Apple has finally entered the foldable race with the iPhone Duo, a compact book-style foldable that looks set to take on some of the most advanced foldables on the market.
One of its most direct rivals is the Xiaomi 18 Fold, another passport-style foldable with a similarly compact design, flagship power and a high-end camera setup. The big difference, however, is that Apple’s model is getting a wider launch, while Xiaomi’s foldable is currently limited to China.
While we’ll need to go hands-on with both before making any firm judgements, here’s how the iPhone Duo and Xiaomi 18 Fold compare on paper.
Pricing and availability
Apple’s foldable iPhone Duo is the most expensive iPhone to date, setting you back $1999 for the entry-level 256GB storage. It’s set to go up for pre-order on 16 October, with release planned for 23 October.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold, on the other hand, is a China-only release, with no current plans for the mid-size foldable to go on sale in regions like the UK, US and Europe.
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The iPhone Duo is thinner and lighter
Both foldables represent a shift towards the same compact, passport-style footprint, but Apple has the edge when it comes to portability.
The iPhone Duo weighs in at 201g, making it 18g lighter than the 219g Xiaomi 18 Fold. That’s helped by Apple’s lightweight titanium frame, which should make the foldable feel a little less cumbersome in everyday use.
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It’s also the thinner of the two devices. The iPhone Duo measures 9.7mm when folded and 4.5mm when unfolded, compared to 10.68mm and 5.02mm respectively for the Xiaomi 18 Fold.
That might not sound like a huge difference on paper, but it should help Apple’s foldable feel closer to a regular smartphone in a pocket than Xiaomi’s slightly chunkier alternative.
The iPhone Duo has larger screens
The iPhone Duo also has a slight advantage when it comes to screen size, though the difference is much less dramatic.
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Apple’s foldable sports a 7.6-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch outer display, while the Xiaomi 18 Fold comes in at 7.58 inches on the inside and 5.38 inches on the outside.
In other words, the iPhone Duo technically offers the larger displays, but only by a small margin. The more interesting difference is the shape of those screens.
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Both manufacturers have taken the same approach to screen aspect ratios though; you’ll find same 1.4:1 proportions across both panels on both phones. That should make transitions between the inner and outer screens feel a little more consistent.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold has a more versatile camera setup
Apple’s foldable iPhone has taken a similar route to Samsung’s mid-size Galaxy Z Fold 8, in that both offer a dual-camera setup comprised of a main and ultrawide. In Apple’s case, the iPhone Duo has dual 48MP main and ultrawide lenses, with only digital zoom available if you want to crop in on your subject.
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It’s pretty good in the department though – an area Apple is well-known for – with support for up to 4K@120fps video on the rear.
That’s flanked by two selfie cameras – a Centre Stage camera on the outer display, and a new under-display camera on the inner display.
Xiaomi has gone a step further, however, working with photography brand Leica on the camera setup for its 18 Fold. As such, Xiaomi’s foldable sports a main 200MP sensor alongside matching 50MP 3.5x telephoto and ultrawide lenses.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
It’s also more capable in the video department, offering support for up to 8K@24fps on the rear main camera, along with support for Dolby Vision HDR.
Of course, there’s much more to a great camera setup than the hardware, and it could be argued that Apple’s tuning is, traditionally, better than what Xiaomi offers on its smartphones. However, if you want to get closer to your subject, the Xiaomi foldable is the only one capable of doing so without solely relying on digital zoom.
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The Xiaomi 18 Fold likely has a bigger battery and faster charging
Apple doesn’t like to discuss battery capacity on stage at its launches, but it likely won’t feature the same 6000mAh Xiaomi has packed into the 18 Fold – most foldables don’t.
Now it’s worth noting that iPhones aren’t usually known for having massive cells, yet Apple’s smartphones tend to do a lot with what’s on offer.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max, for example, had a smaller 4685mAh battery than competing phones like the 7500mAh Oppo Find X9 Pro, though it had no problem lasting all day in general use. So there is the potential that the foldable iPhone could last longer in actual use – Apple itself claims 24 hours of mixed use – we’ll just have to wait and see once it’s in users’ hands.
That said, charging will be slightly faster on Xiaomi’s foldable; it supports 67W wired and 50W wireless charging, faster than the foldable iPhone’s combination of 60W and 25W respectively.
The foldable iPhone is likely more powerful
The Xiaomi 18 Fold packs Xiaomi’s custom in-house-developed silicon within the chassis – the new XRING O3, to be specific.
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Xiaomi claims that the new chipset, which only made its debut at IFA 2026, offers a massive 60% increase in CPU performance and 85% in GPU performance over its predecessor, and that’s paired with a healthy 12- or 16GB of RAM and either 256GB, 512GB or 1TB storage. While we’ve not had a chance to benchmark the chipset – it’s a China-only chipset for now – it seems like it’ll offer the kind of top-end performance expected from a premium phone.
That said, it’s likely that the Apple A20 Pro within the iPhone Duo will be more powerful – Apple itself claims a 40% increase in performance over last year’s A19 Pro.
Apple has always had a healthy lead over the competition with its in-house-developed chipsets – the same is true of last year’s iPhone 17 Pro’s A19 Pro compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 powering most top-end Android phones – and it’s likely that trend will continue with the foldable.
Early thoughts
On paper, the iPhone Duo looks like the more refined foldable in terms of design, portability and raw performance, with its thinner and lighter build likely to make it feel more manageable in everyday use.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold, however, appears to have a few key advantages of its own, particularly when it comes to camera versatility, battery capacity and charging speeds. Its China-only availability will also make it much harder to recommend for most buyers, even if the hardware looks competitive.
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Still, foldables are about much more than spec sheets. We’ll need to spend time with both devices to see how they feel in the hand, how the displays handle day-to-day use, how the cameras perform in real-world conditions and whether battery life lives up to expectations.
For now, Apple’s first foldable looks like it could be the more polished mainstream option, while Xiaomi’s alternative seems aimed at those who want more flexible hardware. We’ll reserve full judgement until we’ve gone hands-on with both.