Apple's foldable iPhone Ultra is expected to launch this week, but Xiaomi is stealing a bit of its thunder by announcing its own mid-size foldable phone first. The Xiaomi 18 Fold was shown off at IFA 2026, but it was secured behind glass, so the general public could only see it (but not touch it).
I was fortunate enough to get some hands-on time with the Xiaomi 18 Fold behind closed doors, and after coming from the high of reviewing the Galaxy Z Fold 8, I was quite impressed with what's on offer here. However, limited availability will hinder its success, and Xiaomi will have to prove that its new in-house XRING 03 chip can keep up with other flagships
The Xiaomi 18 Fold is a wider foldable, similar to the popular Galaxy Z Fold 8, though it has notable design differences. It's shorter and wider than the Z Fold 8, and its corners are much rounder, with a design that looks a lot like the iPhone Ultra leaks.
In my hand, it feels just as compelling as the Galaxy Z Fold 8, with a passport-like size when folded, making the 5.4-inch screen very easy to reach. Unfolded, the Xiaomi 18 Fold looks and feels like a small tablet, with a 7.5-inch display. Both displays have a √2:1 aspect ratio similar to A4 paper, which Xiaomi says is ideal for viewing content in both 16:9 and 4:3, meaning videos and photos, respectively.
The crease is fairly visible, as the display is fairly reflective, but I can hardly feel it when running my fingers across it. Xiaomi says it uses a dual-layer Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) structure for enhanced protection.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold is slightly heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 8, but when I held them side by side, I couldn't really tell the difference. It's also a bit thicker, but that's due to the 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery Xiaomi stuffed into this phone. Compared to the 4,800mAh unit in the Z Fold 8, Xiaomi already has the upper hand, especially when you account for the faster 67W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
Turn the phone around, and you'll see where else Xiaomi comes ahead. The phone comes with a triple camera system, with the highlight being the primary 200MP sensor. There is also a 50MP periscope telephoto camera, something that's missing from the Z Fold 8.
I didn't get to capture any camera samples, but I expect good things from the Leica-powered camera system, as we've seen from other recent Xiaomi phones, which produce very natural-looking bokeh and great color reproduction.
The phone is powered by Xiaomi's all-new XRING 03 chipset, an in-house 3nm chip that promises high performance and powerful on-device AI capabilities. According to Xiaomi, the 10-core CPU comprises two Ultra cores, four Premium cores, and four Pro cores for 60% higher performance and 25% lower power consumption compared to the XRING 01.
I could not run any benchmark tests during my time with the phone, so we'll have to take Xiaomi's word for it, at least until we can thoroughly test it ourselves. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is already a powerhouse thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and we can expect the chip in the iPhone Ultra to be quite powerful as well, which puts Xiaomi in a bit of the spotlight, since this is its first flagship with the XRING chip.
Meanwhile, the 16-core GPU "sets a new standard for graphics performance on a smartphone," while the NPU promises "200 TOPS of tensor performance" for "45% faster on-device decoding performance."
Paired with 12 or 16GB of LPDDR6 RAM and HyperOS, the Xiaomi 18 Fold is primed to showcase the best that Xiaomi has to offer within its Human x Car x Home smart ecosystem, which promises to seamlessly connect its various smart devices.
Unfortunately, not everyone will have the opportunity to experience what the XRING 03 is like on the Xiaomi 18 Fold, and that's where my excitement fizzles out a bit. The phone is only launching in China for now, with no word on a global release. The Xiaomi Mix Fold 4 from 2024 was China-exclusive, which isn't very promising, but Xiaomi has also been focusing on expanding its product line in Europe, so there's some hope.
Pricing starts at 10999 yuan (~$1,638.88), which is definitely on the pricier side, especially compared to other foldables. I got to handle the red model, which I really like, although it also comes in black and white. There's also a ceramic version of the phone, which comes in a single configuration (16GB + 1TB) and costs 15999 yuan (~$2,383).
