Xiaomi 18 Fold Puts a Passport in One Hand and a Wide Screen in the Other

Xiaomi just gave its next foldable, the 18 Fold, a public face five days before the China launch, and the company is calling the shape a mid-fold. Official video and stills from Lu Weibing’s Weibo posts show a shorter, wider inward folder finished in Nishino Red, with large rounded corners, thin bezels, and a horizontal pill-shaped camera bar that holds three lenses plus an LED flash. Folded, Xiaomi says the body is about the size of a passport and light enough for one-handed use. Opened, a 7.58-inch inner panel takes over, cut to a wider aspect ratio meant for split apps and video rather than a stretched copy of last year’s tall Mix Fold layout

We’re keeping an eye on September 7th in China because it falls under the same fall event as the Pad 9 Pro Max and N70 series, along with the N70 Pro, N70 Max, and N90 Max. Although Huawei’s Mate XT 2 will also be released on the same day, everyone is eagerly anticipating Apple’s big September 9th event, when their own foldable will reportedly be unveiled. Regarding Xiaomi’s intentions, it’s unclear if the new 18 Fold will be available on a worldwide scale.

Xiaomi’s Xring O3 CPU, a 3nm, 10-core marvel that is also noteworthy for being the first phone chip combined with CXMT LPDDR6 memory, powers the 18 Fold. With a respectable 16-core G2-Ultra NX GPU that promises an 85% graphics boost and a 64% reduction in GPU power consumption over the previous iteration, they claim it is reaching peak frequencies of about 4.35GHz. According to preliminary Geekbench results, the phone has up to 16GB of RAM, Android 17, Surge OS 4, and Xiaomi’s MiMo model running in the background. Qualcomm chips were used in all previous Mix Fold devices, but not in this one.

The rear glass has a Vario-Summilux logo, so Leica was brought in to give the camera system a little polish. Other than the fact that it has three lenses, that’s about all we know officially. However, Digital Chat Station offers several more features. The spec sheet lists an f/1.7 primary, an f/2.8 telephoto with a 3.5x optical zoom, and a 17mm ultrawide. There’s also a side fingerprint scanner that isn’t included in the official press materials, and it appears that the camera system has a 200-megapixel main sensor (though this is still unofficial).

The hinge appears to have been given a new dragon-bone design, and Xiaomi is also promoting simulation-based durability testing in some of the deconstruction films that show off the insides. In terms of battery and charging, the company has been completely silent on the specs, however some publications are speculating that it will have a 6,000mAh pack with 67W wired and 50W wireless charging, putting it ahead of Samsung’s recent large folders. As for the IP68 rating, it is not referenced in any of the official materials. Finally, some early price chatter points to a 12,000 yuan ($1,785) figure, albeit this appears to be an approximate estimate rather than a locked-in price.
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