Xiaomi 17 series phones: The ultimate guide

Following a fairly lengthy delay after the phones were announced in China, the West is finally able to get its hands on the new Xiaomi 17 range. Skipping over 16 entirely, the Xiaomi 17 phones are expected to be some of the biggest sellers of 2026 given just how much of a splash the previous-gen Xiaomi 15 phones made last year.

If you’ve been paying attention to our Xiaomi 17 coverage, then you’ll already know that what we’ve got in the West is quite a bit different to the experience currently being enjoyed by the Chinese market. In their shift to a global release, only the Xiaomi 17, Xiaomi 17 Ultra and the Leica Leitzphone powered by Xiaomi have made it overseas whilst the Xiaomi 17 Pro and the Pro Max have become Chinese exclusives.

In spite of this, we’ve made sure to include details about the 17 Pro and the Pro Max in this ultimate guide to the Xiaomi 17 range as it’s still important to see where Xiaomi has invested its time and money. Plus, there’s always a chance that features from these two phones could make their way into future Xiaomi handsets that do see a Western release.

With all that in mind, if you’re curious to know about how the Xiaomi 17 differs from its flagship Ultra sibling then this is the place to be as we break down all of the key features you need to know, as well as how much it all costs. Plus, you can now read our full Xiaomi 17 review.

Xiaomi 17: What’s new?

The Xiaomi 17 series represents one of the biggest generational upgrades we’ve seen on flagship phones in a long time. Here are the main upgrades you can look forward to on the Chinese models, though it’s unclear if these will all make their way to the global versions.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 launched just hours before the Xiaomi 17 series, making them the first phones to adopt Qualcomm’s new flagship chipset.

Despite the name, this is a successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite, boasting significant improvements in performance, power efficiency and AI capabilities.

All four phones in the Xiaomi 17 range are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Alongside options for 12- or 16GB of RAM, you can expect class-leading performance.

Although the Xiaomi 17 handsets were the first of their kind to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset in China, they were leapfrogged by the OnePlus 15 and the Honor Magic 8 Pro in the West.

Secondary displays (Pro models only)

Undoubtedly, the most interesting change on the Xiaomi 17 series is the new displays on the back. These only apply to Pro models, though, meaning that the regular Xiaomi 17 and the premium 17 Ultra miss out.

On the 17 Pro, it’s a 2.7-inch, 904 x 572 screen, while the 17 Pro Max bumps it up to a 2.9-inch, 596 x 976 panel. Both are AMOLED touchscreens with 120Hz refresh rates.

The most obvious use case is for selfies, but Xiaomi also says they can be used to control music, set timers, see incoming calls and notifications and more. It supports custom wallpapers, and can even be combined with a case to create a handheld console-like experience.

Big batteries

The Xiaomi 17 series phones have some of the biggest batteries on the market.

While the 17 Pro is the smallest of the trio, its 6300mAh cell is still well above average. Meanwhile, the regular 17 and 17 Pro Max boast 7000mAh and 7500mAh batteries, respectively, which are huge. The second screen on the Pro Max could counteract any battery life gains, but we’d still expect to see top-tier stamina.

Although the Xiaomi 17 range enjoys much larger battery capacity in its Chinese counterparts, the cells in the Western releases still represent quite a substantial upgrade on what we had with the previous generation of Xiaomi phones.

On the Xiaomi 17 you’re looking at a sizeable 6,330mAh battery which is a significant leap on the 5,240mAh cell of the Xiaomi 15. While not quite as big a leap, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra’s 6,000mAh battery is still an improvement on the 5,410mAh capacity of its predecessor. The Leica Leitzphone also carries a 6,000mAh cell.

New displays

The Xiaomi 17’s display is largely unchanged compared to the 15, with a slightly smaller 6.3-inch, 120Hz AMOLED panel with FHD+ resolution.

However, there are bigger differences elsewhere in the lineup. The 17 Pro is much more compact than the 15 Pro, opting for a 6.3-inch panel rather than a 6.83-inch one and reducing the refresh rate from 144Hz to 120Hz.

It’s the 17 Pro Max and the 17 Ultra which expand things even further to a gigantic 6.9-inch display which rivals that of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and will no doubt be ideal to those who prefer having a big screen experience on the go.

Upgraded cameras

Despite big changes elsewhere, the Xiaomi 17 series cameras represent more of an iterative update.

The regular model’s rear lenses are almost identical to its predecessor, with a very slightly smaller f/1.7 aperture on its 50Mp main camera and a narrower 102-degree field of view on the 50Mp ultrawide, but the exact same 50Mp telephoto with 2.6x optical zoom. The selfie camera gets a nice boost from 32Mp to 50Mp, though.

On the Xiaomi 17 Pro, the 50Mp main lens has a slightly smaller aperture, but it and the 50Mp 5x telephoto are almost identical to its predecessor. However, the 12Mp, 120-degree ultrawide has been replaced with a 50Mp, 102-degree one, while the selfie lens has also been upgraded from 32Mp to 50Mp.

While the 50Mp main and 50Mp ultrawide are largely the same on the 17 Pro Max (aside from a reduced 102-degree field of view on the ultrawide once again), there are significant changes to the telephoto setup.

The main lens remains at 50Mp, but gets a smaller f/2.4 aperture and boosts optical zoom from 3x to 5x. Meanwhile, it’s now supported by a brand-new 200Mp periscope telephoto and 3D Time of flight (ToF) depth sensor.

For the 17 Ultra and the Leica Leitzphone, both handsets feature a main 1-inch sensor which sits alongside a 200Mp telephoto lens and a 14mm ultra-wide camera which, when all put together, should provide the most comprehensive camera experience of any phone in the Xiaomi 17 range, although we won’t know for sure until we get a unit in for testing.

New software

The Xiaomi 17 phones ship running the company’s HyperOS 3 software out of the box. It’s based on Android 16, but has a very different look and feel to Pixel phones, as you’ll be aware if you’ve used any Xiaomi phones recently.

As Xiaomi itself has documented, the software includes a redesigned home screen, new cinematic lock screens and an upgrade search tool.

When was the Xiaomi 17 release date?

After getting an official global unveiling on 28 February at MWC 2026, the Xiaomi 17 range has been available in the UK and most Western territories since then.

The February release date marked a fairly lengthy wait given that most of the Xiaomi 17 phones were announced in China, 25 September last year (the Xiaomi 17 Ultra didn’t make an appearance until 27 December).

How much does the Xiaomi 17 series cost?

It’s no secret that prices in the tech world have been a contentious issue as of late. With the increasing costs of storage and RAM, we’ve already seen a handful of companies raise prices on their latest devices, with the Samsung Galaxy S26 range being just one example, and there was a concern that the Xiaomi 17 phones might be met with the same fate. Thankfully, this isn’t the case.

It seems as though Xiaomi has made the decision to absorb any additional costs in manufacturing this time around as the Xiaomi 17 and the Xiaomi 17 Ultra have the same price points as their predecessors, starting at £899 and £1,299, respectively.

Check out these Xiaomi 17 deals.

The photography-focused Leica Leitzphone costs quite a bit more with just a single version at £1,699, but it’s designed to compete directly with dedicated cameras which changes its value proposition. Given that some cameras can cost close to £2,000 and above, having a more compact alternative, while still expensive, might be preferable to some.

Here are the prices of those three phones in full:

Xiaomi 17 prices

• 256GB – £899/€999
• 512GB – £999/€1,099

Xiaomi 17 Ultra prices

• 512GB – £1,299/€1,499
• 1TB – £1,499/€1,699

Leica Leitzphone by Xiaomi prices

• 1TB – £1,699/€1,999

For context, here are the global launch prices of previous generations:

• Xiaomi 15: £899
• Xiaomi 15 Ultra: £1,299
• Xiaomi 14: £849/€999
• Xiaomi 14 Ultra: £1,299/€1,499
• Xiaomi 13 Lite: £449/€499
• Xiaomi 13: £849/€999
• Xiaomi 13 Pro: £1,099/€1,299
• Xiaomi 13 Ultra: €1,499
• Xiaomi 12 Lite: £419/€395
• Xiaomi 12: £749/€849
• Xiaomi 12 Pro: £1,049/€1,049