Xiaomi 18 Fold is here and beat Apple by two days. It strikingly resembles Samsung and the upcoming iPhone Ultra

Foldable phones with a wide, book-like body have become a hit this year, and Xiaomi is entering this league with a grand gesture. The Xiaomi 18 Fold is the brand’s first “mid-fold” and arrived on the market exactly two days before Apple’s planned event, where the Cupertino company will introduce its first foldable smartphone. In format, Xiaomi’s new device resembles both the already-sold Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 and the upcoming iPhone Ultra.

A copy of an iPhone that hasn’t even been released yet

We wrote back in June that Xiaomi was preparing a wide foldable as a direct competitor to the foldable iPhone. Now it’s officially here, and the brand has beaten its American rival by a full two days. Apple will only show off the iPhone Ultra tomorrow.

Nevertheless, the resemblance is undeniable. The new device opts for the same wider format expected from the foldable iPhone and also adds a striking red variant, which earlier leaks associated precisely with Apple.

How it aims to beat the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8

Samsung is the second mirror. The South Korean manufacturer successfully popularized wide, book-like foldables, and Xiaomi is now targeting its Galaxy Z Fold8 precisely. However, it offers a rounded design and even features a telephoto lens, which will better appeal to photographers. When unfolded, the phone measures just 5.02 mm at the waist and weighs 219 grams, which is less than many common non-foldable phones.

The displays of the Xiaomi 18 Fold are among the best that foldables offer today. The outer display has a diagonal of 5.38″, the inner one 7.58″, and both support a 120Hz refresh rate and brightness up to 4,000 nits. Furthermore, the body is water-resistant according to IP59 certification, and the most expensive edition boasts ceramic backs made from a material otherwise used in aircraft engines.

Proprietary XRING O3 chip instead of Snapdragon

The heart of the phone is neither Snapdragon nor Dimensity, but Xiaomi’s proprietary XRING O3 chip – only the second processor the brand has designed itself. It is manufactured using a 3nm process and combines a deca-core CPU with a hexa-core GPU. The manufacturer promises a significant leap in performance and claims the chip will even surpass the Apple A19 Pro.

Photos are handled by a trio of lenses tuned in collaboration with Leica, spearheaded by a 200Mpx main sensor. It is complemented by an ultrawide camera and the aforementioned periscopic telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom. Power is supplied by a 6,000 mAh battery with support for 67W wired charging and 50W wireless charging, while the software is handled by the HyperOS system.

Xiaomi 18 Fold Specifications Table

Price and Availability

In China, the Xiaomi 18 Fold starts at 10,999 yuan, roughly 34,500 CZK converted, for the basic 12/256 GB version. The most equipped variant with 16 GB of memory and 1TB of storage will cost 14,999 yuan (around 47,000 CZK), and the ceramic edition approaches 50,000 CZK.

Details regarding availability in Europe are not yet available. Xiaomi has not yet tended to import Folds to us and has only brought the first generation of the Mix Flip clamshell. Whether the Xiaomi 18 Fold will reach the shelves of Czech stores thus remains to be seen.

Would you get a wide foldable from Xiaomi, even if it only came to us via importers?

Sources: Xiaomi, GSMArena, Notebookcheck