After a bit of time teasing fans and mobile photography enthusiasts, Xiaomi finally took the wraps off the new Xiaomi 17 Ultra, which serves as the company’s most premium flagship smartphone. Currently exclusive for buyers in China, the 17 Ultra also uses a high-powered camera hardware setup developed in collaboration with veteran camera brand Leica. What else does it come with though? Let’s take a look!
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In terms of design, the 17 Ultra ditches the Apple-esque aesthetics of the 17 Pro. Instead, we get a look that’s very reminiscent of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which features a large display and a circular camera bump. The sides of the phone come with an aluminium frame, while the rear panel is made of a composite material, instead of glass like on Xiaomi’s other models. It’s available in Black, White, Starry Green, and Purple, and also features IP69 dust and water resistance.
Going back to the phone’s display, the 17 Ultra packs a massive 6.9-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1200×2608 pixels and your usual 120Hz refresh rate, and it even comes with 2160Hz PWM. It also gets incredibly bright at up to 3500 nits of peak brightness, which should be ideal when viewing the display under direct sunlight. The display also houses a 50MP selfie camera, which can also record 4K-resolution video.
If you’re interested in the Xiaomi 17 Ultra however, the spotlight isn’t on its design—on the back, the phone comes with a large circular camera island which houses a 50MP main camera, a high-resolution 200MP telephoto lens, and a 50MP ultra-wide camera. One interesting difference this year is that Xiaomi is also offering a model that comes with a rotating mechanical zoom ring, which adds for a bit more precision when using the camera. You’re also getting support for 8K video recording, with Leica-tuned photo settings in the mix.
Inside, the phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the go-to chipset for a lot of Android brands this year. The phone is available in a number of different RAM and storage variants, starting at 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage, and maxing out at 16GB and 1TB; for software, you’re getting HyperOS 3 in addition to Android 16, with a number of pre-installed apps and software services from Xiaomi.
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Finally, powering the phone is a large 6800mAh battery which supports 90W fast charging. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra is currently priced at CNY 6,999, or around £740 when converted.
