Xiaomi 18 Fold – 3 Reasons Why it’s Better than Other Foldables
Xiaomi is set to launch a new competitor to the Apple iPhone Ultra foldable and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8. Here are the top 3 reasons why the Xiaomi Fold 18 could be better than other foldables.
Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi just unveiled its new passport-sized foldable well before Apple’s passport-style, first-ever foldable, the iPhone Ultra, which is set to launch on September 9, 2026. Ahead of its launch, Xiaomi showcased its flagship foldable, the Xiaomi 18 Fold smartphone, at IFA 2026. The foldable appears to get a major upgrade with Xiaomi’s own XRing O3 chipset, competing with Qualcomm, Samsung, MediaTek, and Apple’s chipsets.
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Key Highlights
Xiaomi 18 Fold features the new XRING O3 chipset and LPDDR6 RAM, targeting flagship performance.
The foldable features a 200MP Leica main camera, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 50MP periscope telephoto.
Its aggressive pricing could make it a strong alternative to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Apple's iPhone Ultra.
Top 3 Reasons Xiaomi 18 Fold is Better than Other Foldables
Xiaomi’s new foldable, the Fold 18 5G, appeared at the IFA event with its unique horizontally arranged rear cameras over a pill-shaped model. Its passport-style design is inspired by the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide and the upcoming Apple iPhone Ultra foldable. Let’s look at the reasons why the 18 Fold 5G by Xiaomi is better than other foldables.
1. Fastest RAM and Processor
Xiaomi 18 Fold packs the latest XRING O3 chipset inside, Xiaomi’s first-ever in-house processor, built on C’s new 3nm manufacturing process.
The chipset competes with other flagship processors, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500, and Apple’s current A19 Pro and future A20 Pro.
Xiaomi’s XRING O3 is built with a 10-core setup, consisting of two ultra-powerful cores (up to 4.35 GHz), four premium performance cores (up to 3.68 GHz), and four efficiency cores (up to 3.15 GHz).
This chipset also includes a powerful 16-core Arm Mali-G2 Ultra NX graphics processor and the latest LPDDR6 RAM, making this phone one of the first with LPDDR6 RAM.
The chipset also includes an AI NPU that delivers 200 INT8 TOPS for on-device AI tasks. According to reports, the chipset has scored a whopping 5.22 million points, with the Geekbench 6 report showing 3,900 points on the single-core test and 15,200 points on the multicore test.
Currently, with these wider dimensions, competing against the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, the Xiaomi 18 Fold is the only foldable that offers a 200MP main sensor, which is a larger 1/1.56-inch sensor developed in collaboration with Leica, a 50MP ultrawide-angle sensor, and another 50MP telephoto sensor with 3.5X periscope zoom support.
3. Price
Xiaomi is known for its aggressive pricing strategy, and with the Xiaomi 18 Fold, we expect it to undercut the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide lineup and the upcoming Apple iPhone Fold Ultra. Although pricing in India is not yet revealed, since Xiaomi uses its own chipset, the 18 Fold could be cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold 8 5G and the iPhone Ultra 5G.
In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at Rs 1,79,999 in India.
Xiaomi will launch the phone in its home market in China on September 7, 2026, and, after that, possibly after the iPhone Ultra launch, the Xiaomi 18 Fold will go global by the end of September 2026.
The spec sheet reveals that the Xiaomi 18 Fold 5G has an inner display of 5.38 inches and an outer display of 7.58 inches, with a peak brightness of 4,000 nits.
Image Credits: Ayan Ghosh, Varun Krishnan
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FAQs
What is the Xiaomi 18 Fold 5G?
The Xiaomi 18 Fold 5G is Xiaomi's upcoming flagship foldable smartphone featuring a passport-style design and premium hardware.
When is the Xiaomi 18 Fold launching in China?
Xiaomi will launch the 18 Fold in China on September 7, 2026.
What is the XRING O3 chipset?
XRING O3 is Xiaomi's latest flagship processor designed to compete with high-end chipsets from Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung and Apple.
Will Xiaomi 18 Fold be cheaper than Apple's iPhone Ultra?
It could be. Xiaomi is known for aggressive pricing, but the official prices of the 18 Fold and Apple's foldable are yet to be confirmed.
Why could the Xiaomi 18 Fold be one of the best foldables of 2026?
The XRING O3 processor, LPDDR6 RAM, 200MP Leica camera system, large displays, and passport-style design make it a strong contender in the premium foldable segment.
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