New Delhi: Xiaomi has recently introduced a Transparent Special Edition for its Xiaomi 18 Pro and Xiaomi 18 Pro Max, and it’s red. Xiaomi 18 Pro goes for 9,999 yuan (about $1,492). The Pro Max is 10,999 yuan, or roughly $1,642. It’s a lot of cash for a mere paint job.
There is no choice for all models of the phones, just 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. No cheaper tiers.
The back panel is the most important one. According to Xiaomi, they have obtained a textured and embossed appearance in red using a micron scale film process. The company also installed custom wallpapers on the main screen and small secondary display on the back. They have a digital version of the phone’s innards, which is appropriate for the see-through theme. The box is more than that. Charger and the cable are transparent red in color to match.
The relevant part when considering the cost. Look is all, with nothing else being different. Inside they’re all the regular 18 Pro and Pro Max.
So, you’ll still be getting an OLED display from 1Hz to 120Hz and hardware-level privacy protection, along with the rear screen. The three-camera setup is from Leica, featuring a 200-megapixel main camera, a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto that zooms optically 3.2x, and a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera.
All the action is on Qualcomm’s 2nm silicon. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 is used in the 18 Pro while the 18 Pro Max takes up the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. It comes with LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.1 storage, while a circular cold-pump system cools it.
The two sizes differ at the batteries. The Pro’s silicon-carbon cell holds 7,000mAh, whilst the Pro Max benefits from an 8,500mAh silicon-carbon cell. 100W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and 27W reverse charging. The software is HyperOS 4 along with Super XiaoAI 2.0, while the standard features are included: UWB, NFC, IP water resistance rating, Dolby Atmos and more.
Nothing particularly significant to note, except for one thing. The words mentioned in the summary of the listing: “up to 6GB RAM” are not aligned with the words in the article body: 16GB. 16 is almost certainly correct for phones in this price range, but is a reminder to read the spec sheet before ordering.
It’s a personal decision whether or not a red shell and a matching charger are worth the extra cost. Cyclists will most likely agree. All the others can simply purchase the standard model.
