Xiaomi's $90 Pocket Guitar snaps onto your phone — but good luck buying one
Xiaomi has launched the Pocket Guitar, a $90 magnetic accessory that clips onto the back of the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max and lets you strum along to karaoke tracks. It's a genuinely creative piece of kit — and, for anyone outside China, almost certainly out of reach for now.
The hardware
The Pocket Guitar snaps to the rear of the phone via magnets and folds open to reveal two sections: one side has chord buttons labeled I through VII, the other has a textured surface that mimics guitar strings. In Chord mode, you fret with one hand and strum with the other. In Rhythm mode, the app handles chord selection automatically — you just keep time. When folded flat, the accessory doubles as an adjustable phone stand.
On the Xiaomi 18 Pro, the rear OLED display shows chord controls while you play, keeping your hands off the main screen. A 630mAh battery powers the device, with Xiaomi claiming up to 30 days of standby per charge; it recharges via USB-C. Beyond the 18 Pro series, Xiaomi says the accessory is also compatible with other Xiaomi phones and iPhones running iOS 14 or newer.
The catch
The Pocket Guitar only works through Changba, a karaoke app dominant in China with a library of 15,000 licensed songs. Changba is not available on the Google Play Store internationally, has no English localization, and no Western tech outlet has found any indication of a planned international version, per Absolute Geeks. Without Changba, the accessory is essentially a decorative stand.
When closed, the Pocket Guitar acts as an adjustable magnetic stand for the phone.
The phone it's designed for isn't easy to get either. The Xiaomi 18 Pro's global rollout remains uncertain — Tech Advisor points to a March 2027 MWC window as the earliest realistic date for UK and US availability, with no confirmation the Pro model will be included. Xiaomi's new magnetic power bank and other ecosystem accessories face similar distribution question marks outside China.
What it tells us
The Pocket Guitar is clearly built around China's KTV karaoke culture, where singing is a mainstream social hobby rather than a niche pastime. At 599 CNY (around $90), it's priced like a fun impulse buy for 18 Pro owners in China — and on that level it looks like it delivers. As an indicator of how far Xiaomi is willing to push rear-display innovation into accessories, it's interesting. As a product you can actually buy in the US or UK right now, it isn't.
