Xiaomi Teases 18 Fold Phone Featuring AI Drag-and-Drop Inspiration Ball
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun teased the upcoming Xiaomi 18 Fold foldable smartphone, highlighting its new 'Xiao Ai Inspiration Ball' AI feature built into HyperOS. The feature enables users to recognize image or text content and execute multi-step operations using simple drag-and-drop gestures. This feature highlights how smartphone makers are embedding contextual AI assistants directly into everyday mobile UI gestures. Xiaomi is also positioning the 18 Fold as a primary top-tier flagship rather than a niche experimental device, aiming to bring foldable phones into mainstream adoption. The 'Super Xiao Ai Inspiration Ball' is part of the Super Xiao Ai 2.0 system update in HyperOS, with a public Beta test scheduled for release within September. The device itself features ultra-narrow symmetrical bezels, hyper-elliptical corners, and a runway-shaped rear camera module.
## BACKGROUND
Xiao Ai is Xiaomi's proprietary virtual voice assistant, integrated across its smart ecosystem of smartphones, tablets, and IoT devices. With the release of HyperOS, Xiaomi revamped the assistant as 'Super Xiao Ai', adding multimodal AI capabilities and deeper operating system integration.