Xiaomi has pulled back the curtain on the 18 Fold, its first book-style foldable since 2024's Mix Fold 4, unveiled at IFA in Berlin. The device follows Huawei and Samsung's lead in adopting a short, wide form factor — but pushes it further, with a roughly 1.4:1 aspect ratio on both the 7.58-inch inner and 5.38-inch outer screens, nearly matching international A4 paper dimensions.
The headline specification is Xiaomi's own Xring O3 chipset, the company's first proprietary processor, promising Snapdragon 8 Elite-class performance. It debuts Arm's Mali G2-Ultra NX GPU, bringing mobile-first support for Arm's DLSS-style neural graphics acceleration to Android — a notable development for mobile gaming.
The camera setup addresses the most common criticism of foldable flagships: the 18 Fold carries a Leica-branded triple rear camera with a 200-megapixel main sensor (1/1.56-inch type), a 50-megapixel 3.5x periscope telephoto, and a 50-megapixel ultrawide. By contrast, Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 launched without a triple camera.
Battery capacity stands at 6,000 mAh (silicon-carbon cell), substantially larger than the Z Fold 8's 4,800 mAh, with 67W wired and 50W wireless charging. Both OLED displays peak at 4,000 nits.
Trade-offs remain: the 18 Fold is slightly heavier and thicker than Samsung's offering, has no IP rating, and the screen crease is reportedly more visible than on Samsung's latest or Oppo's Find N6. Xiaomi has not confirmed whether the phone will launch outside China, where it goes on sale September 10 from ¥10,999 (~$1,600). A pink ceramic special edition is limited to 1,500 units.
