In October, Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi 15 and 15 Pro equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. At present, these phones haven’t launch outside of the Chinese market. While the global launch of the Xiaomi 15 series is expected in Q1 2025, the rumor mill has already started talking about the Xiaomi 16 series.
Xiaomi 16 series’ first leak
Without specifying the name of the phone, tipster Digital Chat Station revealed that the entire lineup will feature the SM8850 chip and a periscope telephoto camera. It is speculated that the tipster could be talking about the Xiaomi 16, which is expected to launch in Q4 2025.
As per reports, the SM8850 model number belongs to the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chip, which is expected to launch in the second half of 2025. A previous leak by DCS revealed that the SDE2 chip will be manufactured using TSMC’s N3P process. He revealed that the new chip will deliver significantly improved GPU performance as compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Coming back to the Xiaomi 16 series, while the Xiaomi 16 Pro is expected to feature a periscope camera like its predecessor, the Xiaomi 16 could the first non-Pro numbered flagship from the brand to feature a periscope camera. The Xiaomi 16 series will likely be the first phones to come equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chip.
DCS’ leak further suggests that the Xiaomi 16 series will enter the Product Validation Testing (PVT) phase in the second quarter of 2025. Until then, it is difficult to conclude that the Xiaomi 16 will have a periscope telephoto camera.
