Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max go live officially

Xiaomi has today unveiled the Xiaomi 18 Pro and the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max in China. Both went on sale as soon as the event ended. The 18 Pro starts at CNY 5,999, about USD 894. The 18 Pro Max starts at CNY 6,999, about USD 1,043. Each costs CNY 1,000, or about USD 149, more than the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max did at launch a year ago.

Against what the 17 series costs today, the gap is smaller. Memory chips have been getting more expensive all year, and Xiaomi raised the prices of its current phones twice, on 2nd August and 1st September. The 17 Pro now starts at CNY 5,699, so the new Pro costs CNY 300, about USD 45, more. The 17 Pro Max now starts at CNY 6,999, the same as the 18 Pro Max.

The standard Xiaomi 18 didn’t launch. As we reported on Monday, Xiaomi has held it back, and Lu Weibing, Xiaomi’s president, says it will launch separately, just like Apple is doing with the iPhone 18 Series.

Prices

The red transparent Pro Max

Xiaomi’s transparent special edition is back for the first time since the Mi 10 Ultra in 2020. It only comes in red, and only with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Through the clear back you can see how the parts inside are laid out, behind thin layers of red film with a raised, sculpted texture. The charger, cable and box are red too. The Pro Max version costs CNY 10,999, about USD 1,639, which is CNY 1,000 more than a 16GB/1TB Pro Max in a normal colour.

Lu Weibing says the first batch sold out on launch night. He didn’t give a number.

The chips and the cameras

The 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are the first phones with Qualcomm’s two new chips, which Qualcomm announced on 22 September. The 18 Pro gets the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. The 18 Pro Max gets the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. Both are made on TSMC’s 2nm process and run at up to 5GHz.

The Extreme version sits in a different chip package that moves heat out faster. Xiaomi adds a new cooling system and says demanding games hold their full frame rate for an hour. Phone chips slow themselves down once they get hot, so if you play long sessions, the Pro Max should stay fast for longer.

The cameras are identical. Both phones have a 200MP main camera on a 1/1.28-inch sensor and a 200MP periscope telephoto on a 1/1.56-inch sensor. A periscope camera lies sideways inside the phone so its lens can be longer. This one gives 3.2x optical zoom and focuses as close as 12cm. The third camera is a 50MP ultrawide.

What else is different

• Screen: 6.4 inches and 6.9 inches, both with 4,000 nits peak brightness and 120Hz.
• Rear screen: 2.7 inches and 2.9 inches.
• Battery: 7,000mAh and 8,500mAh, both with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging.
• Speakers: two on the Pro, three on the Pro Max.
• Weight: 203g to 208g, and 235g to 240g.

The colours are black, white, pink and blue on either phone. Each has a privacy mode built into the main screen that makes it hard to read from the side, and you can switch it on for chosen apps or with one press of the AI button. The software is HyperOS 4, which can send files to an iPhone when you tap the two phones together and pairs with an Apple Watch.

Everything else Xiaomi launched

• Xiaomi Watch S5 41mm: from CNY 1,299 (USD 194), with up to 14 days of battery.
• Xiaomi Watch S5 Transparent Edition: 47mm, limited to 5,000 units, CNY 2,499 (USD 372).
• Xiaomi Smart Band 11 ceramic edition: CNY 499 (USD 74), otherwise the same as the Band 11 that launched this month.
• The Pad 9 and Pad 9 Pro tablets, which we’ve already covered spec by spec.

If you own a 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max, its rear screen gets the new AI features at the end of December.

Since the 18 Pro and Pro Max cameras are the same, the extra cash for the Pro Max buys a bigger screen, 1,500mAh more battery and a chip built to stay fast for longer.