Dual-screen phones are having a moment (hello, iPhone Duo), but if you’re not yet ready to go full foldable, Xiaomi will meet you halfway: the Xiaomi 18 Pro comes with one-and-a-bit screens, and it’s shipping “globally” next year.
The successors to last year’s China-only Xiaomi 17 Pro, the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max boast 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 the offering of last year’s Xiaomi 17 Pro devices, though with this year’s phones, Xiaomi is introducing its own — and potentially even better — take on Samsung’s popular Privacy Display technology.
Like Privacy Display on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Xiaomi’s Smart Privacy Display can restrict viewing angles to prevent people from snooping on you at angles beyond 60 degrees, and can also work its magic on notifications and widgets without affecting the rest of the display.
Notably, though, Xiaomi’s take on the technology can be applied to apps used in split-screen mode (maybe you only want to obscure one app, and not the other), as well as to specific locations and app notifications (because some pop-ups are more risqué than others).
(Image credit: Future)
Smart Privacy Display is a feature of both the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, though the latter obviously has a larger screen: it’s 6.9 inches vs. 6.4 inches on the Pro.
I got the chance to get hands-on with the smaller Pro model at Snapdragon Summit 2026 (thanks, Qualcomm, for flying me out to Hawaii), and although I wasn’t able to unlock the display unit to test Smart Privacy Display, the rear OLED display was partially functional.
I used it to snap a few selfies using 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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As for the size and weight of the device, it’s (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 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 comprising a 200MP main lens, a 200MP telephoto lens, and a 50MP ultra-wide lens.
The Pro gets a 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, while the Pro Max gets a larger 8,500mAh cell. Those capacities may be smaller outside of China, though.
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We also don’t have much clarity on what Xiaomi means by a “global” launch. As mentioned, neither the Xiaomi 17 Pro nor 17 Pro Max launched outside of China, but the Xiaomi 17 Ultra did arrive in the UK and Europe, so we’d wager 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, though.
As for price, the 18 Pro will start at ¥5,999 CNY (around $900 / £675 / AU$1,300), and the 18 Pro Max at ¥6,999 (around $1,050 / £785 / AU$1,500). If and when these phones do arrive outside of China, though, their respective prices are likely to be much higher.
You may have heard the rumors: camera-equipped earbuds are the next frontier for audio technology brands (including, we think, Apple), and Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 platform could be the catalyst that brings them to fruition.
As Qualcomm’s “first premium audio platform purpose-built for personal AI,” the Sound Elite Gen 2 aims to transform headphones and earbuds into “intelligent companions that can understand, assist, and adapt throughout the day” — and the American silicon giant considers camera-equipped earbuds to be among those “companions.”
Qualcomm flew TechRadar out to Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii to hear more (no pun intended) about its vision for the AI-assisted future of audio, and the company was bullish about the positive effect AI will have on both sound quality and virtual assistance.
“This isn’t about putting a chatbot in your ear; it’s about creating devices that understand what’s happening around you,” Sarah McMurray, Staff Manager for Product Marketing at Qualcomm, explained in a briefing attended by TechRadar, noting that the Sound Elite Gen 2 will use AI to make earbuds more responsive to environmental changes.
Qualcomm could license its Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 platform to brands such as Bose and Bowers & Wilkins (Image credit: Qualcomm)
“At the core of the platform is an advanced AI-adaptive ANC system designed for consistent, real-world performance, not just ideal conditions,” added Grace Bramwell, Qualcomm PR. “The system continuously responds to changes in fit, movement, and environmental noise, maintaining reliable noise cancellation without the need for manual adjustment.
“Powered by flexible, programmable processing and up to 2x greater AI capability than the previous generation, Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 can intelligently steer ANC filters in real time, optimizing noise reduction across different acoustic conditions and device types. This enables stronger performance in challenging scenarios, including low-frequency noise, dynamic environments, and open-ear designs, while giving OEMs greater flexibility across a wide range of form factors.”
This isn’t about putting a chatbot in your ear; it’s about creating devices that understand what’s happening around you.
Sarah McMurray, Staff Manager for Product Marketing, Qualcomm
In other words, the Sound Elite Gen 2 could make your next earbuds or headphones better at automatically switching between ANC and transparency modes, and deliver improved audio quality in both states (“stronger performance with low-frequency noise,” for instance, might mean upcoming earbuds can more effectively drown out the mechanical hum of your fridge or the drone of a passing truck).
It’s worth noting that Qualcomm itself is not a consumer product manufacturer. It licenses its audio technologies to OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) such as Bose and Bowers & Wilkins, so it will be up to those brands to take up and implement the Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 platform in a way that fulfills the potential Qualcomm is describing here.
Of course, Qualcomm’s plans for the future of audio are bigger than improved ANC. AI-powered audible assistance is the hottest topic in town right now, and apparently, consumers are as keen on the thought of AI-powered assistance as Silicon Valley investors:
“Our research tells us that up to 70% of users want advanced AI capabilities in their wearable devices,” says Ziad Asghar, Qualcomm’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of XR, Wearables, and Personal AI. “As AI becomes a core capability, users will increasingly expect more natural ways to interact with it.
“Those interactions won't always happen through a screen. They will happen through natural conversations, where users can simply speak to an AI assistant and receive help in real time. With Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2, we're heralding intelligent audio wearables that enable experiences such as real-time translation, contextual assistance, personalized hearing, and multimodal interactions that combine audio, vision, and AI."
We want to be able to give the consumer the ability to choose how much information they want to share.
Ziad Asghar, Qualcomm’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of XR, Wearables, and Personal AI
No current wearables effectively combine those three elements (except perhaps smart glasses, but have you ever tried listening to your favorite album on a pair of Meta Ray-Bans? Don’t. Ever). That’s why OEMs are developing camera-equipped earbuds — they’re truly hands-free and, crucially, more socially acceptable (visually speaking) than Austin Powers-style specs.
But if, as a society, we haven’t yet cracked the social code on smart glasses (and as our deep-dive on the so-called great privacy revolt reveals, we most definitely haven’t), are camera-equipped earbuds something we’re ready for? Qualcomm is cautiously optimistic.
“The privacy concern is not new,” Asghar explained to TechRadar in a roundtable at Snapdragon Summit. “We at Qualcomm and Snapdragon have been managing it for a long time in multiple different areas. And our concept is very clear: we want to be able to give the consumer the ability to choose how much information they want to share.
“For instance, we can obfuscate faces. We have the capability on our chipsets to detect a face very easily — not recognize a face, but detect a face. To do multi-modality, I don’t need to send a face for AI processing; I need to be able to send the context [of my environment]. For that, I can detect the face and cover it up. That technology is something we have integrated into our products and that we’re sharing with our partners.
As I've written in the past, these things aren't designed to take pictures. They are for analyzing your surroundings. https://t.co/r7IFNmsoE4 https://t.co/tjmS7w8tlJAugust 18, 2026
“Another thing we’ve been driving is on-device AI. As you do more processing on the device, you basically take away the concern of that image leaving the device [...] We are targeting this problem at every different level. Of course, we enable our customers and partners [to use these tools], and with the pressure and concern that’s coming through, we will of course work with them.
“I also want to say something,” Asghar added. “Today, you carry a device with multiple cameras on it: it’s called a phone. I was talking to a group of students in San Diego, and this [privacy] issue is not top of their mind. Different age groups are thinking about it in different ways. Younger people are so used to blogging and vlogging. I think some of the concern, in my opinion, is just because this is a new form factor. But we want to provide all the tools [to manufacturers] such that consumers feel comfortable.”
Again, it will be up to brands such as Bose and Bowers & Wilkins to implement the Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 platform in an effective and ethical way, but it's clear that Qualcomm is aware of the increasingly negative public sentiment around camera-equipped wearables.
If, however, these OEMs can convince consumers that on-device processing really is as private as Qualcomm claims, perhaps the age of Minority Report-style glasses and earbuds will arrive sooner than we thought.
It’s no secret that, in the flagship phone conversation, Motorola has lost some of its standing in the face of the best iPhones and best Samsung phones — but the Lenovo-owned company is clearly determined to return to the big leagues.
Just four months after launching the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra-rivaling Motorola Razr Fold, Motorola has now unveiled the Motorola Signature 27, supposedly “the most advanced smartphone Motorola has ever created.”
And we can believe it, because the Signature 27 is one of the first two phones (alongside the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max) to be announced with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, which Qualcomm just announced at Snapdragon Summit 2026. That’s the same chipset as we’re expecting to power the rumored Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra, which will likely be unveiled early next year.
The Signature 27 is a de facto successor to the original Motorola Signature, announced back in January, but it’s also the first Motorola flagship to adopt the company’s new numerical, year-based naming structure, reflecting Motorola’s desire to position the Signature 27 alongside the best Android phones of 2027.
The Motorola Signature 27 in Pantone Coal Smoke (Image credit: Motorola)
And that, too, makes sense. The original Signature boasts impressive specs across the board, but its chipset — the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 — is a step below the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which powers the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Oppo Find X9 Ultra, and other contemporaries.
In using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, the Signature 27 won’t be at the same power disadvantage as its predecessor. We don’t know the rest of the phone’s specs just yet, but for reference, the original Signature uses a 6.8-inch quad-curved AMOLED display, a 5,200mAh silicon-carbon battery, and three 50MP rear cameras.
A recent Signature 27 teaser did, however, reveal that the phone will come with at least a 200MP Sony sensor in a four-camera rear setup, which will inevitably see it competing with the best camera phones of next year.
We also know the Signature 27 will feature Bang & Olufsen-tuned audio, so it’ll presumably boast some impressive speaker credentials, and Motorola has confirmed the available color options, too: Pantone Capulet Olive and Pantone Coal Smoke. The latter features a woven texture, which Motorola says “reinforces strength, durability, and premium quality.”
The Motorola Signature 27 is expected to come to global markets later this year. Its price is unconfirmed, but given that the original Signature starts at £899.99 (roughly $1,210 / AU$1,800), it’s safe to expect a steeper figure for Motorola’s “most advanced smartphone ever.”
Qualcomm has announced not one, but two new flagship mobile chipsets at its annual Snapdragon Summit: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6.
Succeeding last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, both chipsets have been designed to reduce reliance on RAM (no prizes for guessing why), and each will unlock advanced gaming and agentic AI capabilities for the next generation of flagship Android phones (including, we presume, the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra). But how, and why, do they differ?
I attended the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii to speak to Qualcomm's team about the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. Here’s why the American silicon giant is launching two flagship chipsets this year — and why one of them is shipping with the ‘Extreme’ moniker.
Why are they different?
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon announcing the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series at Snapdragon Summit 2026 (Image credit: Future)
As Lekha Motiwala, Senior Director of Product Management at Qualcomm, told me: “Some OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] are trying to reach the pinnacle of technology, while others are trying to reach broader audiences. We want to give choice and flexibility to the OEMs.
“The 8 Elite Gen 6 is the next generation to the 8 Elite Gen 5. The 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is positioned above it as the top tier, to enable newer experiences like ultra[-level] gaming, professional video codec support, etc. — on the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, we are going beyond what we traditionally do [with our flagship chipsets], hence the tiering this year.”
“Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 delivers generational improvements across all key experiences, and is designed to power the core flagship tier,” added Ellie Fortin, Senior PR spokesperson at Qualcomm.
“The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 sits above Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 as our top-tier Elite platform, showcasing leadership in AI, gaming, and advanced platform technologies, and is designed to power the best, most aspirational devices. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 includes everything in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, plus additional capabilities and advanced AI features. They’re both on 2nm TSMC.”
How are they different?
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (left) and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 (right) (Image credit: Qualcomm)
As for what Qualcomm means by ‘everything’ in the above statement, let’s get technical. Both chipsets feature the newest version of the company’s Oryon CPU, comprising two prime cores up to 5GHz (that’s a world-first) and six performance cores up to 4GHz. This CPU also packs a 16MB Oryon Flex Cache, which Qualcomm says will allow mobile agents to run demanding workloads without slowing down.
Qualcomm’s re-tooled Hexagon NPU [neural processing unit] features a new Hexagon Element Accelerator that should speed up how quickly AI prompts are processed by your phone — regardless of which new chipset it’s running — while the NPU in the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 gets 50% more Large Shared Memory than the equivalent NPU in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
Still with me? As for the new Adreno graphics unit, Qualcomm says it represents the “biggest generational leap yet,” and will deliver substantial gains in graphics performance and power efficiency for phones equipped with either the 8 Elite Gen 6 or 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. But the latter pulls further away from its sibling with something called Adreno Neural Fusion — a dedicated gaming rendering technology that uses AI to deliver enhanced graphics and longer play sessions in compatible titles like Honkai: Star Rail, Diablo Immortal, and War Thunder: Mobile.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 will bring AI-enhanced gaming experiences to compatible devices (Image credit: Future)
Couple that with three AI-dedicated GPU cores, and the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 looks set to make the next best gaming phones more capable than ever: “We’re introducing Adreno Matrix cores, which are exclusive to the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6,” Motiwala explained to me. “They support the running of AI workloads within the graphics pipeline itself. Rendering becomes smarter, [you’ll get] super resolution, frame generation — many of these features can now be run within the graphics pipeline rather than moving to the NPU and other [parts of the chipset]. So now you’ll have much lower latency and much lower power consumption.”
And finally, both new chipsets feature the Qualcomm Spectra ISP for improved digital stabilization, color processing, and motion detection, but only phones equipped with the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 will support — or rather have the capability to support — Advanced Professional Video (APV) codecs and 8K 60fps video capture.
Initial impressions
The Oppo Find X9 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra use last year's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset — will users be able to make use of even more power in their respective successors? (Image credit: Prakhar Khanna)
In other words, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is likely to be the chipset of choice for Android phone manufacturers hoping to claim that their upcoming flagships offer the very best in AI features, performance efficiency, and image processing. But it remains to be seen whether the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi, and Oppo can actually make use of all this extra power.
In truth, even the current-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 provides more than enough juice for 99% of smartphone tasks, and so that’s almost certainly going to be true of the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (the clue is in the name) and indeed the lower-spec 8 Elite Gen 6, both of which are objectively more powerful than last’s year’s flagship chipset.
The key takeaway here is that Qualcomm is aware of the memory constraints affecting the technology industry, and has clearly worked hard to bring AI processing closer to the chipset with this year’s Snapdragon lineup. This should mean that, even if upcoming Android flagships arrive with lower RAM capacities than their predecessors (see the Google Pixel 11 Pro), their ability to process AI tasks won’t be negatively affected — if we take Qualcomm’s word for it, it’ll actually be improved.
Basically, it’s about doing more with less. Or maybe more with more, but not as much ‘more’ as we might’ve expected pre-RAM crisis.
Which phones will be supported?
The Motorola Signature 27 is one of the first phones to be announced with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (Image credit: Motorola)
Both the Motorola Signature 27 and Xiaomi 18 Pro Max are the first phones to be announced with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset. The Xiaomi 18 Pro, meanwhile, will use the regular Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6.
We don’t have any other official information about which phones will use either chipset just yet, but here’s a list of rumored devices whose respective predecessors use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and could therefore ship with Qualcomm’s latest slices of Snapdragon silicon:
In the midst of hype for Apple’s new A20 Pro chipset and slick foldable software, the company’s durability department is quietly having a moment.
Its Ceramic Shield 2 display glass — first introduced on the iPhone 17 line and returning this year on the iPhone 18 Pro — is earning plaudits for delivering on the promise of 3x better scratch resistance 12 months on from its release, while the iPhone Duo is set to arrive next month with a host of impressive on-paper durability credentials (including, notably, a Galaxy Z Fold 8-beating IP68 resistance rating).
But while features like ingress protection and corrosion resistance aren’t the sexiest topics of discussion at Apple Park, they are some of the most important for ensuring Apple’s products stand the test of time — and Tom Marieb, the company’s new Vice President of Hardware Engineering (a role formerly occupied by CEO John Ternus), knows that better than most.
I had the chance to quiz Marieb on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo in a group interview at Apple’s London HQ, and he lifted the lid on how Ceramic Shield 2 — which we described as “the first iPhone glass we fully trust” earlier this year — managed to deliver such a noticeable jump in quality versus the original Ceramic Shield, and why he’s “especially proud” of the iPhone Duo’s hinge durability.
Both the iPhone 18 Pro (above) and iPhone Duo feature Ceramic Shield 2 on their respective front displays (Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)
“Personally, when I see someone put a screen protector on their iPhone, it makes my skin crawl, because we work so hard to make beautiful front screens,” Marieb told me. “So we very much wanted to develop new coatings that could withstand [scratches], but also make sure that these coatings were wear-resistant as well. We worry about scratching, which is obviously very dependent on having [material that can withstand] very sharp things going into the screen. But we also worry about wear over time; as people use the screen, whether they’ll wear away that surface. And it turns out that those things are a little counterindicated in a lot of materials.
“So we had to try to optimize both of those [qualities] simultaneously [...] And I think we finally hit on a nice balance between the two [in Ceramic Shield 2]. We could have made it more scratch-resistant, but it would have been a little less wear-resistant. It’s the long life we’re looking for against both of those loads over time.”
We try to say, ‘How are customers actually using this? What exactly are they exposing it to in the real world?’ And we make tests that mimic those things.
Tom Marieb, VP of Hardware Engineering, Apple
Marieb added that, in testing Ceramic Shield 2, Apple accounted for half a decade’s worth of use in a comparatively minuscule testing period: “We very much try to meet the customer where they live, and so we don't design tests that measure old military specs or old standards; we try to say, ‘How are customers actually using this? What exactly are they exposing it to in the real world?’ And we make tests that mimic those things.
“And as you said, people waiting a year or two to actually see the benefits of [Ceramic Shield 2] means we've correctly predicted how people would use it. We accelerate time to try to compress those things into the engineering cycle, so that we can feed back as we try one thing after another, and can represent five years of life — or even more — within a couple of weeks of testing.”
It all hinges on the hinge
The iPhone Duo in ‘Seated’ mode (Image credit: Getty Images / Karl Mondon)
The display is the most important part of any iPhone, but the foldable iPhone Duo saw Apple tasked with protecting a new, equally crucial component: the hinge.
Like any foldable, the Duo can be used open or closed, and Apple has also developed dedicated ‘Seated’ or ‘Standing’ modes that will see the Duo bent at various angles for extended periods. The former displays visual content on the top half of the screen and viewing controls on the bottom (picture a Game Boy Advance), while the latter turns the Duo into a bedside clock, photo gallery, or weather screen via StandBy.
Whichever orientation you choose, the Duo remains fixed in place — but the work to make that happen wasn’t easy.
“I'm glad you hit on this, because this is something I'm especially proud of, and it took us a long time [to crack],” Marieb explained. “What we worry about with this device is that people see how thin it is and they think it's fragile. People seem to be worried about the Air, too, but it's honestly one of the most reliable phones we’ve ever made. And so we thought, ‘How do we design a hinge that feels very solid when you close it, but also really solid when you open it?’
The iPhone Duo in a half-folded orientation (Image credit: Getty Images / Benjamin Fanjoy / Stringer)
“We really worked on the torque profile very heavily, and that means changing a lot of the mechanical properties of the hinge to have it feel solid, like a high-end automobile's car door, when you shut it. That was design intent, so people would have a feeling like, ‘Oh, it's okay. This is well crafted, and it's safe for me to use and not worry about it.’
And then, as you said, we have a lot of use cases where the Duo is [in a half-folded state]. And so we also had to think, ‘Can people interact with this [device] and not have it feel floppy?’ So getting those torque profiles right at both those ends, as well as in the middle — not having it feel like you're pulling something open, and not feeling as if it's floppy — we spent a lot of time optimizing that. So thank you for noticing, because a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into that.”
The dual benefits of nano texture
The iPhone Duo features a custom nano-texture display (Image credit: Getty Images / Benjamin Fanjoy / Stringer)
On top (literally) of the iPhone Duo’s hinge, Apple has equipped its first foldable phone with a 7.6‑inch nano‑texture display. This new material isn’t a million miles away from the anti-reflective nano-texture glass that can be added to the best MacBooks, though, of course, the Duo version of said glass needs to bend in half.
Another journalist in my group interview with Marieb noted that foldable creases typically appear minimal out of the box, but become more prominent mere months after being used extensively. In response, the Apple executive was bullish on the longevity of the Duo’s hinge and explained that the nano‑texture display should help maintain its obscurity:
“Hold us accountable to that, please […] The choice of a matte finish — apart from it being beautiful — is part of that equation. When you look at glossy displays, their specularity makes it very easy to pick up topology differences. That’s part of the reason we picked the matte finish — it’s not only beautiful in terms of preventing glare, but it’s also more forgiving of [topology] changes over time.”
Apple, then, is supremely confident in the durability credentials of its first foldable phone — and we look forward to putting the iPhone Duo through its paces ahead of its official launch on October 23. For our full verdict on Apple's latest candybar handsets, check out our iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max review.
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