Twelve new Xiaomi phones could be coming soon

Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite review
A Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite (Image credit: Aakash Jhaveri)

Xiaomi tends to release a lot of handsets, and this year looks set to be no exception, as a leaker has found evidence of no fewer than twelve possibly on the way.

Digital Chat Station (a leaker with a solid track record) has found reference to twelve upcoming handsets in Xiaomi code. All of these phones are referred to by codenames, but between what Digital Chat Station says and previous leaks, we have a good idea of what they are.

Going by a machine-translated version of the post, the codenames ‘munch’, ‘rubens’, ‘matisse’, and ‘fog’ likely refer to the Redmi K50 range, including the K50, K50 Pro, K50 Pro Plus, and K50 Gaming Edition.

These phones will reportedly land in mid-to-late February, and will use some combination of the Snapdragon 870, Dimensity 8000, and Dimensity 9000 chipsets, all of which are reasonably high-end.

A leaked list of codenames for upcoming Xiaomi phones

(Image credit: Digital Chat Station / Weibo)

Next up, the phones codenamed ‘thor’ and ‘loki’ are said to be camera-focused flagships equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 – which is currently the top Snapdragon chipset. These aren’t named but could perhaps be members of the Xiaomi 12 range. We are still waiting for the Xiaomi 12 Ultra, which leaks suggest will have an enormous camera bump.

Then there’s ‘light’ and ‘thunder’, which are thought to be foldable phones, presumably the Xiaomi Mi Mix Flip and the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2.

Last but not least there’s ‘zizhan’, ‘zijin’, ‘taoyao’ and ‘opal’, which will apparently use Snapdragon 7 series chipsets. That lines up with the Xiaomi 12 Lite, and indeed some of these codenames have previously been linked with that phone.

But it’s also possible that one or more of them belong to the Redmi Note 12 series, as that’s also rumored to use Snapdragon 7 series chipsets.


Xiaomi 12

We're still waiting for the Xiaomi 12 outside China (Image credit: Xiaomi)

Analysis: lots of phones, lots of time

While some of these handsets could land as soon as February, Digital Chat Station doesn’t provide release estimates for most of them, and indeed we could be waiting a while for some.

The Xiaomi 12 Lite and Xiaomi 12 Ultra will probably launch fairly soon – assuming they’re really coming at all – but some other phones on this list, such as the foldables, might be further out.

Then there’s the fact that even when they’re unveiled in China, some of these handsets might not get a global launch until later, if at all. The Xiaomi 12 for example is already available in China, but not yet anywhere else.

So, while there’s a good chance this list and the source’s interpretation of it are accurate, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to buy all of these phones in the near future.

Via Phone Arena

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.