Xiaomi 18 or Xiaomi 18 Pro?
The fact that global Xiaomi 18 variants are being developed alongside the China model points to a change in launch strategy compared to recent years, something we already reported a few weeks ago. This could finally mean there will no longer be an almost six-month wait between the launch in China and the global release. A global Xiaomi 18 Pro would also be conceivable, though neither has been proven at this point.
According to earlier indications, the Xiaomi 18 is being developed under the codename “madrid”, and in combination with a HyperOS code analysis by Ximitime, that now raises some questions. In theory, “madrid” should be assigned the abbreviation Q3, analogous to P3 for the Xiaomi 17. Instead, however, the code snippet below shows Q2, which according to the previous logic would actually point to the Xiaomi 18 Pro. Given the paused and potentially discontinued development of the Xiaomi 18 Ultra, it is conceivable that Xiaomi’s model number logic has changed, according to Ximitime. It should be noted that model number analysis always carries some risk, since the manufacturer often follows a certain structure but can also change it at any time.