Xiaomi Unveils the 18 Fold, Its First Phone Running the In-House XRing O3
Xiaomi has revealed the design and part of the specification sheet for the Xiaomi 18 Fold, a foldable flagship that will be the company's first phone running its in-house XRing O3 processor. The manufacturer has dropped the elongated body of the MIX Fold line in favour of a wider layout it calls mid-fold. The device also adopts LPDDR6 memory, which makes it notable not only as a new foldable generation but as a showcase for Chinese-developed components.
A wider body instead of the classic book fold
The Xiaomi 18 Fold pairs a 5.38-inch cover screen with a 7.58-inch inner panel. According to the company, the closed phone is roughly the size of a passport and stays comfortable in one hand, while the unfolded display uses proportions tuned for multi-window work and video. The format targets a familiar weakness of large foldables: owners tend to stay on the outer screen because opening the device every time is inconvenient.
Visually the phone departs from the MIX Fold 4. It has large rounded corners, slim bezels and flat side rails, with an elongated horizontal camera bar on the back holding three lenses and an LED flash. Xiaomi led with a signature red finish, the one displayed at its IFA 2026 booth, and later added black and a warm gold-white option. All three are flat single-tone finishes with no gradients or textures, and the metal frame matches the body colour.
Panel specifications have not been disclosed officially. Insiders report that both screens use a full RGB subpixel layout and proportions close to a √2:1 ratio, with peak brightness on the inner display reaching 4,000 nits. None of this has been confirmed so far.
Lu Weibing, Partner and President of Xiaomi Group, said the 18 Fold is meant to move foldable smartphones beyond the early-adopter segment and establish them as mainstream flagships able to compete with conventional bar phones in everyday use.
XRing O3 and a new memory generation
The 18 Fold will be the first phone built around XRing O3, a 3nm processor designed by Xiaomi itself. The company claims an AnTuTu score above 5.22 million points, though no independent measurements exist yet. The chip arrives alongside LPDDR6 memory made by ChangXin, and this pairing is the model's main technical selling point.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold will be the first mass-produced smartphone with LPDDR6 memory, with a stated bandwidth of up to 12,800 Mbps.
The phone ships with the stable build of HyperOS 4, and Xiaomi's own MiMo model handles part of the AI workload directly on the device rather than in the cloud. Details of the AI feature set are promised for the launch event.
A Leica triple camera
The main module uses a 200MP sensor with a 1/1.56-inch format, joined by a 50MP periscope and a 50MP ultra-wide unit. Every lens in the camera bar carries Leica Summilux branding. Xiaomi has already published sample shots, but real image quality can only be judged once independent tests appear.
A periscope with 3.5x optical zoom sets the phone apart from its rivals, since most current foldable flagships offer a weaker telephoto module or none at all.
Battery life and durability
Battery capacity stands at 6,000 mAh, up from 5,100 mAh in the MIX Fold 4, with 67W wired and 50W wireless charging. That is a meaningful step for a foldable, as devices in this class still mostly settle for cells of around 5,000 mAh.
The new Dragon Bone hinge, Dragon Crystal Glass 3.0 and a series-7 aluminium alloy frame give the phone drop resistance from up to 1.2 metres, according to Xiaomi's own figures.
Company founder Lei Jun also compared the build with the previous generation, saying resistance to sharp-object damage improved by 258% and resistance to steel-ball impacts by 214%. These are Xiaomi's internal calculations and can only be verified in independent testing.
Exact pricing will be given at the launch event, but Lu Weibing has already confirmed the phone will cost more than 10,000 yuan (~$1,405). An insider puts the base configuration at around 12,000 yuan (~$1,690). Either way, the 18 Fold becomes the most expensive phone Xiaomi has ever sold; the MIX Fold 4 started at 8,999 yuan (~$1,265) in 2024.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold will be presented on September 7 at 19:00 China time alongside the Xiaomi Pad 9 Pro Max tablet, with sales starting in China; the company has not announced any global release plans yet.
Specifications
- Cover display: 5.38"
- Inner display: 7.58", foldable
- Processor: Xiaomi XRing O3 (3nm)
- Memory: LPDDR6 by ChangXin, up to 12,800 Mbps
- Cameras: 200MP (1/1.56") main, 50MP periscope with 3.5x zoom, 50MP ultra-wide; Leica Summilux optics
- Battery: 6,000 mAh
- Charging: 67W wired, 50W wireless
- OS: HyperOS 4
- Build and protection: Dragon Bone hinge, Dragon Crystal Glass 3.0, series-7 aluminium alloy frame, drop resistance from up to 1.2 m
- Colours: Red, Black, warm gold-white
