Dual-screen phones are having a moment (hello, iPhone Duo), but if you’re not ready to go fully foldable yet, Xiaomi meets you halfway: the Xiaomi 18 Pro comes with one-in-a-bit screens, and it will be delivered “globally” next year.
The successors to last year’s China-only Xiaomi 17 Pro, the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have an extra display on their respective rear panels: a 2.66-inch OLED for the Pro and a 2.86-inch, 120Hz OLED for the Pro Max. These mini-screens can display widgets, wallpapers, and media controls, and can be used to frame selfies taken with the phones’ rear cameras.
That’s similar to what was offered with last year’s Xiaomi 17 Pro devices, but with this year’s phones, Xiaomi presents its own – and potentially even better – take on Samsung’s popular privacy display technology.
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Like Privacy Display on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Xiaomi’s Smart Privacy Display can restrict the side view to prevent people from snooping on you at an angle above 60 degrees. It can also work its magic on notifications and widgets without affecting the rest of the display.
Notably, however, Xiaomi’s technology can be applied to apps used in split-screen mode (perhaps you only want to hide one app, and not the others), as well as to specific locations and app notifications (because some pop-ups can be more risky than others).
Smart Privacy Display is a feature of both the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, although the latter obviously has a larger screen: it’s 6.9 inches vs 6.4 inches on the Pro.
I got a chance to get hands-on with the smaller Pro model at Snapdragon Summit 2026 (thanks, Qualcomm, for flying me to Hawaii), and while I couldn’t unlock the display unit to test Smart Privacy Display, the rear OLED display was partially functional.
I used it to snap some selfies with the Xiaomi 18 Pro’s 200MP main lens, which can be activated with a wave gesture or a press of the volume button.
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(Image credit: Future)
In terms of the size and weight of the device, it is (very) similar to the iPhone 18 Pro, which I suspect is a deliberate choice on Xiaomi’s part. Lest we forget that the iPhone Duo-like Xiaomi 18 Fold was launched exactly one day before the iPhone Duo last month.
Other specs include the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipsets for the Pro and Pro Max, respectively, as well as a shared triple-lens camera array with a 200MP main lens, a 200MP telephoto lens, and a 50MP ultra-wide lens.
The Pro comes equipped with a 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, while the Pro Max gets a larger 8,500mAh cell. However, these capacities may be smaller outside of China.
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(Image credit: Future)
We also don’t have much clarity on what Xiaomi means by a “global” launch. As mentioned, neither the Xiaomi 17 Pro nor the 17 Pro Max launched outside of China, but the Xiaomi 17 Ultra has arrived in the UK and Europe, so I’d bet that those regions will get at least one of the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max at some point. A US or Australia launch for either phone seems unlikely, however.
In terms of price, the 18 Pro starts at ¥5,999 CNY (about $900 / £675 / AU$1,300), and the 18 Pro Max at ¥6,999 (about $1,050 / £785 / AU$1,500). If and when these phones arrive outside of China, their respective prices are likely to be much higher.
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