Xiaomi Teases 18 Fold Smartphone Powered by Xuanjie O3 SoC and MiMo On-Device AI
Xiaomi executives Lu Weibing and Lei Jun officially teased the upcoming Xiaomi 18 Fold flagship foldable smartphone. The new foldable device features Xiaomi's custom Xuanjie O3 AI flagship SoC, runs HyperOS 4, and integrates the Xiaomi MiMo on-device large language model. The announcement highlights Xiaomi's push toward custom silicon and hardware-accelerated on-device AI integration within premium foldable mobile devices. Combining custom 3nm chips with local AI models allows smartphones to execute complex tasks locally, reducing reliance on cloud infrastructure while improving privacy and response speed. The Xiaomi 18 Fold features a 5.38-inch outer display, a 7.58-inch inner foldable screen, and a horizontal rear camera module housing three lenses. Its powering SoC, the Xuanjie O3, is built on a 3nm process node and designed specifically for high-performance AI workloads.
## BACKGROUND
On-device AI allows large language models (LLMs) to run locally on a smartphone's hardware rather than relying on external servers, improving privacy and latency. System-on-Chips (SoCs) tailored for AI incorporate specialized neural processing units (NPUs) to handle complex machine learning tasks efficiently on mobile form factors.