Max Headroom 
Xiaomi today officially announced the 18 Fold, its first wide-format foldable, at a product event in China, two days before Apple is expected to unveil its own first foldable iPhone.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold uses a similar wide-folding design to the Samsung Z Fold8 and Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone. It features a 5.38-inch outer display and a 7.58-inch inner display, both with 120Hz LTPO technology and 4000 nits of peak brightness. The display is protected by a new double-layer ultra-thin glass structure.
The phone folds around a redesigned hinge Xiaomi calls the “Dragon Bone” hinge, which the company says underwent 492 structural optimizations, facilitating a noticeably more rounded design than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8. It launches in four finishes, including a Nishino Red colorway and a limited Ceramic Special Edition capped at 1,500 units.
The 18 Fold is the first flagship to contain Xiaomi’s in-house Xring O3 chip, built using a 3nm process with a 10-core CPU clocked to 4.35GHz and a 16-core GPU. Xiaomi says the chip delivers a 60% multi-core CPU gain and an 85% GPU performance gain over its predecessor, with power draw down 25% and 64% respectively, alongside a dedicated NPU rated at 200 TOPS.
The rear camera system was developed with Leica and is led by a 200-megapixel main sensor, alongside a 50-megapixel ultrawide and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom. Apple’s first foldable iPhone is expected to feature two rear cameras only, with no dedicated telephoto camera.
The device ships with Xiaomi’s HyperOS 4 software and a 6,000mAh battery supporting 67W wired and 50W wireless charging. Pricing starts at 10,999 yuan (approximately $1,638), for the base 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration, rising to 14,999 yuan (approximately $2,235) for the top 16GB/1TB model, with a limited Ceramic Special Edition at 15,999 yuan (approximately $2,384). Apple’s foldable is widely expected to be priced above $2,000.
Xiaomi also introduced the Xiaomi Pad 9 Pro Max tablet at the event, which shares the Xring O3 chip, along with three electric vehicles under its Pengcheng brand. The company has not announced global availability for the 18 Fold; its earlier Mix Fold foldables have stayed exclusive to China.
Apple is set to hold its own event on September 9 at Apple Park, where the company is expected to unveil its first foldable iPhone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
This article, “Xiaomi Announces Foldable iPhone Rival” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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