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Xiaomi appears to be stepping away from flip phones just as the category was starting to heat up. After only two generations in the clamshell foldable market, the company has reportedly cancelled the Xiaomi MIX Flip 3, a device that had been widely expected to arrive as the next chapter in its foldable lineup.
The signal did not come from Xiaomi itself. It came from the rumor mill, and this time the message is unusually blunt. Well-known tipster Digital Chat Station claimed on Weibo that the MIX Flip series is finished. That report was later reinforced by firmware tracking shared by XimiTime, which suggests the phone had advanced deep into development before being shelved. Internally, the project was reportedly known as pixiu, and earlier leaks pointed to a next-generation Snapdragon chip under the hood.
That is what makes this twist interesting. This does not look like a concept that never got off the ground. It looks more like a product Xiaomi nearly brought to market, then chose to abandon at the last minute.
Not a retreat from foldables, but a reset
The reported cancellation of the MIX Flip 3 may sound like Xiaomi is backing out of foldables altogether, but the bigger picture suggests something more strategic. Another model, the Xiaomi MIX Fold 5, is also said to have been scrapped before launch. In its place, Xiaomi appears to be refocusing on a new large-screen foldable device, currently rumored to carry the codename lhasa.
That upcoming model could arrive in China in the second half of 2026, according to current reports. More notably, it may run on Xiaomi's own XRING O3 chip, a sign that the company wants tighter control over both hardware and silicon as it reshapes its premium smartphone roadmap. The final branding remains unclear. Depending on how Xiaomi wants to position it, the device could emerge as the MIX Fold 5, the Xiaomi 17 Fold, or even the Xiaomi 18 Fold.
So this is not simply a product cancellation story. It is also a clue about where Xiaomi thinks the foldable market is heading, and where it believes it can actually win.
The flip side of the story is sales. Xiaomi's clamshell foldables never built the kind of global momentum needed to become a major pillar of the brand. The original MIX Flip did reach international markets alongside the Xiaomi 14T series, but the newer MIX Flip 2 remained exclusive to China. Reports now suggest that the second-generation model struggled commercially, which would help explain why the company is hitting pause.
That leaves the compact foldable segment looking a little thinner. Samsung still dominates mindshare, Motorola has pushed aggressively with its latest Razr lineup, and now one of the few challengers appears to be stepping back. For consumers, that means less variety. For rivals, it means less pressure.
Xiaomi has made abrupt shifts before, especially when a category fails to scale as quickly as expected. Foldables are still exciting, but excitement alone does not guarantee volume. If the latest reports are accurate, Xiaomi has decided that the clamshell experiment is not worth extending for now.
For the moment, Xiaomi is not giving up on foldables. It is giving up on this particular shape of them.
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