Xiaomi 18 Could Bring Back One of Xiaomi's Coolest Designs

Xiaomi may bring back one of its coolest phone designs with the Xiaomi 18 series. A new leak says the company is working on a transparent version of its next flagship. If true, this would be the first one since the Mi 10 Ultra arrived back in 2020.

And yes, I think it is about time.

The leak comes from Digital Chat Station, who says Xiaomi is working on a transparent model for the Xiaomi 18 series. We don't know which Xiaomi 18 will get the special design yet. Still, this isn't a new idea for Xiaomi.

The company gave us the Mi 8 Explorer Edition in 2018, followed by the Mi 9 Transparent Edition. Then came the Mi 10 Ultra in 2020, which was also sold with a clear glass back.

Those phones were easy to spot. You could see what looked like parts of the hardware through the rear glass, although not everything on show was part of the real layout.

Did that matter? Not really. They looked great (and I KNOW it because I owned one).

Here's the thing, though. Xiaomi already tried to bring the idea back. The company made a transparent Xiaomi 15S Pro Explorer Edition, but that phone never went on sale. Xiaomi is now said to be trying again with the Xiaomi 18 series.

To be honest, I hope it happens this time.

Most flagship phones look very similar today. You get a glass back, a large camera bump and a few new colors each year. A transparent Xiaomi 18 would at least give us something different. And I would take that over another shade of gray any day.

The same leak also gives us a few details about the Xiaomi 18 family. Xiaomi could launch the Xiaomi 18 Pro, Xiaomi 18 Pro Max and Xiaomi 18 Fold first in September. The regular Xiaomi 18 may arrive later, in early 2027.

That would be a strange move. Xiaomi normally launches its standard and Pro phones together, so I would be careful with this part of the leak for now.

The Xiaomi 18 series should also be among the first phones to use Qualcomm's next flagship chips. The Pro models are expected to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, while other models may get the standard Gen 6 chip.

Still, the transparent model is easily the part I want to see most. Faster chips and better cameras are useful, but modern phones could use a little more personality.

If Xiaomi really brings its transparent design back with the Xiaomi 18, this may be one of the few 2026 flagships that actually looks different.