At its 2025 Lei Jun Annual Speech in Beijing—this year themed “Change”—Xiaomi unveiled a sweeping hardware refresh led by the Xiaomi 17 smartphone family, joined by the Pad 8 series and a slate of smart home appliances. The event doubled as a progress report on the company’s “Human × Car × Home” strategy, which ties phones, AIoT devices and its nascent automotive push into a single ecosystem.
Three phones, one ecosystem push
The lineup spans Xiaomi 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max, covering a compact flagship tier through to a big-screen endurance model. All three run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 platform and plug into Xiaomi’s latest software stack and device services, reinforcing that the phone remains the hub for cars and home devices in Xiaomi’s world.
Xiaomi 17: small body, big upgrades
The headliner is the 6.3-inch Xiaomi 17, which pairs a pocketable frame (around 191g and 8.06mm thick) with five notable updates: performance, display, imaging, battery, and connectivity.
- Display: Ultra-slim 1.18mm bezels are enabled by LIPO packaging, while a new M10 panel with SuperRED luminous material targets higher efficiency and a peak brightness up to 3,500 nits for outdoor readability. The 19.6:9 aspect and clean “hole-free” top edge lend a minimalist look.
- Cameras: A Leica Summilux system anchors the setup. The main camera uses a 50MP Light Fusion 950 sensor (ƒ/1.67, OIS), joined by a 60mm telephoto with a floating-focus design that can lock as close as 10cm for detailed tele-macro shots. A new Master Portrait mode leans on Leica color and skin-tone rendering.
- Battery and charging: The star spec is a 7,000mAh Xiaomi Surge Battery, unusually large for this size class. Xiaomi cites 894Wh/L energy density, better low-temperature behavior and longer cycle life. Charging hits 100W wired, 50W wireless, and supports 100W PPS for more universal fast-charge compatibility.
- Connectivity & I/O: The phone is specced for global roaming across 210+ countries/regions and includes USB 3.2 Gen 1 for faster tethered transfers.
17 Pro and 17 Pro Max: dual-screen flair and pro imaging
The 17 Pro (also 6.3-inch) and 17 Pro Max (6.9-inch) step up design ambition with a Dynamic Back Display—a secondary screen that unlocks new interactions. Think always-on glanceable info (flights, ride status, music controls), sticky notes, QR codes, animated AI wallpapers made from your own photos, and even a virtual pet (“Pangda” the panda) that reacts to context and gestures. The rear display can also serve as a selfie preview, letting you shoot with the main cameras for higher-quality front-facing photos. Close the main screen and attach the Bluetooth case, and the phone flips into a handheld-console mode for retro gaming.
On the visual front, both Pro models retain the Leica Summilux branding and add LOFIC High Dynamic sensor tech, pushing up to 16.5EV dynamic range on the flagship sensor in the 17 Pro Max. The 17 Pro debuts an inverted floating telephoto capable of 20cm tele-macro, while the 17 Pro Max upgrades to a 5× periscope with a larger 1/2-inch sensor, ƒ/2.6 aperture and a new prism design Xiaomi says increases light intake by ~30%.
Displays on the Pro pair also use the M10 panel and SuperRED materials for high brightness with lower power draw. The 17 Pro Max adds Xiaomi Shield Glass 3.0 and an independent pixel array layout aimed at sharper rendering at 2K-class clarity without the usual battery penalty.
Thin frames, big batteries, faster charging
Despite ~8mm bodies, the Pro line leans on a high-silicon Xiaomi Surge Battery and an L-shaped stack to maximize capacity: 6,300mAh on 17 Pro and 7,500mAh on 17 Pro Max. Charging mirrors the standard model at 100W wired and 50W wireless, with 100W PPS support. The series also bakes in UWB-enabled smart car key features for keyless entry and tighter car-phone handoffs—another nudge toward the Human × Car × Home vision.
Pricing and availability
In China, pricing starts at RMB 4,499 ($632) for Xiaomi 17 (12GB/256GB), RMB 4,999 ($702) for 17 Pro (12GB/256GB), and RMB 5,999 ($843) for 17 Pro Max (12GB/512GB), with higher-memory options up to 16GB/1TB. Sales began 10:00 AM, September 27, 2025 on Mi.com, Xiaomi Store and official partners.
The takeaway
The Xiaomi 17 family is less about a single marquee spec and more about a cohesive lift: brighter, more efficient screens; Leica-tuned cameras with meaningful tele-macro and periscope upgrades; outsized batteries in slim frames; and a playful second display on the Pro models that could spark new habits. Wrapped in the broader pitch of phones as the command center for cars and homes, Xiaomi’s 2025 flagship push is both pragmatic and ambitious—and decidedly ecosystem-first.
