Xiaomi’s September Tightrope: A Foldable Counterpunch Against Apple While EV Targets Slip

Xiaomi is entering one of the most consequential weeks of its corporate calendar, juggling a carefully timed product unveiling in China with mounting questions over whether its electric vehicle division can still hit its full-year delivery target. The company’s new Xiaomi 18 Fold made its official debut on Monday, a deliberate scheduling move designed to land just three days before Apple is expected to reveal its first foldable iPhone. The choreography is unmistakable: Xiaomi wants to stake its claim in the premium large-format foldable segment before its Cupertino rival can dominate the headlines.

The device itself is a study in aggressive spec-sheet ambition. Built around a book-style form factor with softer curves than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, the 18 Fold pairs a 5.38-inch external display with a 7.58-inch inner screen at a √2:1 aspect ratio. Under the hood sits Xiaomi’s in-house Xuanjie-O3 processor, fabricated on a 3-nanometer process with ten cores, alongside LPDDR6 memory. The camera system leans on a 200-megapixel Leica main sensor complemented by a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto lens offering 3.5x optical zoom. A 6,000 mAh battery supports 67-watt wired and 50-watt wireless charging, while the device runs HyperOS 4. Xiaomi is also offering a rose-colored Ceramic Edition alongside the standard model, with pricing set at roughly 12,000 Yuan — a figure that firmly plants the device in premium territory.

A Market That Has Cooled Considerably

The timing of Xiaomi’s push is notable not just for the Apple clash, but because the foldable market itself has lost much of its earlier momentum. Between 2020 and 2022, foldable smartphone sales in China more than tripled; since then, growth has flattened dramatically, with the market expanding only about a fifth between 2023 and 2025. The first seven months of this year actually saw foldable revenues contract. Huawei remains the segment’s dominant force, controlling 71.8 percent of the market last year with its Pura-X line. Xiaomi and Apple are now effectively arriving at the same party, both seeking to carve out share in a space where the easy growth has already been captured.

The foldable launch is part of a broader strategic investment push. Xiaomi has committed roughly 24 billion euros to research and development through 2030. At IFA in Berlin, the company showcased 380 products, though the 18 Fold was initially displayed behind glass before its formal Chinese unveiling.

The EV Math Gets Complicated

While the smartphone division basks in product-launch glow, the automotive arm is wrestling with a far less forgiving numbers game. Cumulative EV deliveries through the end of August reached 246,322 vehicles — just 44.8 percent of the company’s 550,000-unit annual target. To close the gap, Xiaomi would need to deliver approximately 75,900 vehicles per month over the remaining four months of the year. July’s figure stood at a mere 31,267 deliveries, a 38 percent drop from December 2025 levels.

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The arithmetic is stark: achieving the target would require more than doubling monthly output from July’s pace. The full-year goal itself represents a 34 percent increase over 2025 — an ambitious bar given the recent downward trajectory in monthly numbers. There is at least one bright spot: cumulative deliveries of the core SU7 model surpassed 500,000 vehicles in mid-August, evidence that demand for Xiaomi’s EVs remains genuine at the product level.

A Battery Promise and a New Model

Xiaomi is attempting to sustain momentum with fresh product news. On September 7, the company will unveil the Skynomad, an electric SUV featuring range-extender (EREV) technology and a 76-kWh battery that the manufacturer says delivers roughly 500 kilometers of range. The battery, dubbed “Longjia,” was developed with partners CALB and Sunwoda, and comes with an unusual guarantee: if a battery defect or accident-related damage causes the vehicle to catch fire, Xiaomi will replace the entire car for first-time owners. A cloud-based battery management system is designed to continuously monitor the cells to mitigate such risks.

The same day marks the Chinese debut of the 18 Fold — described in some coverage as featuring the XRING-O3 processor — with additional black and white color options confirmed shortly before launch alongside the original dark red. A leaker has suggested an entry price starting at 10,000 Yuan for the Chinese market, with no German launch currently planned. Xiaomi is also rolling out the Smart Band 11, unveiled in China on September 3, featuring an AMOLED display with 2,000 nits of peak brightness, 21 days of battery life, and entry pricing around 37 euros. European availability remains unconfirmed.

What Investors Are Left With

The stock closed Friday at 3.11 euros, up 2.4 percent on the day — a modestly positive reaction that does little to mask the broader picture. The shares remain roughly half below their 52-week high of 6.54 euros from last September, though they sit about a third above the June low. Recent enthusiasm has centered on Xiaomi’s international expansion in autos and smart-home products, but the second quarter delivered a sobering reminder of operational fragility: a memory chip shortage constrained smartphone demand and pushed net profit down 21 percent to 9.46 billion yuan.

Whether the 18 Fold can meaningfully lift the premium business and whether the EV division can somehow close its delivery gap will likely be answered only in the coming quarters. For now, Xiaomi finds itself in the unusual position of launching its most polished smartphone yet while its most ambitious growth story — the car — is quietly losing its footing.