Xiaomi 18 Fold Unveiled at IFA: Hopes for European Launch
Broad competition for Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Apple’s expected foldable iPhone
Xiaomi unveiled its new foldable phone for the first time at the IFA trade show in Berlin. When unfolded, the Xiaomi 18 Fold appears wider than other foldable models on the market. It strongly resembles the Samsung Fold 8, as well as the foldable iPhone that Apple has yet to announce. Read here to learn how the Xiaomi 18 Fold differs from other foldables.
At IFA in Berlin, Xiaomi is showcasing the Xiaomi 18 Fold: its first wide-format foldable, a format that Samsung pioneered with the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Until now, book-style foldables were nearly square when unfolded. That is convenient for productivity, but less ideal for watching videos. When folded, the 18 Fold is a normal, wide phone rather than a narrow, elongated device, and when unfolded, you get a screen with the aspect ratio of a small tablet. We expect wide foldables like this one to gain significant traction in 2026 and beyond.
Screens virtually identical to the Galaxy Z Fold 8
The inner screen of the Xiaomi 18 Fold measures 7.58 inches, while the outer screen measures 5.38 inches. This makes it virtually identical to the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which measures 7.6 and 5.5 inches.
Leica cameras with 200MP main sensor
The selfie camera is hidden in a punch hole in the upper-right corner of the foldable screen. For the rear cameras, a triple-camera system from Leica has been chosen. The main camera is equipped with a 200MP sensor and OIS, the ultra-wide-angle camera has 50MP, and the telephoto camera (also 50MP) offers 3.5x optical zoom. You can see a few sample photos, released by Xiaomi itself, below.
Proprietary Xring O3 chip and 6000 mAh battery
Interestingly, the device is equipped with Xiaomi’s own processor: the Xring O3. In terms of performance, according to Xiaomi’s own benchmarks, it is on par with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Apple’s A19 Pro. It features 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The battery capacity is 6000 mAh.
We do not yet know how thick the Xiaomi 18 Fold is when folded; Xiaomi has not yet made any statements about that. We suspect the body will be slightly thicker than Samsung’s Fold 8. However, the latter also has a battery that is 1,200 mAh smaller.
Will the Xiaomi 18 Fold come to Europe?
Expect the official unveiling on September 7 in China. Whether the device will come to Europe afterward remains to be seen, as Xiaomi’s previous book-style foldables have never been released outside of China: from the first Mix Fold all the way to the Mix Fold 4 from 2024. Only the Mix Flip, a clamshell, made it to Europe.
That is precisely why it is striking that Xiaomi brought the 18 Fold to Berlin: as far as we know, this is the first time the brand has shown such a device in Europe. Xiaomi states that pricing and availability by region will be announced on September 7. We will be keeping a close eye on that in the coming period.
