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The following article is adapted from EE Times China

Flagship smartphones and application processors built on cutting-edge semiconductor processes often dominate headlines. However, many readers may not realize that, from a shipment perspective, entry-level smartphones accounted for roughly 44% of the Asia-Pacific market in 2024. In South Africa, that figure exceeded 50%. These numbers come from research firm Market Reports World¡ªthough in our view, the real figures could be even higher.

Meanwhile, global smartphone shipments still managed to grow by about 1.5% in 2025. In this market context, it becomes easy to understand why companies such as ASR Microelectronics (odµç¾º) are entering the smartphone SoC arena, particularly in the high value-for-money smartphone segment.

Many readers of EE Times China are familiar with ASR¡¯s strong track record in wireless communication chips. What may be less widely known is that the company has been increasingly active in the smartphone SoC market.

According to ASR¡¯s 2024 annual report, the company¡¯s ¡°first quad-core smartphone chip successfully achieved commercial deployment,¡± and by the end of 2024 shipments had exceeded one million units, marking ¡°a key milestone in the company¡¯s expansion into smart terminals.¡±

This ¡°first quad-core smartphone chip¡± likely refers to the ASR8601, which entered mass production in Q4 2023. The chip is based on a 4¡Á Cortex-A55 CPU configuration.

The same financial report also lists at least two ongoing R&D projects related to smartphone chips¡ªa ¡°4G smartphone chip platform¡± and a ¡°5G smartphone SoC development project.¡± Judging by the estimated total investment, these are among the company¡¯s largest R&D initiatives. And this does not even include other related technologies, such as the ¡°next-generation NPU IP and algorithm software stack development.¡± Clearly, ASR is taking the smartphone chip business very seriously.

ASR¡¯s 2025 interim report also revealed that its second-generation 4G octa-core smartphone chip taped out during the reporting period. The report highlighted a 6nm manufacturing process, LPDDR5/5X support, and a dedicated NPU capable of 20 TOPS of AI computing power. The chip was expected to return from fabrication around September 2025, begin customer introduction by the end of the year, and enter volume production in the first half of 2026.

This chip is clearly the ASR8861, officially unveiled during MWC 2026 in Barcelona.

In this article, we take a closer look at the chip itself based on currently available information¡ªexamining the core technologies integrated into it and what ASR aims to achieve. To a large extent, the ASR8861 also represents a milestone in the evolution of domestically developed smartphone SoCs.

ASR8861 Positioning and Overview: A New Benchmark in Its Class

ASR¡¯s official Android smartphone roadmap clearly demonstrates the company¡¯s long-term commitment to the smart SoC market and hints at its ambitions to eventually compete in higher-end segments.

The roadmap also indicates that the ASR8861 is scheduled for mass production in the first half of 2026. The vertical axis in the roadmap likely represents not only the transition from 4G to 5G, but also the relative performance positioning of the platforms. Based on its configuration, the ASR8861 appears to be ASR¡¯s most powerful smartphone SoC to date in terms of digital processing capability.

The company¡¯s interim report describes the positioning of the earlier ASR8661/8662 platforms, which likely also applies in part to the ASR8861: they focus on performance improvements and power efficiency optimization while maintaining strong cost competitiveness, addressing market demand for high value-for-money 4G smartphone solutions.

Beyond smartphones, the chips are also designed to support smart modules, in-vehicle infotainment systems, tablets, and other smart devices, enabling customers to expand into diverse product categories.

Compared with the ASR8661/8662, the ASR8861 offers significantly higher CPU frequencies and more than double the GPU performance, as reflected in Geekbench Manhattan graphics benchmarks.

Beyond that, the SoC¡¯s display engine, media engine, ISP, cellular modem, and memory subsystem have all been significantly upgraded. These include 4K media encoding support, 200-megapixel camera capability, and a major improvement in memory bandwidth and throughput.

However, the most striking upgrade may be the 20 TOPS INT8 computing power of the NPU. Improvements in ISP performance, memory speed, and CPU capability are likely designed to support AI workloads and NPU-driven applications.

The NPU aligns with the current AI smartphone trend. ASR states that its self-developed NPU supports on-device large language model inference, enabling generative AI and intelligent voice applications, which place higher demands on data modality support, memory bandwidth, and compute scheduling.

From the perspective of CPU, GPU, and manufacturing process, the ASR8861¡¯s most direct competitors are chips such as Unisoc¡¯s T7300 and MediaTek¡¯s Helio G200, both positioned in the cost-efficient smartphone segment.

However, those chips lack dedicated AI accelerators, which places them behind in areas such as memory support and multimedia capabilities.

ASR has released limited benchmark data showing an AnTuTu score of over 690,000, outperforming the two competing chips by 3.5% and 19.1%, respectively¡ªlargely due to stronger GPU and memory performance.

In Geekbench 6 multi-core testing, the ASR8861 scores about 8.3% higher than the Helio G200, which uses the same core configuration (2¡ÁA76 + 6¡ÁA55) but with slightly lower clock speeds. Compared with the Unisoc T7300 (2¡ÁA78 + 6¡ÁA55), it trails by about 3.2%.

ASR also released GFXBench results across several benchmarks including Aztec Ruins, Car Chase, Manhattan, and T-Rex. The Mali-G310 GPU in the ASR8861 shows clear advantages in 1080p Aztec Ruins Vulkan, 1080p Manhattan 3.1, and 1080p Manhattan ES 3.0, delivering overall gains of 19.4% and 5.4% compared with the two competitors.

Interestingly, the Manhattan ES3.0 score nearly doubles compared with the ASR8661 (46fps vs 21fps), suggesting that GPU improvements go beyond a simple frequency increase¡ªfrom 819MHz to 1250MHz¡ªand likely involve architectural optimizations and improved memory bandwidth.

Bringing Edge AI to the Mass Market: High-Value AI Smartphones Are Coming

CPU and GPU improvements may be notable, but the 20 TOPS NPU is arguably the ASR8861¡¯s most compelling feature. It provides the foundation for the AI smartphone concept and represents a significant advantage over competing chips such as the Unisoc T7300 and Helio G200, which lack comparable AI acceleration.

ASR¡¯s annual report lists ¡°dynamic reconfigurable neural network engine NPU technology¡± as one of its core technologies. This in-house NPU supports both traditional CNN architectures and Transformer/LLM acceleration.

Although detailed architectural information remains limited, ASR states that the NPU supports multiple data precisions including INT4, INT8, FP16, and BF16, and is built on a high-efficiency AI architecture that balances performance and power consumption, enabling long battery life in smartphones and smart devices.

Developing a custom NPU also requires building a complete software ecosystem, from frameworks to algorithms and application stacks.

ASR¡¯s ongoing ¡°next-generation NPU IP and algorithm software stack development¡± project aims to develop high-performance, low-power, scalable NPU IP with multimodal support, targeting smartphones and smart wearables.

Even if that project is not directly tied to the ASR8861, the chip already supports rapid AI deployment with compatibility across major frameworks including ONNX, TensorFlow, TFLite, Caffe, Safetensors, and GGUF.

Additional capabilities include support for more than 100 operators, over 200 AI models, W4A8/W4A16 quantization, and WDC large-model weight decompression, all of which require extensive hardware¨Csoftware co-optimization.

Support for W4A8 quantization is particularly forward-looking, as it is increasingly seen as an efficient method for large-model inference acceleration.

ASR has demonstrated several use cases:

Real-time text translation using a Qwen3 1.7B model with <300 ms latency

Real-time voice translation (speech recognition + Qwen 1.7B + TTS) also <300 ms latency

Real-time conversational Q&A (ASR + Qwen 1.7B) with <350 ms latency

Computer vision applications such as AI background removal and video super-resolution

Many of these capabilities were previously limited to flagship smartphones.

In this sense, the ASR8861¡¯s greatest industry value may lie in democratizing on-device AI, bringing generative AI capabilities to cost-efficient 4G smartphones and other smart devices.

This strategy also aligns with ASR¡¯s broader push to integrate edge AI across wearables, automotive, industrial, and AIoT markets.

While the NPU is only one component of the broader smart SoC ecosystem, integrating such capability into a smartphone chip demonstrates significant technological capability.

A Showcase of In-House Innovation: Beyond AI

The NPU is not the only reason the ASR8861 is significant. The chip also highlights several in-house technologies developed by ASR.

In addition to the NPU, ASR lists high-performance ISP design, advanced graphics and display technologies, and multi-network cellular modem design among its core capabilities.

ASR emphasizes that the ASR8861 leverages system-level collaboration between the NPU, CPU, GPU, ISP, and VPU, reducing reliance on cloud computing while improving latency, power efficiency, and user privacy protection.

The company¡¯s self-developed ISP is another highlight. AI-assisted ISP processing¡ªwhere AI accelerators enhance imaging pipelines¡ªhas become increasingly popular, and the ASR8861 implements such integration.

The ISP supports 200MP still images, 32MP video at 30fps with non-zero shutter lag, and dual 16MP cameras. It also includes features such as:

Multi-frame noise reduction

PDAF phase-detection autofocus

High-quality HDR

Improved image stability and clarity in low-light, motion, and high-contrast scenes

AI-assisted functions such as AI portrait mode, background blur, face detection, and beauty enhancement are also supported. 

Beyond imaging, the chip supports 4K video decoding, FHD+ 144Hz displays, and 2.5K 90Hz landscape displays, notable capabilities for its segment.

ASR also integrates its strengths in cellular modem technology. The company is one of the few domestic firms with full-standard cellular modem capabilities spanning 2G through 5G, along with expertise in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and satellite navigation technologies.

With 4G and 5G expected to coexist for years, the ASR8861¡¯s 4G modem reflects this strategy, while the company¡¯s roadmap suggests that 5G smartphone SoCs are already on the way.

Early Results: The Smart SoC Strategy Is Taking Shape

ASR¡¯s 2025 interim report notes that its first 6nm 5G octa-core smartphone chip has entered the late stage of development. The chip will support advanced 5G-A connectivity and high-performance AI capabilities, further expanding the company¡¯s smartphone chip portfolio.

Tape-out is expected in H2 2025, with customer introduction planned for H2 2026¡ªlikely referring to the ASR9601.

ASR¡¯s continued investment in smartphone SoCs likely reflects the positive market response following the ASR8601.

Although the company does not disclose revenue specifically tied to smartphone applications, several indicators suggest strong progress.

Chips such as the ASR8861 are categorized within ASR¡¯s cellular baseband chip business, which accounts for more than 85% of total revenue.

In H1 2025, the company reported:

Chip shipments up more than 50%

Revenue growth exceeding 30%

Gross profit growth surpassing 60%

The report also highlights that the ASR8601 has seen strong market feedback across multiple device categories¡ªnot just smartphones¡ªand that orders remain strong, with shipments expected to grow several times in 2025 compared with 2024.

By leveraging its full-standard cellular modem technology and expanding portfolio of in-house IP, particularly in NPU hardware and software, the ASR8861 introduces generative AI and large-model inference capabilities to cost-efficient 4G smartphones and other smart devices.

This significantly raises the potential ceiling of the entry-level smartphone market, which may ultimately represent the chip¡¯s most important industry impact.

As ASR describes it, the chip combines mature cellular connectivity with powerful computing and AI capabilities, helping customers capture opportunities in market upgrades, emerging market expansion, and differentiated product strategies.

Building on the momentum of the ASR8601, the ASR8861 could play a key role in bringing edge AI to the mass market, benefiting both ASR and the broader industry.