Xiaomi 18 Fold hands-on: An attractive 'mid-size' foldable with powerful specs

Xiaomi’s impressive-sounding new foldable arrives on the eve of Apple’s big foldable iPhone event. Xiaomi 18 Fold hands-on: An attractive ‘mid-size’ foldable with powerful specs. News Mobile Smartphones Xiaomi 18 Fold hands-on: An attractive ‘mid-size’ foldable with powerful specs The stockier foldable lands in China the same week Apple should announce its own.

It combines a 7.68-inch foldable display with a 5.38-inch outer display, both in a new, even more… Xiaomi is trumpeting its A4 aspect ratio across both screens, creating a more unified feel when transitioning between them. At 219g, it’s also the lightest foldable the company has ever made.

Interestingly, the front display has an asymmetric notepad look, with the right edge corners curved while the hinge-edge corners are square. This helps the device stand out even more when so many foldables seem to hit the same design notes. On the eve of Apple revealing its first foray into foldables, I got to spend a little time with Xiaomi’s passport-style smartphone during IFA, and (just like the Galaxy Z Fold 8) I’m smitten with this stockier frame.

Xiaomi has jumped into the wide-screen foldable race with an impressive contender. I tried the Xiaomi 18 Fold, and I think Samsung and Apple should be worried.

Mobile I tried the Xiaomi 18 Fold, and I think Samsung and Apple should be worried Xiaomi has jumped into the wide-screen foldable race with an impressive contender. The Xiaomi 18 Fold is the company’s first wide-screen foldable phone in its main numbered flagship series, and its timing is impeccable.

The phone arrives shortly after Samsung launched its first wide-screen Galaxy Z Fold 8 and just days before Apple should unveil its first folding iPhone. Xiaomi’s approach isn’t identical to either, though.

The 18 Fold has a more rounded look, especially when it’s unfolded, and packs a surprisingly ambitious camera system into its passport-style body. I only spent a short time with the phone at IFA 2026, but even that brief hands-on was enough to convince me that if Xiaomi brings the 18 Fold to global markets, Samsung has a serious new competitor on its hands.

0 votes Hot NaN % Not NaN % Design matters Adamya Sharma / The first thing that struck me about the Xiaomi 18 Fold is just how its proportions feel compared with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8.

Both screens are the first to pack a Xiaomi HyperRGB panel, with a "full RGB subpixel structure." Both screens top out at 4,000 nits peak brightness and support 1-120Hz LTPO adaptive refresh rates.