Good and compact

Review: Xiaomi 17 - Surprising camera phone

Xiaomi proves that the right collection of components from camera to screen, battery and system chip goes a long way, but the software is a step behind here.

Published 2 April 2026 - 10:57

It takes a few days of use before I find the most accurate description of the Xiaomi 17. There are several characteristics that distinguish it, depending also on the context and the company we view it in.

We can immediately establish that it is a flagship phone with maxed-out performance. It competes with all the other manufacturers' top mobiles. Xiaomi is also renowned for its photography skills, which further defines the phone.

When I first get the phone in my hand, I think of it as small and compact, but that's unfair, as it isn't noticeably small. The size is comparable to the iPhone 17 Pro and slightly larger than the Samsung S26, so it belongs to the smaller of the world's flagship mobiles. It doesn't have much to offer if we compare it with its big brother, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, which is both significantly larger and far surpasses this model in the camera department.

Still, I am surprised at how complete the Xiaomi 17 is as a camera phone on several levels, so even if it doesn't match the manufacturer's top mobile, it easily beats several others. I can get really nice portraits with a sleek bokeh effect where the face is in razor-sharp focus and the background is nicely blurred to highlight the subject. The zoom, which is 2.6x, can provide sharp images even at larger magnifications. Details and both colour range and colour reproduction are fine with low noise even in low light.

The screen also maintains noticeably high quality with generous brightness and excellent colour reproduction, and the battery life is also good, even though the phone falls a bit behind in the recent race where new battery technologies have significantly extended what we can expect in terms of battery life. Batteries with silicon allow manufacturers to offer higher battery capacity without making the format unwieldy bulky.

One area where Xiaomi is clearly behind its competitors is the software. The phone comes with Android 16, which at the time of writing is the latest available, and on top of that, Xiaomi adds its own interface, Hyper OS 3. It has a lot of quirks, but few unique features that actually add something of really great value. Among the advantages, we notice features for interacting with other Xiaomi devices, such as tablets, but also with Mac and Windows computers and with iPhone. The phones in the Xiaomi 17 series also have Xiaomi's own offline communication, which is supposed to let you communicate with other devices that also have it. It should work a bit like a walkie talkie, and independently of mobile networks or wifi, but the times we try it, the connection breaks or the sound quality deteriorates so much that it becomes unusable as soon as the other party disappears out of sight.

Xiaomi also does not come close to competitors' promises of 7 years of system updates, instead continuing to offer only four years, which significantly limits the phone's lifespan. Both the system itself and Xiaomi's ambitions are therefore in need of improvements.

Camera example

Xiaomi 17 delivers in many of the basic functions. The camera is really good without giving the system camera feel that the sister model 17 Ultra gives you. Material choice, performance, and screen are top class, but the software is therefore not at the same high level.

Review: Xiaomi 17 - Surprising camera phone

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