Foldable phones from Chinese brands have evolved significantly, with Honor, Oppo, and Vivo focusing on cameras, batteries, and flagship specs.
Samsung, meanwhile, has kept its Galaxy Z Fold series productivity-oriented.
The new Xiaomi 18 Fold fits this trend and even pushes it further in some areas. It launched in China this month and is available internationally through resellers.
The phone clearly has strong specifications, but the question is whether it's the right foldable for you.
Here are five reasons to consider buying it, and two reasons to wait.
Five Reasons to Buy
Battery life is a common compromise in book-style foldables, but the Xiaomi 18 Fold packs a 6,000mAh Jinshajiang battery.
That's over 1,000mAh more than the Galaxy Z Fold8's ~4,800mAh cell.
It also supports 67W wired and 50W wireless charging, so you won't stay plugged in for long.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold is powered by Xring O3, Xiaomi's second in-house chip. It reportedly scores 5.22 million on AnTuTu, the first to cross that mark.
Built on a 3nm process, it has a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU, plus the first commercial LPDDR6 memory with up to 113.8GB/s bandwidth.
Xiaomi designed it specifically for its own hardware.
The camera setup is better than what you usually get on a foldable.
It includes a 200MP Leica main camera, a 50MP periscope with 3.5x optical zoom, and a 50MP ultra-wide.
All three use Leica-tuned Summilux optics. In contrast, the Galaxy Z Fold8 lacks a dedicated zoom camera.
Both displays are bright enough for outdoor use.
The inner screen is 7.58 inches with 120Hz, and the outer is 5.38 inches, also 120Hz.
Both reach up to 4,000 nits peak brightness.
They support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, and Xiaomi uses HyperRGB panel technology. The foldable UTG glass and dragon-bone hinge survive a 1.2-meter drop.
At 219g and 5.02mm thick when unfolded, it's the lightest foldable Xiaomi has made. Xiaomi calls it a 'mid-fold' form factor, between tall, narrow foldables and clamshells.
Two Reasons to Wait
The price is still high.
It starts at ¥10,999 (~$1,640) in China, and international buyers face higher costs through resellers, often around $1,999.
That puts it close to the Galaxy Z Fold 8, reducing the usual price advantage of Chinese foldables.
There is no official global launch yet. Buyers outside China rely on import resellers, which means longer shipping, import duties, and uncertain warranty support.
Software is another concern.
It runs HyperOS 4 on Android 17, and a China-first release may lead to missing features or delayed updates until an international version appears.
