A few days after showcasing its foldable device, Xiaomi 18 Fold, at IFA 2026, Xiaomi is gearing up to launch its flagship lineup, the Xiaomi 18 series. Both phones are tipped to be among the first to run Qualcomm’s next flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro. Xiaomi has just dropped a teaser video for the 18 Pro series on Weibo, giving us our first real look at the rear design.
Does the rear screen make a comeback?
Xiaomi introduced a rear screen with its last year’s flagship, the Xiaomi 17 Pro. If you were a fan of the rear display, you will be happy to know that the teaser confirms the secondary rear display is sticking around. The one real change is that the bezels framing this screen appear slightly slimmer than before.
Xiaomi also nudged the Leica branding over to the right side of the camera housing, and there’s an extra physical button on the frame. Xiaomi hasn’t confirmed what it does, but early speculation points to an “AI button,” similar in spirit to the Essential Key on Nothing’s recent phones.
Adding more weight to these details, leaker Digital Chat Station shared additional info on Weibo, describing a large horizontal camera matrix paired with the rear screen, a Leica triple camera setup, minor tweaks to the hole punch cutout, and that same extra button. According to the leak, the overall design otherwise stays close to last year’s model.
What else should we expect from the 18 Pro?
Battery life looks like the bigger upgrade here. According to Notebookcheck, reports suggest the Xiaomi 18 Pro phones could pack up to an 8,000mAh battery, a solid jump from the 7,500mAh cell inside the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. The cameras are also expected to see some improvements, though details are still scarce.
Everything else about the Xiaomi 18 Pro remains under wraps for now, but Xiaomi says more is coming soon. Given how much attention that rear screen already gets, we’re curious to see what else the company has planned before these phones go official.
