Xiaomi 18 Pro (Max) in Europe: Importing Up to 39% Cheaper, With Larger Battery
Importing the Xiaomi 18 Pro, which we did for our review, still seems to be the better choice. Leaked European prices and specifications for the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max answer the question of whether it's better to buy here or import.
Smaller battery, and now a higher price too
The European energy labels for the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max surfaced earlier this week. They list 6000 and 7050 mAh, which are the nominal values. The typical capacity that Xiaomi will likely advertize is usually slightly higher, estimated to be around 6100 to 6200 and 7200 mAh. This confirms what leaker @kacskrz reported on X back in September.
By comparison, the Chinese versions have 7000 and 8500 mAh, a difference of over 14 and 17 percent. You will notice that in every-day use. According to the same labels, the European 18 Pro also charges at 90 instead of 100 watts. If that were the only bad news, choosing between these and importing would still have been a tough call, but now the prices have also been leaked and they are the deciding factor.
Importing suddenly becomes a lot more appealing
French leaker billbil-kun reports via Dealabs that the European Xiaomi 18 Pro starts at €1399 in France and the 18 Pro Max at €1599. An earlier leak from Sudhanshu Ambhore was €50 higher per variant; we won’t know which of the two is correct until the announcement. Both have one thing in common: all European versions get 12GB of RAM; the 16GB models from China won’t be available here. If you compare the leaked prices with what the same configuration costs at importer TradingShenzhen, where we also ordered our review units, the difference becomes painfully clear.
| Model | Memory | Europe (leaked) | Import | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiaomi 18 Pro | 12GB/256GB | €1399 | €857 | €542 (39%) |
| Xiaomi 18 Pro | 12GB/512GB | €1599 | €1037 | €562 (35%) |
| Xiaomi 18 Pro Max | 12GB/256GB | €1599 | €1127 | €472 (30%) |
| Xiaomi 18 Pro Max | 12GB/512GB | €1799 | €1297 | €502 (28%) |
Importing is therefore between 28 and 39 percent cheaper, and you get the larger battery "for free." In China, the devices start at 5999 and 6999 yuan, which converts to about €720 and €840. By comparison: at €1399, the 18 Pro is only €100 below last year’s Xiaomi 17 Ultra, while the 17 Pro skipped Europe entirely. Ouch!
Warranty and software: what you give up when importing
Importing is already possible and we managed to largely resolve the problems we encountered with the Chinese software and hardware, as you can read in our Xiaomi 18 Pro review. The same step-by-step plan works for the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max. There are also drawbacks: the warranty is handled by the importer and not by Xiaomi Netherlands, you spend a few evenings getting Google services and notifications working, and 5G on 700 and 1800 MHz is missing, which means you will be on 4G more often indoors and outside the city. Android Auto, eSIM, and Dutch as a system language are also missing.
Anyone who doesn't find that a problem has a viable alternative with import to bypass European prices. Whether those prices are the result of a shortage of memory chips, as other media speculate, makes little difference to you as long as importing is an option. When the European version will appear exactly is not yet known; Xiaomi only promised a global launch before the end of the year.
