---
title: "Xiaomi's 80,000-unit foldable sidesteps the memory squeeze"
description: "The 18 Fold pairs Xiaomi's own XRing O3 with CXMT's first mass-produced LPDDR6, and sold 80,000 units in its first week. Samsung, SK hynix and Micron are betting the memory shortage runs to 2030; the first retail counterexample just left the store."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Applications"
published: 2026-09-24T01:42:02.907Z
modified: 2026-09-24T01:42:02.907Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/xiaomi-s-80-000-unit-foldable-sidesteps-the-memory-squeeze
language: en
keywords: "Xiaomi, CXMT, Memory, Semiconductors, Smartphones, China"
---

# Xiaomi's 80,000-unit foldable sidesteps the memory squeeze

> The 18 Fold pairs Xiaomi's own XRing O3 with CXMT's first mass-produced LPDDR6, and sold 80,000 units in its first week. Samsung, SK hynix and Micron are betting the memory shortage runs to 2030; the first retail counterexample just left the store.

## A sellout week, on Chinese silicon

Open sales of the [Xiaomi](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/xiaomi) 18 Fold began on 10 September, and 36,000 units left shelves the first day. [By day seven the count stood at 80,000, a company record for a foldable](https://zamin.uz/en/technology/221911-xiaomi-18-fold-becomes-the-best-selling-foldable-phone.html), and Xiaomi said stock had run out [2]. The detail that matters to the memory market sits next to the processor: 16GB of LPDDR6, [the first mass-produced generation from ChangXin Memory Technologies](https://theinference.org/article/cxmt-starts-mass-producing-cheaper-dram-as-rivals-bet-the-shortage-lasts-to-2030), paired with Xiaomi's in-house XRing O3 chip [1][3].

## The squeeze everyone else is paying

Samsung, [SK hynix](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/sk-hynix) and [Micron](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/micron) control more than 90% of global DRAM [4], and SK hynix chief executive Kwak Noh-Jung [says the shortage will persist through 2030](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/sk-hynix-ceo-warns-memory-013049149.html) [5]. [LPDDR5X contract prices jumped 78–83% in the second quarter alone](https://thenextweb.com/news/cxmt-lpddr6-memory-smartphone-production-near) [4]. A California class action alleges the three drove conventional DRAM up about 700% since 2022; Micron denies it [6]. At the launch, [Lei Jun](https://theinference.org/markets/people/lei-jun) conceded that memory is currently expensive [3].

*Chart: **LPDDR5X contracts jumped up to 83% in one quarter, and some shelf prices have already moved** Bar chart of reported price increases: LPDDR5X contract prices up 78 to 83 percent in Q2 2026, Roku streaming devices up to 60 percent, PC prices forecast up 5 to 20 percent in Q4 2026, AMD Radeon GPUs up at least 10 percent.*

*Percent price increases as reported: LPDDR5X is the Q2 2026 contract move per TrendForce; Roku (an up-to figure) and AMD (an at-least figure) are announced increases; the PC range is Acer chief executive Jason Chen's Q4 forecast, not yet realized. Sources: The Next Web, 3 August and 22 September 2026. [4][10]*

## One flagship outside the queue

Two of the phone's most strategic parts, its processor and its memory, come from Chinese vendors rather than the usual [Qualcomm](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/qualcomm)-plus-Samsung pairing [1][3]. Owning the SoC hands Xiaomi the memory controller, the frequency profile and the power tuning, where a buyer of merchant silicon gets a datasheet [3].

[Apple](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/apple) already designs its own silicon, so its squeeze is memory-side only. It raised Mac and iPad prices in June over component costs [6], and reports point to a $100–200 bump for the iPhone 18 [7]. Its one visible exit, testing CXMT chips for devices sold in China, draws pushback in Washington [4].

## Fast challenger, small print

CXMT went from mass-producing LPDDR5X in October 2025 to shipping LPDDR6 in under a year: a package rated at 12,800Mbps that runs at 10,667Mbps beside the O3 [1][3]. [First-half revenue hit 150.3 billion yuan, up 874%, with 77.6 billion yuan of net profit](https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10857565) [1][8].

The caveats are just as concrete. Reuters, as reported by [The Korea Herald](https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10857565), puts Xiaomi's shipment target for the whole run at about 200,000 to 300,000 units, and Xiaomi has never said CXMT is the sole supplier [8]. SK hynix finished its own 16-gigabit LPDDR6 in March, with Xiaomi reportedly among its first customers [8].

## Volume, not another first

CXMT's newer claims, [a fifth-generation platform with at least 50% more dies per wafer](https://www.trendforce.com/news/2026/09/21/news-cxmt-g5-dram-enters-mass-production-with-50-higher-dies-per-wafer-saqp-enables-11-95nm-half-pitch/) and parity with the industry's best nodes, are company-claimed, and yields are unpublished [9][10]. Nobody outside the company has measured the parts against Samsung, SK hynix or Micron [10].

The tell is volume. The watch item is whether LPDDR6 spreads from one showcase foldable into the PCs, vehicles and edge servers on CXMT's roadmap, and whether Lei Jun gets the wider Chinese component pairing he predicts [3][11].

Acer chief executive Jason Chen [takes the other side of the 2030 bet](https://theinference.org/article/burry-adds-to-micron-and-nebius-shorts-backing-acer-s-ceo-against-the-memory-kings): "It is impossible for the shortage to last until 2030" [10]. The oligopoly priced memory like nobody could leave the table; the 18 Fold just walked partway out, on memory, with 80,000 buyers behind it.

## Takeaway

Eighty thousand units in a week makes the 18 Fold the first volume proof that a flagship can ship on Chinese memory outside the Samsung, SK hynix and Micron queue. But CXMT's yields are unmeasured, Xiaomi never named a sole supplier, and the whole run is 200,000 to 300,000 units: a wedge, not a reversal.

## Sources

1. [Reuters (via MSN), China's CXMT to supply memory chip for Xiaomi's upcoming folding phone, 29 August 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/chinas-cxmt-to-supply-memory-chip-for-xiaomis-upcoming-folding-phone/ar-AA2b9m4U)
2. [Zamin.uz, Xiaomi 18 Fold becomes the best-selling foldable phone, 20 September 2026](https://zamin.uz/en/technology/221911-xiaomi-18-fold-becomes-the-best-selling-foldable-phone.html)
3. [Runtime Chronicle, The most interesting part of Xiaomi's 18 Fold may be the connection between its processor and its memory, 23 September 2026](https://runtimechronicle.com/en/news/le-xiaomi-18-fold-est-surtout-interessant-pour-ce-qu-il-y-a-entre-son-processeur-et-sa-memoire/)
4. [The Next Web, CXMT is nearing LPDDR6 production, 3 August 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/cxmt-lpddr6-memory-smartphone-production-near)
5. [Yahoo Finance/Benzinga, SK Hynix CEO Warns Memory Shortage Will Persist Through 2030, 29 August 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/sk-hynix-ceo-warns-memory-013049149.html)
6. [Moneywise (via MSN), 'RAMpocalypse': Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix accused of spiking memory prices 700%, 9 September 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/rampocalypse-samsung-micron-and-sk-hynix-accused-of-spiking-memory-prices-700-and-it-could-hit-your-wallet-hard/ar-AA2bSE13)
7. [Mint (via MSN), AI delays, memory crunch, new Huawei and Xiaomi foldables: Headaches hanging over John Ternus' first Apple event, 7 September 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/ai-delays-memory-crunch-new-huawei-and-xiaomi-foldables-headaches-hanging-over-john-ternus-first-apple-event-on-sept-9/ar-AA2bKHD8)
8. [The Korea Herald, CXMT announces LPDDR6 mass production ahead of Samsung, SK hynix, 31 August 2026](https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10857565)
9. [TrendForce News, CXMT G5 DRAM Enters Mass Production with 50%+ Higher Dies Per Wafer, 21 September 2026](https://www.trendforce.com/news/2026/09/21/news-cxmt-g5-dram-enters-mass-production-with-50-higher-dies-per-wafer-saqp-enables-11-95nm-half-pitch/)
10. [The Next Web, China's biggest memory maker says it has caught up with Samsung and Micron, 22 September 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/cxmt-dram-fifth-generation-mass-production-memory-shortage)
11. [Gizmochina, Xiaomi 18 Fold confirmed to debut with CXMT's LPDDR6 memory, 29 August 2026](https://www.gizmochina.com/2026/08/29/xiaomi-18-fold-confirmed-to-debut-with-cxmts-lpddr6-memory/)


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Xiaomi's 80,000-unit foldable sidesteps the memory squeeze — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/xiaomi-s-80-000-unit-foldable-sidesteps-the-memory-squeeze