If you were hoping Xiaomi would continue last year’s great success with another Ultra model, we’ve got bad news. According to a fresh leak, Xiaomi 18 Ultra is canceled and Xiaomi 18 Pro Max will stay at the top of this year’s lineup. And it’s not the only inconvenience—similar fates are said to await the competing Ultra models from vivo and Oppo, which are no longer expected to launch outside China.
Updated: Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have already been officially unveiled — you can find their final specs and prices in our article from the launch.
The information was shared by the well-known leaker Kartikey Singh on X, and GSMArena also picked it up. According to him, the Xiaomi 18 series will consist of just three phones—an entry model, the Pro version, and the Pro Max. Ultra, which was reportedly expected to arrive in December, is said to not be coming at all.
In the photo above you can see the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, i.e. the current and so far latest Ultra model — so what its successor would look like, we probably won’t find out this year. Let’s remind you that the seventeen was officially unveiled here at the end of February in Barcelona, and the global version also arrived as the Leica Leitzphone.
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Memory prices are behind the decision
The reason for the cancelation is, according to the leak, purely economic. DRAM and NAND memory prices surged sharply throughout 2026 due to massive demand tied to artificial intelligence. Ultra models, meanwhile, live and die by expensive hardware—huge sensors, more memory, larger storage—and those are the components that got hit the most.
The result is simple math: a phone that’s already one of the priciest on the market would have to get even more expensive. And for a model sold in far smaller quantities than regular flagships, it just wouldn’t be worth it. The shot again shows the camera setup of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra—the exact kind of configuration that makes Ultra models cost more.
vivo and Oppo are keeping their Ultra models at home
Even more interesting is the second part of the leak. The same source claims that vivo X500 Ultra and Oppo Find X10 Ultra will launch, but will be exclusively for the Chinese market. Both phones are expected in the first half of 2027, and unlike their predecessors, they would no longer be sold officially outside China.
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Updated 13. 10. 2026 on 16:26
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Is it your first time shopping on GShopper?See the guide!
Updated 13. 10. 2026 on 16:26
TIPWith Standard Shipping via GShopper, you pay no extra fees—everything is already included!
With the GShopper seller, we recommend choosing Standard Shipping, where you won’t pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT are handled by the seller. You can select the shipping method in the cart only, after entering your delivery address. Delivery with this option usually takes about 15 business days from dispatch from the warehouse, but it may take longer.
Is it your first time shopping on GShopper?See the guide!
Updated 13. 10. 2026 on 16:26
TIPWith Standard Shipping via GShopper, you pay no extra fees—everything is already included!
With the GShopper seller, we recommend choosing Standard Shipping, where you won’t pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT are handled by the seller. You can select the shipping method in the cart only, after entering your delivery address. Delivery with this option usually takes about 15 business days from dispatch from the warehouse, but it may take longer.
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For this product, shipping is available completely free of charge. However, this is the slowest delivery method and the item may take 20 days up to 1 months to arrive.
When ordering from the Chinese warehouse, AliExpress will add the customs duty in your cart—approximately 3,70 € per order. When you receive the package, you won’t pay anything extra.
For this product, shipping is available completely free of charge. However, this is the slowest delivery method and the item may take 20 days up to 1 months to arrive.
When ordering from the Chinese warehouse, AliExpress will add the customs duty in your cart—approximately 3,70 € per order. When you receive the package, you won’t pay anything extra.
Our extra service with VIP support — we’ll handle the order on DHgate for you and ship it straight to your address.
If you don’t have experience buying on DHgate, your payment won’t go through, or the coupon doesn’t work, we offer our readers and customers an order-handling service delivered directly to your address. You send us the money by bank transfer and we order the product straight to you. That way, you don’t have to worry about a failed payment or applying the coupon, and you can be sure the whole order goes through 100 % correctly. On top of that, you automatically get our VIP support — we handle any shipping issues for you and assist with warranty claims. The fee for this service is 15 € for the product price. You can contact us by email at info(@)xiaomiplanet.sk or on Messenger, where we’re active all the time.
If that’s true, Europe would lose all three of the strongest Chinese photo-focused phones at once within a single year. For us, that would mean a return to what we were used to a few years ago—having to hunt these devices down via Chinese e-shops and accepting that they’ll miss some European bands or Google services.
Will Ultra come back at all?
Here the sources differ. GSMArena says that the successor to the seventeen could arrive next year, while the Gizmochina portal talks about as late as the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028, and even mentions the Xiaomi 19 Ultra model. They do agree at least on this: Xiaomi Ultra didn’t put the Ultra series to bed permanently — they’re just postponing it for this year.
That said, it’s important to stress that this is information from a single leaker, which no other source—or Xiaomi itself—has confirmed so far. Based on existing leaks, the Xiaomi 18 series is expected to debut on September 24 with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, so we’ll only have to wait a few weeks for an official confirmation or denial. Until then, treat everything above as unverified speculation.
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