Xiaomi launched the 18 Fold in China on 7 September, two days before Apple's event. It is the first Xiaomi flagship phone on the company's own Xring O3 chip, it starts at 10,999 yuan, which is somewhere around A$2,300 on a straight conversion, and right now it is a China-only phone.
Xiaomi showed the 18 Fold at its autumn launch event in China on 7 September. Pre-orders opened the same night and the outlets covering the event say sales start on 10 September. The timing is the story as much as the phone. Apple's event runs at 3am Thursday our time and a folding iPhone is widely expected, though Apple hasn't confirmed one. Either way, Xiaomi has got its version out the door first.
What Xiaomi's own page confirms
The facts I've checked against Xiaomi's Chinese product page are these. It is a new shape of foldable with a 5.38 inch outer screen and a 7.58 inch inner one, both closer to a 2:1 shape than the tall, narrow cover screens on older book-style phones. The inner screen sits under two layers of ultra-thin glass. The hinge is new, Xiaomi calls it the Dragon Bone hinge. The chip is Xiaomi's own Xring O3, which Xiaomi describes as an AI flagship processor, the battery is 6,000mAh, the rear cameras are a Leica triple set led by a 200 megapixel main camera, and it runs HyperOS 4. The starting price on Xiaomi's site is 10,999 yuan.
What is reported from the event, not on the page I could read
The rest comes from launch coverage of the event rather than a spec sheet I could open, so treat it as reported. Reports have the phone at 5.02mm thick open and 10.68mm closed, weighing 219 grams, with 67W wired and 50W wireless charging. The camera set is reported as a 200 megapixel main, a 50 megapixel 3.5x periscope telephoto and a 50 megapixel ultrawide. The Xring O3 is reported as a 3nm chip with ten CPU cores, and Xiaomi's performance claims, 60 per cent faster multi-core and 85 per cent faster graphics than its last chip, are Xiaomi's own numbers, not independent tests.
Pricing above the base model is also reported rather than confirmed by me: 11,999 yuan for 12GB and 512GB, 12,999 yuan for 16GB and 512GB, 14,999 yuan for the 16GB and 1TB model, and 15,999 yuan for a ceramic special edition limited to 1,500 units. Several outlets say the top 1TB model is the first phone to use LPDDR6 memory. I can't confirm that from Xiaomi's page.
The Australian question
There is no global launch date and nothing announced for Australia, on timing or price. Xiaomi's China-first launches have taken months to reach other markets before, and a straight yuan conversion never ends up being the Australian price, so the A$2,300 figure is a rough idea, not a forecast. A wide foldable with a 6,000mAh battery, if it does land here, would be up against the Galaxy Z Fold8 and whatever Apple announces on Thursday morning.