Android’s Ultra flagship era may be coming to an end
High RAM prices have pushed many phone makers to cut corners , and the resulting rise in component costs is also forcing brands to reconsider their lineups. The latest victims of the RAM crisis could…
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High RAM prices have pushed many phone makers to cut corners , and the resulting rise in component costs is also forcing brands to reconsider their lineups. The latest victims of the RAM crisis could be “Ultra” flagships, with leaks now suggesting that multiple Android OEMs are preparing to scrap their Ultra flagships, or at least severely scale back their global plans for them.
About a month ago, leaker Yogesh Brar mentioned on X that Xiaomi has cancelled the Xiaomi 18 Ultra. It’s not clear whether the Ultra lineup has been entirely killed off or if this is merely a decision to skip a generation in light of the RAM crisis.
In its place, Xiaomi is said to be working on a Mix series product that uses the tech from the Xiaomi 18 Ultra and runs on Xiaomi’s own Xring O3 chipset. While this part of the leak is good news for phone tech fans, the leaker notes that this Mix series product is expected to be China-exclusive for now.
Yogesh mentioned that more Ultra flagships will get cancelled. Leaker Kartikey Singh is now corroborating this leak on X , reiterating that Xiaomi has seemingly scrapped the Xiaomi 18 Ultra, while OPPO and vivo seem to have decided not to release their next-generation Ultras, the OPPO Find X10 Ultra and vivo X500 Ultra, respectively, in global markets.
Kartikey mentions that only Samsung’s Ultra flagships will be the one(s) available globally, while “all others” (referring to Android brands) will seemingly jump to “Pro Max” smartphones.
Despite the apparent step down in the naming scheme, these Pro Max flagships from Chinese brands are still said to be ahead of Samsung’s Ultra flagships, which honestly wouldn’t be surprising, given Samsung’s slow pace of innovation outside foldables.
The leaks do not mention this, but you can guess why Android brands are keen on adopting the “Pro Max” moniker. Xiaomi already uses Pro Max in its flagship lineup, but the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max sits a step below the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. With the Xiaomi 18 Ultra seemingly no longer in the picture, the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max would become the company’s top flagship until it releases its Mix flagship. Whether these Pro Max phones from Chinese brands compromise on the extreme camera hardware and kitchen-sink spec sheets that defined the Ultra era remains to be seen.
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