Xiaomi beats Apple to foldable market by two days

Xiaomi will beat Apple to the wide-foldable race by 48 hours. The company's mobile division president, Lu Weibing, confirmed on Weibo that the Xiaomi 18 Fold launches in China on September 7, two days before Apple's own September 9 event, where the company is rumoured to introduce its first foldable iPhone.

Xiaomi 18 Fold specs and Xring O3 chip

It has been revealed that the device will be powered by the company’s recently released Xring O3 chip, which is a successor to the company’s Xring O1 chip from last year, and will include a triple-rear camera system.

The leaked specifications reveal that it will have a 5.38-inch external display and a 7.58-inch internal display, and the cameras are expected to have a 3.5x optical zoom lens.

Xiaomi has not revealed the full spec sheet of the phone yet, but some early benchmark results show that Xring O3 outperforms Apple’s A19 Pro chip in multi-core performance.

Foldable phones with wider, book-style displays have gained momentum this year, driven partly by anticipation around Apple's rumoured iPhone Ultra and partly by Samsung's early sales momentum with the Galaxy Z Fold 8.

Huawei got there first among major players with its Pura X Max, and Xiaomi's entry adds a third major manufacturer competing for the same form factor before Apple has even shipped one.

Unlike Apple, Xiaomi already has foldable phones on the market under its Mix Fold line, so beating Apple to market with a wide-screen model builds on an existing product category rather than launching one.