- Great value
- Solid primary and zoom lens
- Hefty battery life
- Shorter software support than competition
- Gorilla Glass 7i protection
- Selfie camera and ultra-wide aren't as good as the main and zoom
The year in phones so far has largely been defined by devices getting more expensive. Thanks to the component crisis, we’ve seen price increases across the entire phone spectrum; budget phones, mid-tier phones, and flagship phones have all gotten more expensive.
Xiaomi’s 17T Pro is a rare exception. It starts at $1,299, just like its predecessor from last year. That’s certainly not cheap, there’s now a larger delta between it and rival devices like the Galaxy S26, which now starts at $1,549. The Xiaomi 17T Pro would be worth considering even if it were priced in line with the competition, but the potential savings make it even more compelling.
The Xiaomi 17T Pro is a fairly standard all-round flagship. It ticks the right boxes for core competencies, but nothing stands out as a clear individual selling point.
The closest the phone gets is a solid 5x optical zoom lens. This kind of hardware is normally reserved for more expensive devices; the cheapest phone you’ll find that matches the Xiaomi 17T Pro’s zoom capabilities is the $1,699 Pixel 10 Pro. If you wanted to go toe-to-toe in terms of screen size, you’d need to spend $1,999 on the Pixel 10 Pro XL.
I’m always a big fan of having long-range zoom on a phone. I love a 4x or 5x lens; as someone who attends a lot of gigs, I typically want to zoom in rather than use an ultra-wide lens, so the pitch of getting long-range zoom on a $1,299 is pretty compelling. The reality is a little uneven, however.
In many situations, the Xiaomi 17T Pro’s 5x lens will take a fantastic shot. It held up getting motion shots of my dog on a walk, and it can add a lovely depth of field when used for macro-style photography. The aperture is, however, slower than what you’ll find on the competition, measuring in at f/3. In short, this means it can take longer to take photos in low-light environments, which leads to less consistent results.
When I used the 5x lens to take photos at a Genesis Owusu show last week, some photos turned out pretty well, like the one below:
But for every good image, I got five or more that were unusable, such as this one:
Gigs are a challenge for any phone, but I was hoping for a slightly higher hit rate.
The Xiaomi 17T Pro’s primary lens is a reliable shooter. It’s not a showstopper like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, but you’ll get good photos in most situations. The ultra-wide lens and selfie camera aren’t bad either, but they aren’t on the same level as the zoom lens and the primary camera.
Xiaomi 17T Pro camera samples
Check out these camera samples taken on the Xiaomi 17T Pro. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version.
The Xiaomi 17T Pro has a beefy 7,000mAh battery, which is one of the largest capacity cells you’ll find in a phone in Australia. In my testing, I was able to get around eight hours of screen time per charge, which is a full day of moderate usage with a very comfortable buffer, and maybe enough for two days of lighter usage. Either way, you’d need seriously heavy usage to run the Xiaomi 17T Pro flat in a single day.
In terms of performance, the Xiaomi 17T Pro is powered by a Dimensity 9500 chipset. This is MediaTek's equivalent to Qualcomm's high-end Snapdragon chips, and performance is reliably smooth for day-to-day usage and more demanding activities like gaming.
The Xiaomi 17T Pro also ticks off most of the bells and whistles you’d want in a phone at this price. It has IP68 water resistance, eSIM support, and wireless charging. The omission worth noting is a lack of proper Qi2 support; the Xiaomi 17T Pro has fast wireless charging speeds, but no MagSafe-style magnets. Magnets not only allow for better wireless charging alignment, but they also open the doors for accessories like tripod mounts, wallets, and battery packs. Fully implemented Qi2 is still admittedly still fairly uncommon for Android phones, but it is standard across the entire Pixel 10 family.
One area where the Xiaomi 17T Pro falls short is software. Xiaomi’s take on Android doesn’t raise any major concerns, but it can occasionally be a little annoying. It’s a little too keen to send me unnecessary notifications about features I’m not interested in using. Sure, let me know once, but you don’t need to remind me every day. Ultimately, not a huge deal.
Similarly, Xiaomi is promising the 17T Pro will get five years of operating system upgrades and six years of security updates. That’s very good, and on par with what OPPO promises on its flagship devices, but falls short of the seven-year commitment both Samsung and Google make for their high-end phones. This isn’t the kind of quibble that hurts the Xiaomi 17T Pro’s overall proposition, but it is worth calling out.
It’s also worth calling out the Xiaomi 17T Pro’s durability. The Xiaomi 17T Pro is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i, which is more so intended for mid-tier phones rather than flagships. On paper, phones protected with it should survive drops from as high as 1m onto asphalt. For comparison, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 - which is used on the Pixel 10 family and the Galaxy S26 family - doubles this to 2m. Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is also said to be twice as scratch-resistant as Gorilla Glass 7i.
Xiaomi 17T Pro - Final Thoughts
The Xiaomi 17T Pro is a capable high-end device that’s just that little bit cheaper than the competition. It has no major weaknesses, and its quirks are forgivable given the comparatively affordable asking price. It’s also worth noting that you can get the Xiaomi 17T Pro for $1,099 until the end of June, making the pricing even more aggressive.
The Xiaomi 17T Pro isn’t gonna light the world on fire, but whether you get it at a discount or at full retail price, it feels like you’re getting more phone than you think.
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Alex Choros
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