Xiaomi 18 Pro series transparent back teased as “one more thing” hours before launch
Xiaomi appears to have saved a more interesting design twist for the end of its Xiaomi 18 Pro series launch. Hours before the flagship phones are set to debut in China, the company posted a teaser on Weibo calling it “one more thing”, showing what appears to be a transparent back on one of the Pro models.
The phrase has long been associated with Apple, which popularised it as a cue for an unexpected final reveal at the end of its product launches. Xiaomi is seemingly borrowing that for a design making a comeback in its smartphones.
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Xiaomi 18 Pro transparent back teased
Xiaomi has experimented with transparent phones before. The Mi 8 and Mi 9 series had transparent editions, followed by the Mi 10 Ultra Transparent Edition in 2020. The company has not used the treatment on a flagship since then, making the Xiaomi 18 teaser interesting.
Transparent smartphone designs have found a second life through Nothing, whose phones have made exposed-looking internals and transparent rear panels a core part of their identity. The design has subsequently appeared on several more affordable phones, including models from CMF and other brands. In recent years, it has therefore become much easier to find a transparent-looking phone in the mid-range than at the flagship end.
Xiaomi bringing the idea back to its premium lineup could be a way to give the Xiaomi 18 Pro series a visual identity beyond the usual camera and performance upgrades. It also lets the company connect a current flagship to its own history while tapping into a design language that has become more recognisable thanks to Nothing.
It’s still unclear whether the teased model is based on the Xiaomi 18 Pro or Pro Max, or whether it will be sold alongside the regular versions or as a limited edition. For anyone considering the series primarily for its design, this is one version worth waiting for before making a decision and seeing whether it’ll be available globally.
Xiaomi 18 Pro, Pro Max specifications and features
The Xiaomi 18 Pro and Pro Max will feature a Leica-branded dual 200MP rear camera system. Both get a 200MP main camera with a 1/1.28-inch sensor and a 200MP periscope telephoto using a 1/1.56-inch sensor. Both phones will also come with Xiaomi’s Super Pixel Display 2.0, a similar hardware-based privacy display that we saw on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
The Xiaomi 18 Pro and Pro Max will pack 7,000mAh and 8,500mAh batteries, respectively, with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. They will use different versions of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, with the higher-tier version reserved for the Pro Max.
Xiaomi is launching the Xiaomi 18 Pro and Pro Max in China today and global availability, including India, remains unannounced. That makes it too early to judge the transparent version on value, especially if Xiaomi positions it as a limited premium edition. For Indian buyers, the bigger question is whether Xiaomi brings the Pro models here at all, since the Xiaomi 17 Pro and Pro Max skipped India.
