Xiaomi 16 With Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 SoC Tipped to Launch in September

Xiaomi 16 is expected to be unveiled in China later this year. The handset will likely come with some upgrades over the current Xiaomi 15, which was introduced in China alongside a Pro variant in October 2024. A tipster has shared the probable launch timeline of the purported handset and suggested some of its key specifications. It is expected to maintain the compact size of the preceding model. Notably, the company launched the base Xiaomi 15 and the Xiaomi 15 Ultra variant in India in March.

Xiaomi 16 Launch: All We Know

The Xiaomi 16 is expected to launch in China in September, according to a Weibo post by tipster Smart Pikachu. The purported handset is tipped to feature a small screen. An older leak claimed that the phone will sport a 6.32-inch display, slightly smaller than the Xiaomi 15, which carries a 6.36-inch 1.5K 8T LTPO screen.

The tipster added that the Xiaomi 16 will likely be the first handset to launch with a Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 SoC. Qualcomm has not yet announced this chipset, although it is rumoured to offer 30 percent GPU and 25 percent CPU improvements over the existing Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. The anticipated chip is said to come with increased 16MB GPU cache as well as LPDDR6 or LPDDR5X RAM.

An earlier leak suggested that the Xiaomi 16 is expected to pack a bigger battery than the Xiaomi 15, which has a 5,400mAh battery in China with 90W wired and 50W wireless charging support. The new leak claims that the rumoured handset may be backed by a larger 6,800mAh cell with 100W wired fast charging support.

The Xiaomi 16 is said to come with a thin and light build. For optics, it may get a Leica-backed 50-megapixel triple rear camera setup, including a telephoto camera, similar to the current Xiaomi 15 handset. The anticipated smartphone could run on HyperOS 3 out-of-the-box, which will likely be based on Android 16.