Xiaomi 17 smartphones officially unveiled: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, additional screen and large batteries

The new Xiaomi 17 smartphone line was presented in China, which includes the 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max models. The company focused on device battery life, performance, and a new solution — an additional display on the rear panel in the Pro versions.

All smartphones in the line are powered by Qualcomm's new flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, which the company recently introduced. According to Qualcomm, this chip provides 20% higher performance and 35% better power efficiency compared to the previous generation.

The new products received LTPO OLED screens with a resolution of 1.5K, a refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz, and a maximum brightness of 3500 nits. For protection, the standard Xiaomi 17 uses Xiaomi Dragon Crystal Glass protective glass, and the older models use the premium Xiaomi Shield Glass 3.0. The diagonal of the screens is 6.3 inches for the Xiaomi 17 and 17 Pro, and 6.9 inches for the Pro Max.

The 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max models additionally received a second OLED screen located around the camera block. It has a diagonal of 2.7 and 2.9 inches, respectively, and also supports a frequency of 120 Hz and a brightness of 3500 nits. This display can be used as a viewfinder for selfies, a music or widget control panel, as well as for displaying notifications. In addition, the company introduced an official Game Boy-style case with physical buttons that turns the smartphone into a portable game console.

All smartphones in the series are equipped with a Leica Summilux triple camera with Hyper OIS support and 8K video recording.

The base model has a 50MP main Light Fusion 950 sensor with an aperture of f/1.67, a 50MP ultra-wide module (f/2.4) with a 102° viewing angle, and a 50MP telephoto lens (f/2.0) with 2.6x optical zoom.

The 17 Pro and Pro Max smartphones received an improved main 50 MP Light Fusion 950L sensor with an aperture of f/1.67, a similar ultra-wide module, and a 50 MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom.

The telephoto lenses in the older models differ: the Pro version has a module with an aperture of f/3.0 and macro shooting with a minimum distance of 20 cm, while the Pro Max has a module with f/2.6 and a distance of 30 cm, respectively. The front camera in all models is 50 MP (f/2.2) with support for 4K 60 fps video recording.

As for battery life, all models have fairly large batteries. The Xiaomi 17 has a battery capacity of 7,000 mAh, the 17 Pro has 6,300 mAh, and the Pro Max has 7,500 mAh. All devices support 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.

The smartphones will have from 12 to 16 GB of RAM and from 256 GB to 1 TB of main storage. Out of the box, the devices will come with the new HyperOS 3.0 system based on Android 16.

Sales in China will start on September 27. Prices start at 4,499 yuan (~$630) for the Xiaomi 17, 4,999 yuan (~$700) for the 17 Pro, and 5,999 yuan (~$840) for the 17 Pro Max. A global release is expected in spring 2026, likely during the MWC exhibition in Barcelona.