Xiaomi 18 Fold officially revealed, beating Apple. This is what its mid-fold design looks like

Wide-body foldable phones are likely to be a hit this year, and Xiaomi is entering this area a few days before Apple. The company revealed the design of the new fold, its displays, and color, and most importantly, confirmed that the premiere will take place on September 7, two days before Apple’s planned event.

We wrote back in June that Xiaomi was preparing a wide foldable as a rival to the upcoming foldable iPhone. Instead of speculation, we can now talk about an official teaser: Mobile Division President Lu Weibing published the first official images of the Xiaomi 18 Fold on Weibo and immediately revealed when the phone would be officially unveiled.

A compact phone and a smaller tablet in one

Xiaomi’s new model positions itself somewhere between large book-style foldables and small clamshell models. The logic is simple: a large fold offers a giant display when unfolded, but you still spend a lot of time on the smaller outer screen. Smaller clamshells are easier to carry but make more compromises. The new Xiaomi 18 Fold will sit precisely in between, just like the recently released Galaxy Z Fold8.

Outwardly, the phone will feature a 5.38-inch cover display; when unfolded, a 7.58-inch internal screen with a new aspect ratio designed for multitasking and video watching will appear. The render showed the new device in a striking red color with three cameras in an elongated island on the back – their tuning was handled by Leica.

Xiaomi 18 Fold features: proprietary XRING chip under the hood

Inside, it will be powered by its own XRING O3 chip, the same generation of silicon that Xiaomi is preparing for its top-tier numbered models. According to benchmarks, it will be accompanied by up to 16 GB of memory, and the phone is expected to be among the first with new LPDDR6 memory. The brand also boasts a new hinge, which it calls the “dragon bone,” and its own simulation system for bend testing.

The rest of the specifications currently fall into the leaks category. Leaker Digital Chat Station claims that the Leica Summilux camera will feature a main sensor with an f/1.7 aperture, an f/2.8 telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom, and an ultrawide lens; the fingerprint reader is said to be on the side. However, take this with a grain of salt for now, as the manufacturer has not officially confirmed it.

Lu Weibing himself is not marketing the 18 Fold as “just another foldable.” He describes it as the most advanced phone in Xiaomi’s entire lineup, designed to compete even with regular flagships – and he believes that the mid-fold could become the direction foldables generally take.

Xiaomi aims to beat Apple

The phone will be fully unveiled on September 7 at Xiaomi’s autumn flagship event. The date is no coincidence – Apple is preparing its own foldable iPhone Ultra for September 9, so Xiaomi, with its wide foldable, is technically getting ahead by two days. However, this is far from Xiaomi’s first fold, whereas for Apple, it will be an absolute premiere.

Xiaomi 18 Fold officially revealed, beating Apple. This is what its mid-fold design looks like Adam Kurfürst News Adam Kurfürst News

Availability in our region remains an open question. Xiaomi’s foldable phones have traditionally not officially made it to our market, so the arrival of the 18 Fold on the Czech market is rather unlikely.

Are you tempted by the Xiaomi 18 Fold, or will you wait to see what the foldable iPhone brings?

Sources: Weibo, GSMArena, Gizmochina, Android Authority