The Xiaomi 17T Pro has the same problem as the Vivo X300 FE — it costs too much at launch. The phone debuted at €899 ($1,046), or £799 ($1,075) in the U.K. for the 12GB/256GB model. That’s €100 ($116) more than the launch price of last year’s 15T Pro, and it’s clear that this is something Xiaomi is doing across its entire range in 2026. To put that into context, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra was introduced at €1,499 and is now available for €1,399 ($1,627) in the region.
Having said that, the 17T Pro fills a valuable niche; it goes up against devices like the X300 FE and the Find X9. Unless you need the absolute-best cameras these brands have to offer, I think these devices are a better choice than the X300 Ultra and the Find X9 Ultra flagships.
I’ve always liked using Xiaomi’s T models, and with the 17T and 17T Pro launching just eight months after their predecessors, it’s understandable that both devices share the same foundation. The 17T Pro retains the same 6.83-inch panel, the same IP68 ingress protection, 5x optical zoom camera, 32MP front camera, and the same connectivity — including a USB-C port that’s still based on USB 2.0. Hey Xiaomi, how about not shortchanging customers for once? While this may not have been an issue in the past, with XR glasses gaining momentum, the lack of USB 3.2 connectivity is going to be a real issue — I wasn’t able to connect the 17T Pro to my Rokid Max 2.
With that nit picked, let’s get to the new features. Although the 17T Pro inevitably has a lot of similarities to its predecessors, there’s a decent amount of new stuff on the device. The all-new 7,000mAh silicon battery is the biggest Xiaomi put into a phone, MediaTek’s latest Dimensity 9500 platform is under the hood, the cameras have a few new tricks, and I like the color variants this year.
The 17T Pro looks a lot like its predecessor
Visually, the 17T Pro looks a lot like last year’s 15T Pro, and the in-hand feel is nearly the same. The bigger battery means the phone is a little heavier at 219g (the 15T Pro is 210g), but this isn’t noticeable in everyday use. Xiaomi once again used a square design around the camera island, but unlike last year, this feels unfinished — it doesn’t have the chamfered edges that smoothly blended the camera housing into the body. I feel like Xiaomi should have paid attention to the design a little bit more, because the 17T Pro doesn’t stand out all that much against OPPO and Vivo’s offerings.
That said, I like the blue model I’m using. The glass rear has a matte texture, and it accentuates the hue, and the color extends to the mid-frame, which is once again made out of aluminum. The flat sides have beveled edges to ensure the phone doesn’t dig into your palm, and the mid-frame has a matte finish as well. Xiaomi didn’t go overboard with the buttons, and you get the usual power and volume buttons on the right.
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The rest of the design is pretty standard; the USB-C port is located at the bottom, the SIM tray sits next to it, and the fingerprint sensor is located a little too low on the panel — yet again. I don’t get why some brands do this, and it just makes accessing the sensor needlessly awkward. Thankfully, Xiaomi retained IP68 dust and water resistance, and with Gorilla Glass 7i covering the panes of glass, the phone has a decent amount of resilience against tumbles (you’ll still need to invest in a good case, though).
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The 6.83-inch AMOLED panel is unchanged from last year, so you get the same 2772 x 1280 resolution and 120Hz refresh. The phone does a good job with HDR content in general, and it gets bright — I tested this quite extensively in India’s blistering heat, and I had no problems using the 17T Pro outdoors. The phone retains 3840Hz PWM dimming, and it now covers the entire brightness range, which is good to see. Xiaomi also touted better eye protection this year, with the phone getting hardware-level blue light control.
Need a huge battery? This is the phone to get
Coming to the hardware, the biggest change is the 7,000mAh silicon battery, so let’s start there. The 17T Pro manages to last two days with medium use, and with heavy use involving navigation and taking hundreds of photos, I still got a day’s worth of charge comfortably. The bigger battery along with the switch to a silicon-carbon anode makes the 17T Pro a much better choice than its predecessor, and I like that the phone has USB PD charging. Xiaomi’s bundled charger goes up to 100W, and takes just under 45 minutes to charge phone fully; there really isn’t a need to charge this phone overnight.
But if you want to go that route, you’ll get the usual battery protection modes. The phone also gets 50W wireless charging as standard, alongside reverse charging. On the whole, the 17T Pro is one of the best phones around if you need a big battery and fast charging tech.
The rest of the hardware isn’t anything to scoff at either. The model I’m using has 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage, and it comes with global 5G bands, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, and dual-band GPS. The vibration motor is pretty good in its own right, and it has good feedback while using the keyboard and navigating the interface.
Xiaomi went with MediaTek’s latest 3nm Dimensity 9500 platform, and it has Arm’s new C1-Ultra, C1-Premium, and C1-Pro cores alongside a 12-core Mali-G1 Ultra GPU, which does a better job than the Immortalis-G925 in the Dimensity 9400+. The higher frequencies allows the 17T Pro to tout noticeable gains over the 15T Pro, and while this isn’t particularly noticeable in day-to-day use, it handles demanding tasks without any issues whatsoever. What I like the most is that it doesn’t overheat anywhere as much as its Qualcomm-based rivals in sustained gaming scenarios.
The main camera is truly incredible
Xiaomi is reusing the same cameras as last year, but the main sensor is now called Light Fusion 950 (instead of Light Fusion 900). The 50MP main camera uses an OmniVision OVX9500 sensor, and it’s joined by the 50MP Samsung JN5 tele module with 5x optical zoom, and a 12MP OmniVision OV13B wide-angle lens. Xiaomi is making a big deal out of motion photos; the feature has been around for a while, and if you like it, you can now use it with Xiaomi phones.
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Like last year, the main camera does an excellent job in daylight as well as challenging lighting situations. You get great dynamic range, good white balance, and vibrant colors. The tele lens is similarly great, and it delivers excellent shots at 5x, and doubles as a reliable portrait shooter. That said, the 115mm focal length (5x) isn’t ideal when it comes to portraits, and Xiaomi should have offered an 85mm option like most other phones in this category.
There is a 2x mode as well, and while it’s great in its own right, I got used to the quality of the portraits I get from OPPO and Vivo phones, and I feel like Xiaomi lags a little behind in this area. On that note, the selfie lens isn’t that great, and this phone deserves a better wide-angle camera — particularly when you consider how good the other lenses are.
Should you buy the Xiaomi 17T Pro?
I’m not going to talk about the software too much; the 17T Pro comes with Android 16 out of the box, and it is optimized to run fluidly on the phone. I didn’t see any lag or slowdowns, but the software itself is in need of a visual overhaul, and it doesn’t feel quite as modern to use as OriginOS and ColorOS.
It wasn’t all that long ago that you could get a Xiaomi T series phone for around $500. But the industry as a whole is trending upwards in this area, and it isn’t just Xiaomi that’s selling its value flagships at what would’ve been flagships prices three years ago (the Xiaomi 13 debuted at €999 in 2023). So, where does that leave the 17T Pro? You’re not getting huge gains from the 15T Pro, so if you’re able to get last year’s phone at a discounted price, that would be my recommendation — it has 90% of the same features.
But if you aren’t able to get the 15T Pro at a decent deal and need a bigger battery, the 17T Pro is a viable alternative. I still think it’s better to wait a little while before buying the phone — Xiaomi will inevitably lower prices over the coming weeks, like it does with all devices in its portfolio. If you’d rather not wait, POCO’s F8 Ultra is a solid choice as well — it has a better design, amazing cameras, the latest internals, and a 6,500mAh battery — and it costs a much more reasonable €659 right now.
The 17T Pro isn’t too different to what we got last year, but a bigger battery and tweaks to the camera tuning mean you get a better overall phone. It costs a little too much at launch, but if you’re willing to wait a month or two, it is a good option to consider.