Xiaomi has unveiled its new flagship smartphones, the Xiaomi 18 Pro and Xiaomi 18 Pro Max, in China. The lineup is among the first to adopt cutting-edge 2-nanometer processors, and both models add a rear secondary display along with a hardware feature designed to stop people from peeking at the screen.

Industry First: Two 2nm Chips in One Lineup

The 18 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, while the higher-end 18 Pro Max gets the even more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. Both chips are built on TSMC's 2-nanometer process, marking what is reportedly the first time a single flagship series has shipped with two different 2-nanometer chips at once.

On the display side, the 18 Pro uses a 6.4-inch LTPO AMOLED panel and the 18 Pro Max a 6.9-inch panel, both with a variable refresh rate of 1 to 120Hz. Peak brightness reaches 4,000 nits on both models, and each supports 12-bit color along with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision.

A notable new feature is a hardware-level privacy display. The panel interleaves regular viewing-angle pixels with narrow-viewing-angle pixels, and switching on privacy mode dims the regular pixels so the screen becomes far harder to read from an angle. In split-screen mode, users can apply the privacy protection to a single app at a time, with control extending down to individual elements such as notifications and floating windows.

Both phones also add a rear secondary display, 2.7 inches on the 18 Pro and 2.9 inches on the 18 Pro Max, each running at 120Hz on AMOLED. It lets users check notifications or frame selfies without opening the main screen.

Leica-Developed Cameras and a Silicon-Carbon Battery

The camera setup is identical across both models: a 200-megapixel main sensor (f/1.7) co-developed with Leica, a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto camera offering 3.2x optical zoom (roughly a 75mm equivalent), and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera covering a 102-degree field of view. The front camera is 50 megapixels.

Battery capacity gets a boost from a silicon-carbon electrode material, with the 18 Pro packing a 7,000mAh cell and the 18 Pro Max going up to 8,500mAh, both large for flagship phones. Charging support includes 100W wired and 50W wireless fast charging, plus magnetic wireless charging and 27W reverse wireless charging that lets the phone power other devices.

On durability, both models carry IP66, IP68 and IP69 ratings, and connectivity includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0. Audio is handled with Dolby Atmos support for immersive sound.

Pricing Starts Around $845, Japan Launch Undecided

Software runs on HyperOS 4, based on Android 17, with configurations offering up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage. Alongside the standard color options, Xiaomi is also offering a special edition with a transparent red back.

In China, the 18 Pro starts at CNY 5,999 (about 142,000 yen), while the 18 Pro Max starts at CNY 6,999 (about 166,000 yen).※Exchange rate: 1 CNY = 23.65 JPY (as of September 25, 2026) Both models went on sale in China the same evening they were announced.

Xiaomi says it plans to expand the lineup globally within 2026, but has not yet specified which markets or when. A Japan launch also remains undecided at this stage.

Summary

The Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max arrive as flagship-caliber devices, pairing industry-first dual 2-nanometer chips with a privacy-focused display, a larger silicon-carbon battery, and a Leica-developed camera system. While sales have already begun in China, the details of the phones' global rollout — and whether they will reach Japan — remain to be seen.