Foldables have been steadily rising in popularity for the past two years. We're past the first generation of foldables, with major OEMs like Samsung having released and learned from their first set of devices. The second generation of foldables, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, are even better. With 2021 fast approaching, we're likely to see many more foldables take form, and it seems like Xiaomi is also preparing a foldable smartphone of its own.

Evidence within MIUI 12 code, spotted by our trusted XDA Senior Member kacskrz, indicates that Xiaomi is working on a new foldable device. This device is codenamed "cetus". We've examined code within MIUI 12's latest China Closed Beta for the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro, and found some more clues for the device and some of its specifications. Cetus is clearly a foldable, as the device returns a true value for the method called isFlodAbleDevice (likely a typographical error, intending to mean isFoldAbleDevice). There is a bunch of other code, related to monitoring the display fold and identifying changes to the folding state, which gives us confidence towards the claim.

For other specifications, Cetus is very likely running MIUI on Android 11. Further, it will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and will also have a 108MP primary camera.

We do not have further information about the device, including the kind of foldable display technology it has, or the folding mechanism, or the exact processor used. If we are allowed to take a guess, there is a very good chance that the SoC used is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8xx series flagship SoC, as one can presume that the foldable will have other high-end specifications to better justify a presumably premium price tag.

Cetus is also not the first foldable from Xiaomi. The company has teased its foldable concept smartphone a few times, but the product never made it to the hands of consumers. There's no evidence that suggests that cetus will reach customers, either. But considering how Samsung will be on the third iteration of its foldable premium smartphone, Xiaomi is bound to join the race sooner rather than later.

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.