Xiaomi Announces Foldable iPhone Rival
Xiaomi today officially announced the 18 Fold, its first wide-format foldable, at a product event in China, two days before Apple is expected to unveil its own first foldable iPhone. The Xiaomi 18 Fold uses a similar wide-folding design to the Samsung Z Fold8 and Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone. It features a 5.38-inch outer display and a 7.58-inch inner display, both with 120Hz LTPO technology…
Xiaomi unveiled the 18 Fold, a wide-format foldable device, at a product event in China just two days before Apple's anticipated foldable iPhone debut. The Xiaomi 18 Fold mirrors Samsung's Z Fold8 and Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone in design, featuring a 5.38-inch outer display and a 7.58-inch inner display with 120Hz LTPO technology and peak brightness of 4000 nits.
The display is safeguarded by a novel double-layer ultra-thin glass structure. The phone's hinge, dubbed the Dragon Bone hinge, undergoes 492 structural optimizations for a smoother design compared to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8. The 18 Fold comes in four finishes, including Nishino Red and a limited Ceramic Special Edition with only 1,500 units.
It marks the first flagship to incorporate Xiaomi's homegrown Xring O3 chip, a 3nm process chip with a 10-core CPU clocked at 4.35GHz and a 16-core GPU, delivering a 60% CPU boost and an 85% GPU performance gain over its predecessor. The chip also boasts 25% power consumption reduction and a dedicated NPU of 200 TOPS. The rear camera system, co-developed with Leica, features a 200-megapixel main sensor, a 50-megapixel ultrawide, and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom.
In contrast, Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to have just two rear cameras. The 18 Fold runs Xiaomi's HyperOS 4 software and is powered by a 6,000mAh battery supporting 67W wired and 50W wireless charging. Pricing begins at 10,999 yuan ($1,638) for the base 12GB RAM and 256GB storage model, escalating to 14,999 yuan ($2,235) for the top 16GB/1TB variant, with a limited Ceramic Special Edition priced at 15,999 yuan ($2,384).
Apple's foldable is anticipated to surpass $2,000 in cost. Xiaomi also unveiled the Xiaomi Pad 9 Pro Max tablet at the event, sharing the Xring O3 chip, along with three electric vehicles under its Pengcheng brand. The company has not disclosed global availability for the 18 Fold, as its previous Mix Fold foldables have been exclusively sold in China.
Apple plans to present its foldable iPhone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max on September 9 at Apple Park.
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