Xiaomi's next foldable could deliver a surprise

The website XiaomiTime – recently rebranded as XimiTime, apparently for legal reasons – has delivered intriguing new details from the vast realm of Xiaomi code leaks. As is often the case, HyperOS once again contains early hints about upcoming Xiaomi products. For instance, a leaker recently suggested that summer is expected to be a particularly busy period for the company.

Among the new products is a smartphone with the model number 2608BPX34C, also referred to as Q18. This device is likely a foldable, given that Xiaomi typically assigns the number 18 to its folding phones. Right now, we can only speculate whether this potential successor to 2024’s Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 will launch as the Xiaomi Mix Fold 5 or Xiaomi 17 Fold, though the code currently uses the former.

One particularly interesting detail is that Xiaomi seems to be ditching the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in favor of its own processor: the successor to the Xring O1 featured in the Xiaomi 15S Pro. It is also notable that this processor is labeled as version 3 in the code, which could indicate the Xring O3. Why the company appears to be skipping the Xring O2 remains unclear. Unfortunately, the Xiaomi Mix Fold 5 is likely to remain exclusive to China, as there is currently no indication of a global launch.