Introduction
Xiaomi is dropping the 16 number for this year’s flagships, and it’s jumping straight to 17, meaning it’s set to take on the iPhone 17 series directly. Underscoring those ambitions, the Xiaomi 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max are very similar to their iPhone 17 counterparts design-wise, but with one big twist.
Xiaomi’s latest Pro models feature a secondary OLED screen right next to the cameras, which is arguably their most eye-catching feature. It’s not something we haven’t seen before. The Xiaomi 11 Ultra from a few years ago had a second screen on the back, but here’s a bigger, brighter and overall better one.
The secondary display measures 2.9″ and has the same 120Hz refresh rate that’s important. Peak brightness on both is reportedly 3,500 nits, according to Xiaomi.
Before we move on, we need to clarify that we sourced this review device from China as Xiaomi has not yet announced its plans to release it in other markets. When and if this happens, globally released products may receive tweaks or spec differences, so we’ll review that again separately.
Xiaomi 17 Pro Max Specs at a Glance:
- body: 162.9×77.6×8.0mm, 219g; Glass front (Dragon Crystal Glass 3), aluminum frame; IP68 dust tight and water resistant (submersible up to 6m for 30 minutes).
- Display: 6.90″ LTPO AMOLED, 68B color, 2160Hz PWM, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, HDR Vivid, HDR10+, 3500 nits (peak), 1200x2608px resolution, 19.56:9 aspect ratio, 416ppi Secondary Display (on back) LTPO AMOLED HDR10+, 3500 nits (peak), 2.9 inches, 596 x 976 pixels.
- Chip Set: Qualcomm SM8850-AC Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3nm): Octa-core (2×4.6 GHz Orion V3 Phoenix L + 6×3.62 GHz Orion V3 Phoenix M); Adreno 840.
- Note: 512 GB 12 GB RAM, 512 GB 16 GB RAM, 1 TB 16 GB RAM; UFS 4.1.
- OS/Software: Android 16, Hypervisor 3.
- Rear camera: wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.7, 23mm, 1/1.28″, 1.22µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/2.6, 115 mm, 1/2.0″, PDAF (30 cm – ∞), OIS, 5x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.4, 17mm, 102˚, 1/2.76″, 0.64µm, PDAF.
- Front Camera: 50 MP, f/2.2, 21 mm (wide), PDAF.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@30fps (HDR), 4K@30/60/120fps (HDR10+, 10-bit Dolby Vision HDR, 10-bit log), 1080p@30/60/120/240/960fps, 720p@1920fps, Gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, HDR10+, Gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 7500mah; 100W Wired, PD3.0, QC3+, 100W PPS, 50W Wireless, 22.5W Reverse Wireless.
- contact: 5G; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.4, Optix HD, Optix Adaptive, LHDC5; NFC; Infrared port.
- Miscellaneous:: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); Stereo speakers (with Dolby Atmos); Ultra Wide Band (UWB) support.
Moving on with the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max update review, you also get a new front screen. The Pro Max has a 6.9-inch LTPO OLED panel with thin, symmetrical bezels all around. It is said to be even brighter than the previous lineup.
The 17 Pro Max is the first phone to be released with the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, promising performance and performance improvements as usual. Impressively, the 17 Pro Max comes with 512GB of storage in its base version.
The camera system gets a small update, with the main camera now featuring a slightly larger sensor, the new Light Fusion 950L. The 50MP 5x telephoto gets a slight tweak for the prism layout, which also has a larger 1/2″ sensor. The 50MP ultrawide unit features autofocus, which helps it capture close-ups. You can get great close-up shots with the zoom camera too, expect minimal focusing here.
Xiaomi is finally replacing the old 32MP selfie camera with an apparently much better 50MP shooter with autofocus. A well overdue update.
The battery also gets a massive update. The 17 Pro Max is now equipped with a power pack worthy of a small tablet, boasting a capacity of 7,500 mAh. There is no compromise in fast charging, as the handset supports 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. It’s also a small step up from last year’s Xiaomi 15 Pro.
Now let’s take a tour around the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max – join us on the next page!
