Xiaomi has officially unveiled the Xiaomi 18 Fold, its new wide-format foldable smartphone, just two days before Apple is expected to reveal its first foldable iPhone.
The 18 Fold features a 5.38-inch outer display and a 7.58-inch folding inner display, with both offering 120Hz LTPO refresh rates and peak brightness of 4,000 nits.
Its wider, passport-style shape is similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8, which moved away from the tall and narrow proportions of earlier Galaxy Fold models. Xiaomi takes that idea further with displays that sit at roughly 1.414:1, giving the device a noticeably wider layout when opened.
The phone weighs 219g and measures 5.02mm thick when unfolded and 10.68mm when closed.
Xiaomi has also redesigned the hinge, which it calls the Dragon Bone hinge. The company says it underwent 492 structural optimisations intended to improve how stress is distributed across the folding display.
Xiaomi is using its own chip
Perhaps the more significant development is inside the phone.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold runs on Xiaomi’s own Xring O3 processor, built using a 3nm manufacturing process. The chip uses a 10-core CPU with speeds of up to 4.35GHz, a 16-core GPU and a dedicated NPU rated at 200 TOPS.
Xiaomi claims the chip delivers a 60 percent improvement in multi-core CPU performance and an 85 percent increase in GPU performance compared with its predecessor, while using less power.
That also means Xiaomi is not relying on Qualcomm or MediaTek for its latest flagship, giving the company greater control over both the hardware and software.
Leica cameras and a 6,000mAh battery
The 18 Fold gets a Leica-developed triple-camera system consisting of a 200MP main camera, 50MP ultrawide and 50MP periscope telephoto with 3.5x optical zoom.
That could give Xiaomi an interesting hardware advantage over Apple’s upcoming foldable, which is currently expected to feature two rear cameras without a dedicated telephoto lens.
There is also a 6,000mAh battery with 67W wired and 50W wireless charging, while the phone ships with HyperOS 4.
It probably is not coming to South Africa
Pricing starts at 10,999 yuan, or roughly R26,000 at a straight currency conversion, for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage model.
The 16GB/1TB version costs 14,999 yuan, while a limited Ceramic Special Edition is priced at 15,999 yuan. Sales in China begin on 10 September.
Unfortunately, Xiaomi has not announced international availability.
Its previous Mix Fold devices remained exclusive to China, so there is currently little reason to expect the Xiaomi 18 Fold to receive an official South African release either.
That is a shame, because Xiaomi has launched an interesting alternative just as the foldable market is about to get considerably more crowded.
Samsung has already made the passport-shaped fold mainstream with the Galaxy Z Fold8. Xiaomi is now pushing that design further.
And on 9 September, Apple is expected to join them.
