Why Most Reviews Are Wrong About the Xiaomi 17 Ultra Review: A Camera That Happens to Also be a Phone
androfyi
June 5, 2026
7 min read
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The No-BS Verdict: If you are a dedicated photographer who wants a genuine camera experience in your pocket and you live outside the US, this is the undisputed king. If you are a casual user who just wants a reliable daily driver with a good screen, the weight, the software bloat, and the €1,499 price tag make this a tough sell over last year’s model.
Real-World Gotchas: The Good & The Bad
- Light Capture: The 20x low-light performance blows the iPhone and Pixel out of the water. The 1-inch sensor is not just marketing; it fundamentally changes what is possible in dim environments.
- Telephoto Quality: The 75-100mm continuous optical zoom paired with a 200MP sensor is a rare gem. It offers a cinematic look and shallow depth of field that mimics dedicated camera lenses.
- Thermal Management: The vapour chamber cooling system works. You can run extended 4K recording sessions without the phone warning you about heat or dropping quality to compensate.
- Ergonomics with Grip: The optional Photography Kit adds a textured grip and a two-stage shutter. The extra weight actually helps stabilize shots, making it feel like a real camera.
- HyperOS Bloat: Coming from a Galaxy or Pixel, you will have to learn to live with Xiaomi’s aggressive software quirks and pre-installed apps.
- Accidental Touches: The touch control on the camera grip for switching to selfie or video modes is far too sensitive. You will constantly find yourself staring at your own face or the record screen.
- Video Mode Limitations: A long press on the shutter can start video, but it defaults to standard mode. You cannot program it to jump straight into Pro video mode, which defeats the purpose of a quick-start solution.
- Front Camera RAW: The front camera does not output to RAW DNG format. For a device this expensive, being stuck with JPG on the selfie lens is a missed opportunity for creators.
I have been testing the Xiaomi 17 Ultra with a specific mindset: treating it strictly as a camera that happens to make calls. The international version I have been using supports all standard Google apps and dual SIM setups, which is a massive relief for global users. Just a few shots in, I was genuinely blown away. Photos feel alive in a way that is hard to articulate. There is depth and texture and atmosphere that you simply do not expect from a phone. Xiaomi is getting dangerously close to proving the assumption that a phone cannot capture a moment properly completely wrong.
Design Language Broken Down
The device weighs about 7.7 ounces (219 grams) without the grip. That is slightly heavier than an iPhone 17 Pro Max. With the grip attached, it becomes a brick by modern standards, but I actually preferred the extra weight when shooting because the kit felt better to set up and stabilize photos. The grip incorporates a metal thumb rest that feels secure, but the trade-off is that the phone is slippery without it.
This is the first Ultra model to feature a flat display, moving away from the curved edges of the past. It boasts a 6.9-inch AMOLED panel with a 2,608 x 1,200 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The peak brightness hits 3,500 nits. It is easily bright enough for direct sunlight, though it lacks the specific privacy display tech found on the latest Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Durability is a strong point here. The phone carries an IP69 rating, meaning it can handle high-pressure jets and high-temperature water. You should not intentionally submerge it, but if you drop it in a pool or get caught in a downpour, it is far more likely to survive than most flagships.
Under Stress: Framerates & Multitasking
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor is an absolute monster, but it runs hot. Xiaomi has implemented a vapour chamber cooling system specifically to handle the kind of sustained workloads this phone invites. In our stress tests, the CPU throttled down to around 60% after ten minutes of heavy load. That is a minor win. Many other handsets bounce between high and low clock speeds, causing stuttering in games. The 17 Ultra tends to maintain lower, more stable clock speeds without significant variation.
Battery life is solid, offering two days of moderate use. The 6,800mAh cell combined with super-fast universal charging means you spend less time tethered to a wall. However, if you are shooting 4K video at full resolution constantly, you will still feel the drain by late afternoon.
Low-Light Extraction & Color Science
This is where the Xiaomi 17 Ultra earns its hype. The main camera uses a 23mm Leica 1-inch sensor with f/1.67 aperture and OIS. The light capture is superb. In low light, the level of captured detail is mostly good, though textures can look a little unnatural. Moving subjects can appear smoothed by noise reduction, which is a common trade-off in mobile processing.
Color science is subjective. Xiaomi leans heavy on saturation, and exposure can be a little dark at times, particularly in bright backlighting. This results in pictures with heavily crushed shadows and overly high contrast. For every great couple of pictures the phone grabs, you will likely get an underwhelming one that requires manual intervention with the exposure settings. If you are a fan of manual controls, this is manageable. For quick point-and-shoot moments, it can be a source of unnecessary frustration.
Portrait photography is where the device truly shines. The 200MP telephoto lens covers 75-100mm, bringing it into the upper end of the ideal range for portraiture. At 100mm, you start to suffer from facial compression, resulting in an overly wide appearance with flat features, but the 75mm sweet spot is gorgeous.
Who This Is Actually For
If you have seen other reviewers saying the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is “more camera than smartphone,” they do not know what they are talking about. This is very much a smartphone. It is shaped like one, it has a touch screen, and it lacks a dedicated tripod mount, lighting shoe, or detachable lenses. It does not replace a Sony or a Canon.
What it replaces is the need to carry both a phone and a compact camera for 90% of scenarios. It is for the traveler who wants to shoot RAW-quality landscapes without a backpack full of gear. It is for the parent who wants to capture a child in motion with a telephoto lens that fits in a pocket. It is for the creator who needs a device that can shoot walk-and-talk footage with six stops of CIPA-rated IBIS smoothing out the bumps.
It is not for the budget-conscious. At €1,499, it is still very expensive, and it is not a meaningful leap over its predecessor. If you can find last year’s model at a discount, that might be the smarter buy. It is also not for the average American consumer dealing with import fees and carrier headaches. But for the rest of the world, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is a phenomenal piece of camera hardware that happens to be a fine phone, too.
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