Xiaomi 18 Fold: Wide foldable challenges Samsung rivals
Xiaomi debuted the 18 Fold at IFA with an Xring O3 chip, 6,000mAh battery, and a 200-megapixel Leica triple camera system.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Xiaomi revealed its short and wide foldable phone, the 18 Fold, at IFA 2026
- It features an in-house Xring O3 chipset and a massive 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery
- The triple camera setup boasts a 200MP main sensor and 50MP periscope zoom lens
- Preorders in China start at 10,999 yuan, roughly translating to 1,600 dollars
Major tech manufacturer Xiaomi has jumped back into the book-style foldable arena with a short and wide handset. Dominic Preston, news editor at The Verge, went hands-on with the 18 Fold behind closed doors during last week's IFA tradeshow, noting that while it resembles Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 in general feel, superior hardware specifications make it a compelling alternative.
The 18 Fold serves as Xiaomi’s first book-style folding device since the release of the Mix Fold 4 back in 2024. Following Huawei and Samsung, the company adopted a squat, wide factor, though Xiaomi pushed the proportions further. It measures shorter and wider than Samsung's offering, utilizing an approximate 1.4:1 aspect ratio across both the 7.58-inch inner display and 5.38-inch cover screen, closely matching international paper sizes and IMAX screens.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
In everyday use, the gadget maintains a compact, pocketable silhouette when closed, allowing comfortable single-handed operation on the cover panel. Unfolding reveals an expansive canvas suited for viewing multimedia or reading digital books, although multitasking controls remain somewhat constrained by the alternative proportions despite split-screen and floating window support.
The industry-wide shift toward shorter and wider foldable aspect ratios highlights manufacturers' efforts to eliminate the cramped typing experiences plaguing earlier generations. By mirroring conventional smartphone proportions on outer screens, brands improve daily usability, though engineering teams face ongoing hurdles in packing high-capacity power cells into remarkably thin chassis profiles.
What truly elevates the device is its internal hardware lineup. The handset marks the commercial debut of Xiaomi’s proprietary Xring O3 chipset, engineered to deliver Snapdragon 8 Elite-tier speeds. It also introduces Arm’s Mali G2-Ultra NX GPU, bringing native mobile-tier graphics acceleration comparable to DLSS to the Android ecosystem.
Power management benefits substantially from a 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, vastly outclassing smaller power packs found in competing models, alongside 67W wired and 50W wireless charging capabilities. Both OLED panels achieve up to 4,000 nits of peak brightness. Crucially, a versatile triple rear camera array engineered alongside Leica includes a 200-megapixel primary shooter with a large 1/1.56-inch sensor, a 50-megapixel 3.5x periscope telephoto lens, and a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera.
Samsung retains a slight advantage regarding physical build quality and finish. The 18 Fold arrives in black, white, a striking red, and a limited ceramic pink variant capped at 1,500 units, yet it remains slightly thicker and heavier than rival foldables. Furthermore, Xiaomi omitted any official IP rating for water and dust resistance, while the screen crease remains more prominent than competing displays.
"By fixing that, while improving on the battery and displays, Xiaomi has made what could become my pick of the foldables on the market right now"
Dominic Preston
Consumer availability kicks off in China with preorders priced from 10,999 yuan (approximately 1,600 dollars) ahead of official retail sales scheduled for September 10th, though global rollout plans remain unconfirmed by the manufacturer.
Source: The Verge
Found something wrong in this article? Report an issue with this article
Comments
Leave a Comment