The numbers war becomes surreal: Will Xiaomi 26 be the future of the series?

In the future of Xiaomi, a historic change is on the horizon, at least for the main series of the Chinese company. Based on what emerged in the last hours, there is talk of a change of numbering: in reality the step has already been taken with the current generation but for the next series there are rumors of an epoch-making jump, with the Xiaomi 26 family.

Historic turning point for the flagship series: Xiaomi 18 might not arrive, giving way to the Xiaomi 26 series

The rumor comes from the insider Digital Chat Station and for now we are dealing with a mere rumor. However, as absurd as it may seem from various points of view, it would be a strategy not entirely alien to Lei Jun’s company. With the current series the brand has made a generational leap from the Xiaomi 15 family to 17, completely erasing the number 16.

The unofficial reason can be imagined in full: it seems the aim was to align numerically with Apple, so as not to seem “old” in comparison with the iPhone 17 series. So, technically, Xiaomi has already changed the numbering – albeit with a leap.

For the future (not too far away) there is expected a real change of direction, with a new annual numbering. Therefore the next flagship models would not be part of the Xiaomi 18 series but they would belong to the Xiaomi 26 family.

Consequently the brand’s proprietary interface could also change, moving to HyperOS 26. To summarize, in a humorous way: what Apple does, we do it in an even more extreme way.

Nevertheless, such a change could lead to a mistaken international perception: the launch of Xiaomi flagship is expected for September in China but for the Global version it would be discussed directly at MWC 2027, as tradition (at least so far). So there is the risk of launching a Xiaomi 26 around March 2027, an approach that could be confusing – at least from the writer’s point of view.

A clarification before we leave you: the current jump from 15 to 17 shouldn’t be an isolated case, at least according to previous rumors. In recent months the possibility emerged of a leap from Xiaomi 18 to Xiaomi 20 due to the rumors about the release of the iPhone 20 in 2027, for the twentieth anniversary of the original iPhone.