Xiaomi hasn't waited around for Apple to show what tomorrow's foldable could look like. After unveiling its 18 Fold at IFA in Berlin, the Chinese manufacturer has now officially launched its new model in China, two days after the iPhone Duo/Fold reveal. And on paper, Xiaomi has clearly decided to come out swinging. First off, the Xiaomi 18 Fold adopts a wider, stockier format than the brand's previous foldables, with a 5.38-inch AMOLED cover screen and a 7.58-inch inner panel. This is the so-called passport format that's fast becoming the new norm for foldables. Samsung has already done it, and so has Huawei. Once opened, the format proves far better suited to 16:9 video, with fewer black bars.
Xiaomi goes all in on cameras and battery life
It's round the back, though, that Xiaomi is looking to make the difference. The 18 Fold packs a triple camera developed with Leica, with a 200 Mpx main sensor, a 50 Mpx ultra-wide and a 50 Mpx periscope telephoto offering 3.5x optical zoom. That's a seriously ambitious set-up for a foldable, whereas Samsung makes do with just two sensors on its Galaxy Z Fold 8.
The other big selling point sits under the shell: a 6,000 mAh battery using silicon-carbon technology, which means battery life should stretch to 48 hours of use without needing a top-up. In theory, at least, but given that Chinese phones have been steadily pushing battery life up for a few years now, there's no reason it shouldn't hold up. Either way, that's a generous capacity for a foldable. Despite all that, the weight remains very reasonable at 219 grams, with a thickness of 10.68 mm when folded shut.
Xiaomi is also using this launch to debut its new in-house Xring O3 chip, paired with 10 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores. The manufacturer wants to take back more control over the hardware side of things, particularly for AI-related features. The 18 Fold will also be the brand's first smartphone to ship with HyperOS 4.
A keener price than the rest
With this model, Xiaomi clearly isn't playing the value-for-money card alone any more. The 18 Fold starts at 10,999 yuan, or roughly £1,200, for the 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage version. The bill climbs to around £1,650 for the 16 GB/1 TB variant. For now, the Xiaomi 18 Fold remains limited to the Chinese market, which obviously caps its ability to take on Samsung and Apple directly in Europe. But its positioning is intriguing, because with that big screen, a 6,000 mAh battery, Leica-badged photography and above all its own in-house chip, Xiaomi seems keen to prove that a foldable can finally be more than a design showcase. Now we just wait for the head-to-heads with the iPhone Duo, naturally...
