Xiaomi has confirmed the launch of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra next week in China, marking the arrival of its next top-end flagship model. The launch was confirmed by Xiaomi’s founder and CEO Lei Jun and is expected to happen on Thursday.
The Xiaomi 17 Ultra, like other Ultra models, will not be a Chinese-exclusive device. Even before it was officially announced, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra was spotted on major international certification sites, including the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and IMEI. The smartphone carries the model number 2512BPNDAG, and the ‘G’ at the end confirms that’s the global variant.
During the launch announcement, Xiaomi also spoke about their future plans for the partnership with Leica. Both companies will now work together from the development stage rather than Leica fine-tuning the cameras towards the end. This comes as an attempt to make more structural changes to camera systems rather than incremental improvements.
As part of this updated partnership, Xiaomi has introduced a new camera system for smartphones. The main change is the use of a Leica APO-certified telephoto lens, which the company says is being used in a smartphone for the first time. APO correction is meant to reduce colour distortion and keep images more consistent, especially when using zoom. Xiaomi says this should lead to sharper zoom photos and better results in low-light and high-contrast scenes, although the actual impact will only be clear after real-world testing.
Leaked specifications suggest the Xiaomi 17 Ultra will adopt a triple rear camera configuration — a 50MP main camera featuring a 1-inch sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide camera supporting macro photography, and a 200MP periscope telephoto camera that will reportedly offer up to 5x optical zoom. This is a departure from the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which employed a quad-camera setup to achieve a wider range of focal lengths. While Xiaomi has focussed on sensor size and optics along with processing quality this time, the company hasn’t tried to go heavy on numbers.
Further, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is tipped to feature a flat display, much like the other Xiaomi 17 series models. This is a shift from the curved panels used in recent Ultra models, including the predecessor Xiaomi 15 Ultra which had a quad-curved display. Under the hood, the phone will pack Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
Battery capacity is another area where the gap with the 15 Ultra may increase. Rumours suggest a capacity around 7,000mAh, considerably larger than the approximately 5,410mAh cell of the 15 Ultra. This is pretty much in line with what Xiaomi introduced on the other Xiaomi 17 series models and what mostly all other brands are doing in the Android space. Fast charging should still be one of the strengths, with 100W wired and 80W wireless charging supported. Other features likely to stick around include IP68 dust and water resistance and ultrasonic fingerprint authentication.
Pre-orders for the Xiaomi 17 Ultra have already started in China. Apart from smartphones, the company might also showcase a new NAS device during the event, revealing plans for a wider ecosystem device launch together with the 17 Ultra. For global markets, the phone is said to arrive in March, where it could be launched alongside the regular Xiaomi 17.
For existing Xiaomi 15 Ultra users, the upgrade seems evolutionary rather than dramatic, with the biggest gains likely in battery life and telephoto imaging. That said, for buyers upgrading from older flagships, the 17 Ultra could offer a more noticeable jump forward in terms of performance, endurance, and camera hardware. However, expect it to come at a dearer price tag since smartphone prices across all brands and tiers are going north due to high manufacturing costs. For context, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra was priced at Rs 1.09 lakh in India when it launched in March this year.
