Xiaomi 17 review: the compact flagship that surprises you

Xiaomi 17 review

The Xiaomi 17 is the successor to the Xiaomi 15, and has immediately taken a notable name jump. Xiaomi skips the 16 generation and now lands directly at the 17. This deliberately positions the brand alongside Apple, which uses similar numbering.

Unboxing

In the box of the Xiaomi 17, you will find a USB cable, a SIM needle and some paperwork in addition to the device itself. Note that a charger is not included. You have to buy that separately; Xiaomi itself recommends the 120W HyperCharge charger. What is nice is that it does come with a protective case, so you can immediately protect your new acquisition.

Design and interface

With a screen size of 6.3 inches, the Xiaomi 17 is a lot more compact than the Ultra variant. Still, Xiaomi manages to cram quite a bit in here. The device is just 8.06 mm thick and weighs 191 grams. The screen bezels are narrow and the whole thing looks premium. You can choose the Xiaomi 17 in several colourways, including Alpine Pink, Ice Blue, Black and Venture Green.

The screen is a 6.3-inch CrystalRes OLED panel with a resolution of 2656 x 1220 pixels (460 ppi) with a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The brightness is excellent; even outdoors in direct sunlight, the display is easy to read. Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are supported, and you notice this when watching movies or series.

HyperOS 3 runs on the device, built on Android 16. The interface can be customised in many areas and works smoothly. For those switching to Xiaomi from another manufacturer, it may take some getting used to. Apps open smoothly and we didn't experience stuttering animations or choppy transitions anywhere.

Various Xiaomi apps allow you to purchase themes, for example. But you can also download sounds, fonts and more personalisation. Xiaomi also comes with a small portfolio of bloatware apps like AliExpress, Amazon, LinkedIn and WPS Office.

Communication and multimedia

The Xiaomi 17 supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 and 5G. It also supports eSIM, which is handy if you don't want to use a physical SIM card. During our test period, we experienced no problems and phone calls were of clear quality. Sound quality through the stereo speakers is excellent. Whether you are listening to music or watching a video, it just sounds good either way.

The ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is under the screen and works quickly and reliably. AI facial recognition is also present and works smoothly.

Camera

This is the part we were most impressed with. The Xiaomi 17 has three 50-megapixel cameras: a Leica main camera (f/1.67, 23mm, 1/1.31″), a Leica 60mm floating telephoto (f/2.0, OIS) and a Leica wide-angle lens (f/2.4, 17mm, 102 degrees FOV). The main camera and telephoto lens both have optical image stabilisation. The selfie camera consists of a 50-megapixel sensor with autofocus.

The Xiaomi 17's camera app comes with all sorts of options and is easy to use. At the bottom of the screen, you can see options like portrait mode, document scanning and cinematic photography. You can also use night mode, or get to work with manual settings in pro mode. In the camera app, you have two Leica styles: authentic and vibrant. The latter gives a bit more saturated colours, while the former option sticks more to reality. For this review, we used a mix of the two styles.

The colours the camera captures are very convincing, at least as good as in the 17 Ultra, where we compared it to the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Photos look natural and vibrant, without excessive saturation. In backlight, the main camera manages to hold up well, and even in low light, the photos deliver decent results. The telephoto lens gives you that extra bit of reach for portrait shots or details from afar. Leica colours are also present here, though a bit more subtle than on the Ultra.

Want to see more photos we took with the Xiaomi 17? Then check out the online photo album here.

Video

Video capabilities are also extensive. You can record up to 8K at 30fps and 4K Dolby Vision at 60fps. Stabilisation works well. For the average user, this is more than enough, and even for the slightly more demanding filmmaker, the Xiaomi 17 also offers enough to work with. Below is a video sample we shot with the device.

Performance and battery life

The Xiaomi 17 runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the most powerful chip Qualcomm currently has to offer. In practice, the device is blazingly fast. Heavy apps, games, multitasking it's all no problem for this device. However, when loaded for long periods, the device can get warm. Mar in daily use, you don't notice much of that.

The battery is one of the real surprises of the Xiaomi 17. With 6330 mAh in such a compact device, Xiaomi had deliberately set the bar high, and it works out well. In our case, the Xiaomi 17 easily lasted a day and a half. Fast charging is via 100W wired and 50W wireless.

Update policy

When it comes to updates, Xiaomi has made a clear promise for the 17 series. You get five years of Android updates and six years of security updates. For a device in this price range, you should expect just that. At launch, the Xiaomi 17 already runs on Android 16 with HyperOS 3, so you're already starting with the latest version. All in all, an update promise to feel good about if you want to use this device for several years. Samsung and Google both give seven-year updates, though.

Review

The Xiaomi 17 is a device that impresses on almost all fronts. The camera performs excellently and the colours are at least as convincing as with the more expensive Ultra variant. Battery life is impressive for a compact device. And then there is the price, which comes out slightly more accessible than that of the Ultra.

But fair is fair: it also comes with some bloatware in the form of apps like AliExpress, Amazon and WPS Office. You can thankfully uninstall or disable those, but it's something to keep in mind. And a charger is not included, so you have to buy that separately. The update policy is also a bit less generous than some of its competitors.

All in all, the Xiaomi 17 is one of the most interesting compact flagships at the moment. If you don't necessarily need the Ultra's very best camera technology, the Xiaomi 17 offers an excellent alternative at a more attractive price. As far as we are concerned, the Xiaomi 17 is the better choice, compared to Samsung's Galaxy S26. We tested that device in April, in the Samsung Galaxy S26 review.

If you want to get started with the Xiaomi 17 yourself, you can buy it from: Coolblue, MediaMarkt, Mobile, Belsimpel. Through the latter, you get up to 200 euros discount this weekend only.