Xiaomi 17 Ultra Review

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra launched in China on December 25, 2025 and worldwide in March 2026, at 1,500 euros for 16GB and 512GB, with a Leica edition at 1,999 euros. It is built around its Leica cameras: a 50MP main camera on a 1-inch type sensor, a 200MP telephoto on a 1/1.4 inch sensor with continuous optical zoom from about 3.2x to 4.3x, a 50MP ultrawide and a 50MP selfie camera that now focuses. Around them sit a 6.9 inch LTPO AMOLED at 120Hz, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, IP68 and IP69, and a 6,000mAh battery in the global model, 6,800mAh in China, with 90W wired and 50W wireless charging.

The reviews are among the best of the year. GSMArena called it probably the top phone for photography outside China, with class-leading battery life, a superb main camera, a surprisingly good ultrawide and an excellent telephoto across its narrow range, kept from a perfect verdict only by its video stabilization when walking and a camera app so full of modes it can overwhelm.

Android Authority, at 9 out of 10, called it the strongest camera phone it had tested, while noting processing that can smear fine detail, TechRadar gave it 4.5 out of 5, and Notebookcheck scored it above 90 percent. The complaints elsewhere are the price, throttling under sustained load, and HyperOS, which PhoneArena found stalled and which will frustrate anyone coming from a Pixel or a Galaxy.

The battery earns an S, and the camera, screen and speed are A grades, the camera a step behind the catalogue's best on video and color. The software holds it back, and it is an A.