The new flagship from Xiaomi is a top-class smartphone in every respect. In addition to super-thin display bezels, strong performance and a bright OLED display, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra also delivers one of the best speaker systems.

The Leica cameras are also among the best in a smartphone, even if we see a Vivo X300 Pro slightly ahead here. However, the new 1-inch sensor with its outstanding dynamic range is a demonstration of power with regard to the photo quality of a Galaxy S25 Ultra or iPhone 17 Pro.

We cannot attest to any notable weaknesses in the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. However, we still see potential for improvement in the camera software – for example, in the color reproduction. We would also like to see an automated evaluation of image information, as Oppo has introduced in its X9 Pro with LUMO image processing, in the future.

Like almost all current smartphones with a high-end chip, we can also provoke pronounced SoC throttling for the Xiaomi phone. However, the throttling of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is kept within limits and is comparatively moderate.

We have slight criticism for the charging speed. On paper, 90 watts looks very good, but other flagship phones charge much faster in everyday use.

The successor to the Xiaomi 15 Ultra makes the hearts of camera fans beat faster again. Thanks to a new optical zoom, the flagship smartphone can now be used between a focal length of 75 mm and 100 mm without any loss of quality. This year, the optics on the back are even Leica APO-certified. Together with the 1-inch sensor and LOFIC technology of the main camera, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra will be an exciting competitor for our best camera flagship of the year.

One small fly in the ointment is that the global version will probably be at a disadvantage compared to the China model in terms of battery capacity. Similar to the Xiaomi 17 the manufacturer will also reduce the battery capacity of the Ultra model in Europe from 6,800 mAh to 6,000 mAh.

Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

      Xiaomi 17 Ultra       Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra       Xiaomi 17 Pro Max       Xiaomi 15 Ultra       Oppo Find X9 Pro       DIN A6 162.9 mm / 6.41 in 77.6 mm / 3.06 in 8.3 mm / 0.3268 in 224 g0.4938 lbs162.8 mm / 6.41 in 77.6 mm / 3.06 in 8.2 mm / 0.3228 in 218 g0.4806 lbs162.9 mm / 6.41 in 77.6 mm / 3.06 in 8 mm / 0.315 in 219 g0.4828 lbs161.3 mm / 6.35 in 75.3 mm / 2.96 in 9.35 mm / 0.3681 in 229 g0.505 lbs161.3 mm / 6.35 in 76.5 mm / 3.01 in 8.3 mm / 0.3268 in 224 g0.4938 lbs148 mm / 5.83 in 105 mm / 4.13 in 1 mm / 0.03937 in 1.5 g0.00331 lbs

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra comes pre-installed with version 3 of the company’s own HyperOS user interface. HyperOS Interconnectivity is supported, which allows Xiaomi devices to be networked with each other, as well as data transfer with Apple devices such as the iPad, is possible.

In contrast to an Oppo Find X9 Pro, when importing HyperOS smartphones, the Chinese version only has English as the only European language and the Google Store must be retrofitted via Xiaomi’s App Store. However, the Google frameworks are already on board. In addition, the bootloader can no longer be opened outside mainland China.

Xiaomi will only announce the exact update period for the global version. According to the software promise, the predecessor will receive four years Android- as well as six years of security updates.

The packaging of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is plastic-free, but is shrink-wrapped for sale.

Xiaomi has not yet provided any specific information on the proportion of recycled materials in its flagship smartphone. It is also not possible to estimate the ecological footprint at present. Those who attach great importance to sustainability should probably look at Samsung or Apple.

The high-end phone from Xiaomi comes with a wide range of frequencies for all modern mobile communication standards – even in the China version. Wi-Fi 7 is available for a Wi-Fi connection, including the fast 6 GHz band.

In combination with our reference router Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000, this combination ensures high transfer rates in the test. However, our measurement shows some significant drops in data exchange. However, this should have little relevance in everyday use.

Dual and tri-band connectivity in global satellite networks is available for positioning. The satellite fix is highly accurate both indoors and outdoors.

We compare the Xiaomi 17 Ultra with our reference Garmin Venu 2 during a car journey. The flagship smartphone is very well suited for everyday navigation tasks. The deviations from our route are very small in our test.

Our China version supports dual SIM with two nano-SIMs. If you would like to use eSIMs, you will have to wait for the global model, where the SIM types can also be combined. Functions such as Vo5G, VoLTE and Wi-Fi calls are of course included in a flagship phone.

The voice quality of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is natural and the ambient noise suppression works well.

The new telephoto lens with an optical Leica APO lens design including three specially manufactured glass lenses to minimize chromatic aberrations is exciting. The new optics of the 17 Ultra are designed to significantly reduce purple and green color fringing, even in high-contrast shots. According to Xiaomi, the first camera with APO certification in a smartphone can also optically enlarge the subject in a range between 75 mm and 100 mm, depending on the focal length with an aperture of f/2.39 to f/2.96.

The 200 MPix camera, based on the new Samsung ISOCELL HPE, impresses with a good level of sharpness, even in less than ideal lighting conditions. The lossless zoom between 3.2x and 4.3x is a “nice-to-have” feature, but the difference in focal length is too small to offer much added value in everyday use.

The final element is a 14 mm ultra-wide-angle lens, which also serves as a macro lens with a minimum distance of 5 cm (~2 inches) to the object. The same sensor is used here as in the predecessor, which nevertheless achieves good imaging performance.

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra records videos with any camera up to 8K, although the latter is only possible at 30 fps. In UHD quality, up to 120 frames per second are available and 60 fps can be filmed in Dolby Vision. Thanks to the large sensor, the results are well lit even in low light and have an appealing sharpness.

Image comparison

Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.

Main cameraMain cameraLow LightUltrawide angle

Under controlled lighting conditions, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra shows good color reproduction, although the deviations in Vibrant color mode are quite high for a high-end phone. The highest deviations are in blue tones, which are sometimes very bright.

A highlight of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is the fingerprint sensor with its fast ultrasound recognition and very high reliability. Biometric unlocking is made possible via a face unlock function using the front camera in 2D mode. The linear electric motor also ensures very precise vibrations and a feeling of value.

The capacitive touchscreen has a sampling rate of up to 300 Hz and responds quickly to inputs. Animations are displayed very smoothly on the 120 Hz OLED panel.

* … smaller is better

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

We take a look at the deviations from the sRGB color space with the analysis software from CalMAN. In the “Pro” profile, differences in the individual colors are not visible to the eye and the measured DeltaE values are very low at <2.

HyperOS 3’s color display settings are not extensive, but two profiles including color temperature selection should be sufficient for most users.

Display Response Times

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra leaves an excellent impression outdoors with its great readability. However, the surface is very reflective, so we would prefer a matte option, like on certain tablets.

The viewing angle stability of the AMOLED display is very good. We did not notice any color distortions.

Inside the high-end phone is a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, a current high-end chip, which is mated to 16 GB of RAM in our test smartphone. Its CPU performance is slightly better than the Pro Max model, and the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is also a good deal faster in AI tests (although not quite as fast as some rival phones).

Graphics acceleration is handled by the integrated Adreno 840. In the benchmarks, the GPU proves to be one of the fastest of its kind, as the Xiaomi flagship achieves a very good 55 fps in the 4K test of the GFXBench. Here, too, the Ultra model performs significantly better than the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, which explains the rather large differences in power consumption. You can find our corresponding measurement in the “Emissions” section.

Internet browsing is smooth with the Xiaomi flagship. There is also nothing to complain about in the benchmarks.

* … smaller is better

Nominally, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra uses the fastest flash memory currently available with the UFS 4.1 standard. This results in very high read and write speeds in the benchmarks.

Let’s take a look at how the Adreno 840 performs in gaming with the GameBench software.

With low system requirements or low graphics settings, a maximum of 90 fps is possible with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. The demanding Genshin Impact is rendered very consistently at 60 fps in the highest graphics settings, and more is currently not possible using Android.

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra is cooler under load than the Pro Max model, under simulated continuous load with the Burnout benchmark, the surface temperatures still rise to 50 °C (122 °F) in some cases.

In the 3DMark stress tests, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 shows that the heat is not dissipated sufficiently well. Here, the Xiaomi flagship throttles by around 30 percent. Compared to other flagships, however, this is rather low, which also has a positive effect on our overall rating.

(-) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 47.2 °C / 117 F, compared to the average of 32.9 °C / 91 F for the devices in the class Smartphone.
(-) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 50.6 °C / 123 F, compared to the average of 35.2 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 247 °C for the class Smartphone.
(-) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 46.8 °C / 116 F, compared to the average of 34 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 23.1 °C / 74 F, compared to the device average of 32.9 °C / 91 F.

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra has a very good speaker system with light bass and balanced mids and highs.

External audio devices can be connected via USB-C or in the China version with Bluetooth 5.4 – the global version, however, will rely on the 6.0 standard – similar to a Xiaomi 15T Pro. Thanks to a wide selection of codecs, music can also be listened to wirelessly in good quality.

dB(A) 0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs2016.947.52517.839.23120.732.54032.933.4503634.96331.626.28034.728.410033.143.112529.252.81602655.62002456.825023.255.831521.356.640020.661.150014.363.263015.470.280011.368.910008.170.712506.176.316002.875.220004.274.425004.96931508.666.7400013.766.550006.170.163003.677.280002.575.5100002.568.5125003.568.5160004.259.8SPL26.784.7N0.661.1median 8.6median 68.5Delta8.86.246.539.943.236.134.730.836.535.944.345.329.429.918.830.221.743.72152.52058.617.660.61663.516.967.913.164.717.265.621.166.421.366.818.167.916.274.817.876.316.374.512.869.812.568.211.971.212.572.112.680.212.476.812.368.312.270.511.666.728.385.8166.1median 16.2median 67.93.53.3hearing rangehide median Pink Noise

In China, the Ultra model comes with a 6,800 mAh battery – an increase of over 20 percent, although the housing is 1 millimeter thinner than its Predecessor. Thanks to fast-charging technology, the energy storage unit can be charged with up to 90 watts. Nevertheless, a charging process took almost 1 hour in the test. Other high-end smartphones, such as a Vivo X300 Pro, charge significantly faster.

Wireless charging is supported with a peak of 50 watts, while the predecessor still enabled wireless charging with up to 80 watts.

The power consumption of the current flagship is efficient, although the Xiaomi 15 Ultra consumes slightly less in our consumption measurement.

* … smaller is better

The battery runtimes of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra are at a very good level. For comparison of devices we test we use an adjusted display brightness of 150 cd/m².

The high-end phone achieves almost 26 hours in our Wi-Fi test and thus lasts significantly longer than its predecessor. Oppo’s Find X9 Pro has noticeably more staying power.

Battery Runtime

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra is a great smartphone with one of the best camera setups for 2026, but it somewhat ignores the special features of the competition, such as a dedicated camera button.

Xiaomi 17 Ultra
– 01/23/2026 v8

Marcus Herbrich

Smartphone – Weighted Average