Xiaomi launched a folding smartphone right before the iPhone event

Introduced on September 7, Xiaomi 18 Fold has the same size ratio as Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 with a 5.38-inch external screen and 7.58-inch internal screen, both using LTPO 120 Hz technology and a maximum brightness of 4,000 nits. The panel is protected by a new two-layer ultra-thin glass structure. When opened, the device is 5.02 mm thin and weighs 219 grams.

Xiaomi uses a basic structure called Dragon Bone with high durability. The Chinese company said the hinge system has undergone 492 structural optimizations, helping to create a significantly more rounded design than the Galaxy Z Fold8, thereby limiting folds over time.

18 Fold is also Xiaomi's first smartphone equipped with the "homegrown" Xring O3 chip. The processor is manufactured on a 3 nm process with a 10-core CPU clocked at 4.35 GHz and a 16-core GPU, with a specialized neural processing unit (NPU) with a performance of 200 TOPS (trillions of calculations per second).

Xiaomi says the chip delivers a 60% increase in multi-core CPU performance and an 85% increase in GPU performance compared to the Xring O1 generation, while reducing power consumption by 25% and 64%, respectively. On the AnTuTu performance measurement page, the chip reached 5 million points, higher than the second place Red Magic 11 Pro running Qualcomm Snapdragon8 Elite Gen 5 with 4 million performance points.

Xiaomi's new folding smartphone is also the first phone to use super-fast LPDDR6 RAM produced by Chinese "semiconductor star" CXMT. LPDDR6 (Low Power Double Data Rate 6) is a new generation RAM standard for mobile devices and edge artificial intelligence (Edge AI). Compared to the current LPDDR5X, the new standard aims to increase data transfer speed, improve energy efficiency and meet the need for AI processing directly on the device. It is expected to support devices that need large memory bandwidth while still controlling power consumption and heat, serving the local AI trend on smartphones and personal computers.

Xiaomi continues to cooperate with Leica on the camera system with a 200-megapixel main sensor, 50-megapixel ultra-wide angle and a 50-megapixel periscope lens with 3.5x optical zoom. Apple's first folding screen iPhone is expected to have two rear cameras, without a dedicated telephoto camera.

The new smartphone is also equipped with a Jinshajiang silicon-carbon battery with a capacity of 6,000 mAh, supporting 67 W wired and 50 W wireless fast charging. The device has three colors including red, warm white yellow and black. The standard 12 GB RAM, 256 GB memory version starts at 10,999 yuan (42.77 million VND), while the 16 GB/1 TB version costs 14,999 yuan (58 million VND). The special ultra-light Ceramic Edition silicon nitride ceramic version with 16 GB RAM, 1 TB memory costs 15,999 yuan (62 million VND), limited to 1,500 units.

According to MacRumors, Xiaomi's launch of the 18 Fold two days before Apple's September 9 event is considered a "preemptive strike" aimed at the American phone company. Apple plans to hold an event at Apple Park to launch two iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max models and the first folding smartphone with a design similar to the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Xiaomi 18 Fold.

PhoneArena quoted a source as saying that the new folding iPhone will be called Ultra, equipped with a 5.5-inch external screen. When opened, the OLED screen reaches 7.8 inches, slightly smaller than the iPad mini. According to Bloomberg, the starting price of the device can be from 2,000 USD (52 million VND), even exceeding 2,500 USD (65 million VND) with a higher storage capacity version.