Xiaomi today officially announced the 18 Fold, its first wide-format foldable, at a product event in China, two days before Apple is expected to unveil its own first foldable iPhone.
Xiaomi 18 Fold design and display
The 18 Fold adopts a wide-folding layout similar to the Samsung Z Fold8 and the rumored design of Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone. It offers a 5.38-inch outer display and a 7.58-inch inner display, both using 120Hz LTPO technology and rated to 4,000 nits peak brightness. Xiaomi says the screens are protected by a new double-layer ultra-thin glass structure.
Xiaomi also highlighted a redesigned hinge it calls the Dragon Bone hinge, which the company says underwent 492 structural optimizations and enables a noticeably more rounded profile than the Galaxy Z Fold8. The phone will be available in four finishes, including a Nishino Red colorway, and a limited Ceramic Special Edition capped at 1,500 units.
Performance and chipset
The 18 Fold is the first flagship to ship with Xiaomi’s in-house Xring O3 chip, manufactured on a 3nm process. The chip features a 10-core CPU clocked to 4.35GHz, a 16-core GPU and a dedicated NPU rated at 200 TOPS. Xiaomi says the Xring O3 delivers a 60% multi-core CPU gain and an 85% GPU performance gain over its predecessor, while reducing power draw by 25% for the CPU and 64% for the GPU.
Camera system
The rear camera system, developed with Leica, is led by a 200-megapixel main sensor and is joined by a 50-megapixel ultrawide and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto lens offering 3.5x optical zoom. By contrast, Apple’s first foldable iPhone is expected to feature only two rear cameras and no dedicated telephoto camera.
Software, battery and pricing
The device ships with Xiaomi’s HyperOS 4 and packs a 6,000mAh battery with support for 67W wired and 50W wireless charging. Pricing in China starts at 10,999 yuan (approximately $1,638) for the base 12GB RAM / 256GB storage model, rises to 14,999 yuan (approximately $2,235) for the 16GB / 1TB configuration, and the limited Ceramic Special Edition is priced at 15,999 yuan (approximately $2,384). Apple’s expected foldable is widely anticipated to be priced above $2,000.
Other product announcements and availability
At the same event Xiaomi introduced the Xiaomi Pad 9 Pro Max tablet, which also uses the Xring O3 chip, and showcased three electric vehicles under its Pengcheng brand. The company has not announced global availability for the 18 Fold; its earlier Mix Fold models remained exclusive to China.
Apple is set to hold its own event on September 9 at Apple Park, where it is expected to unveil its first foldable iPhone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
