Xiaomi 18 Fold debuts in China with in-house XRing O3 chip and 200MP Leica cameras
Xiaomi has officially introduced the Xiaomi 18 Fold, its first book-style foldable, at a launch event in Beijing. The phone arrived on September 7, two days before Apple is expected to reveal its first foldable iPhone, and it takes aim at the wide-screen format Samsung leads with the Galaxy Z Fold8. Chinese buyers can pre-order today, with sales beginning September 10 from ¥10,999 (about $1,638).
The device opens in passport-style proportions from a 5.38-inch cover display to a 7.58-inch inner panel. Both are LTPO AMOLED screens with a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, peak brightness of up to 4,000 nits, and full DC dimming. Xiaomi protects the cover glass with Dragon Crystal Glass 2.0 and shields the folding panel with double-layer ultra-thin glass. The brightness rating is aimed at real use: a cover screen this readable outdoors means notifications and quick replies work without opening the phone.
The aluminum body with a glass back weighs 219 grams and measures 5.02mm when open, 10.68mm when closed. A redesigned "Dragon Bone" hinge carries 492 structural optimizations, according to Xiaomi. Four standard finishes are available, including Nishino Red, alongside a Ceramic Special Edition capped at 1,500 units.
Inside the Xiaomi 18 Fold: silicon and memory
The 18 Fold is the first Xiaomi flagship built around the in-house XRing O3 processor. Fabricated on TSMC's 3nm node, the silicon contains 24 billion transistors, a 26% increase over the XRing O1 that launched last year. It pairs a 10-core all-big-core CPU running up to 4.35GHz with a 16-core G2-Ultra NX GPU and an NPU rated at 200 TOPS for on-device AI.
Xiaomi says the new chip lifts multi-core CPU performance by 60% and graphics performance by 85% over the previous generation while cutting power draw by 25% and 64%, respectively. Top-tier models use LPDDR6 memory from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), making the 18 Fold the first phone with the Chinese maker's newest DRAM generation, at bandwidth up to 113.8 GB/s. Lower tiers step down to LPDDR5X, and buyers can specify up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage.
The efficiency numbers deserve as much attention as the raw gains in a chassis this thin. A 5.02mm open profile leaves little room for cooling hardware, so the sharp drop in power draw is what keeps peak performance realistic inside a foldable body. The XRing line is also young: the O1 shipped last year, and the O3 already arrives with 26% more transistors, evidence of an in-house development cycle that now moves quickly.
The component story extends beyond benchmarks. With an in-house processor and CXMT memory, the two most strategically important parts of the phone come from Xiaomi's own design team or from Chinese supply, a point chief executive Lei Jun pressed when he presented the device in Beijing. It is a clear bid for independence in a premium segment where Chinese vendors are racing Apple and Huawei.
Leica cameras, HyperOS 4, and battery
Leica co-developed the triple rear camera. A 200MP main sensor sits behind an f/1.7 Summilux lens with a 23mm-equivalent focal length and optical image stabilization, joined by a 50MP f/2.4 ultrawide and a 50MP f/2.8 periscope telephoto with OIS that reaches 3.5x optical zoom and up to 7x optical-quality zoom at an 80mm portrait setting. Between the 23mm main lens and the 80mm telephoto setting, the system covers the everyday range from wide street shots to tight portraits. Two 16MP front cameras serve the cover and inner displays.
The phone ships with HyperOS 4, built on Android 17, with split-screen multitasking arranged around the wide folding panel. The software debuts the Super Xiao AI 2.0 assistant, whose "Inspiration Ball" mode launches workflows from a spoken command, giving the 200 TOPS NPU a role users can see in daily use. A foldable is where that kind of assistance is most visible, since two apps can sit side by side on the 7.58-inch panel while a voice command triggers a third action.
A 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery powers the phone, charged at up to 67W over wire or 50W wirelessly. A side-mounted fingerprint reader and stereo speakers are part of the package, and connectivity includes Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, UWB, NFC, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port.
Xiaomi 18 Fold pricing and availability
The Chinese price list runs across five editions, from the entry model to the collectible ceramic version:
| Configuration | China price |
|---|---|
| 12GB RAM / 256GB storage | ¥10,999 (~$1,638) |
| 12GB RAM / 512GB storage | ¥11,999 |
| 16GB RAM / 512GB storage | ¥12,999 |
| 16GB RAM / 1TB storage | ¥14,999 (~$2,235) |
| Ceramic Special Edition | ¥15,999 |
The Xiaomi 18 Fold remains exclusive to China for now, and Xiaomi has not confirmed a global release. The phone is already listed on Xiaomi's own store in the country, pre-orders are open, and official sales start September 10 at 10:00 AM local time. Buyers elsewhere will have to wait on an international launch that may never come in this form.
How it stacks up
The launch window says as much as the hardware. Xiaomi announced the phone two days before Apple's September 9 event, where the first foldable iPhone is expected, and the 18 Fold follows the wide-folding shape Samsung uses for the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Apple is expected to copy. The 5.38-inch cover screen is sized for everyday tasks without opening the device, the usability argument behind the industry's shift to wider foldables.
At home the phone takes on Huawei and a premium market Apple is about to enter; abroad, Samsung is the reference point. Against that field, Xiaomi is leaning on what it can control: first-party silicon, domestic memory supply, a long-running Leica camera partnership, and a starting price below ¥11,000. Those are the pillars the company would carry into any global launch.
Why this matters
The Xiaomi 18 Fold lands as foldables turn into a three-way contest among Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, and its September 10 Chinese launch gives the wide-screen format first claim on this week's attention. For consumers it sets the bar at a 3nm in-house chip, a 200MP Leica camera, and ¥10,999, the terms every rival foldable announcement this season will be measured against.
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Researched and cross-referenced against primary sources by the Bytevyte editorial team. This article was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the Bytevyte editorial team.