Verdict
The Xiaomi 17 is a compact powerhouse of a flagship phone and just as good for avid mobile gamers as it is for regular users and amateur photographers. It might look unassuming, but it’s already one of the most impressive Androids of 2026 and serves as yet another reason why Xiaomi is as much a part of the conversation as bigger names such as Samsung and Apple.
- Stylish, compact design
- Elite performance
- Great display
- Reliable battery life
- No charger in the box
- Gets slightly warm during big downloads
Flagship season is upon us, folks, and one of the first out of the gates for 2026 is the Xiaomi 17. While Xiaomi might not dominate sales in the same way as brands such as Samsung and Apple, I've been a big fan since I got my hands on the Xiaomi 13T a couple of years ago, so when I was offered the chance to check out the latest flagship, I gleefully agreed. After a couple of weeks testing out the phone and all it has to offer, I think that it's about time that Xiaomi got the recognition it deserves.
Simply put, the Xiaomi 17 is a flagship for everyone. It offers rapid and reliable performance, great cameras, and a battery life that few phones in the same price range can live up to. Still, those are just the headlines, and there's a lot more to cover when talking about this phone. Is it impressive enough to make our list of the best gaming phones? Well, keep reading to find out.
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Price and availability
At the time of writing, we're still waiting for the final pricing details and release date for the Xiaomi 17. What we do know is that it comes in four colors - Black, Venture Green, Alpine Pink, and Ice Blue - and with two configurations to choose from, either 12GB+256GB or 12GB+512GB.
For this review, I received the Venture Green version of the Xiaomi 17 with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
Specs
Here are the Xiaomi 17's specs:
Performance and gaming
Given that the Xiaomi 17 packs Qualcomm's state-of-the-art Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, I went into this review anticipating top-quality performance, be it in the day-to-day, such as scrolling social media and recording videos, or more demanding tasks. Well, guess what? That's exactly what I got. The everyday user experience is nice and snappy, even if, like me, you've got far too many apps open simultaneously. Don't judge me.
In terms of gaming performance, I put the Xiaomi 17 through its paces with a combination of the best mobile games, including Where the Winds Meet, Honkai Star Rail, and PUBG Mobile. WtWM is the most intensive game of that bunch, with its console-level graphics, but the Xiaomi had no problem running it, even with the cutscenes at 3x speeds. Admittedly, it's not quite as smooth as the REDMAGIC 11 Pro if you push the settings to the max in Honkai Star Rail, with a touch of stuttering here and there, but at medium-to-high settings, you're still getting a high-quality gaming experience.
Where the Winds Meet is also a good example for detailing the strengths of the Adreno 840 GPU, as the ray tracing in that game is pretty evident, especially in any bodies of water, which look stunningly lifelike. It's also worth highlighting the 300Hz touch sampling rate, which goes a long way to making sure the phone is recognizing your inputs as quickly as possible, which can often be the difference between winning and losing in a round in PUBG Mobile.
My only concern regarding performance is thermal management. After downloading all the required resources to play Honkai Star Rail, the phone felt toastier than I'd like. Funnily enough, though, I never noticed the phone getting all that warm while I was actually playing a game, even after an hour or so in Where the Winds Meet, so it gets a pass. It's just something to keep in mind if you're planning on using your phone while installing gigabytes worth of data.
Features and software
The Xiaomi 17 comes with the brand's latest Android 16 skin, HyperOS 3, operating system. Few brands have improved their OS as much as Xiaomi in recent years, and while it's still not quite as fluid as Apple's iOS, it's a lot better than the days of MIUI, which the brand retired in early 2024. There's a bit of bloatware to contend with when you first load up the phone, but it's nothing egregious, and I cleared it all off in about five minutes.
Like all the other big-name cell phone brands, Xiaomi has gone pretty hard on introducing AI features in the last couple of years. You wouldn't necessarily know that, though, if you didn't go looking for AI tools in the settings menu, and it might sound counterintuitive, but I like that. While I'm not the most vehemently anti-AI person I know, I still don't necessarily want it in my face, which seems like the approach some brands are taking - cough, Apple, cough.
If you love using AI, there's still plenty to dig your teeth into, from speech recognition to translation, photo editing tools, and more. Plus, the phone comes with Google Gemini pre-installed, so you're basically covered on all fronts.
As for gaming-specific software, the Xiaomi 17 features an app called Game Turbo. You can use this app to tinker with performance, choosing between GPU settings that prioritize battery life or performance quality, or you can get hands-on and customize your settings yourself before launching a game. Once you've loaded up whatever you're playing, there's also the option to change your voice if you want to play anonymously online or really put the Snapdragon chip to the test by boosting performance. It's a neat app for gamers, and I don't know why Xiaomi doesn't make a bigger deal of it in marketing new phones.
Design
I'm just going to come out and say it; the Xiaomi 17 looks like an iPhone. Yes, most modern phones look like they've copied Apple's notes, but few more so than this one. It's got the rounded corners, a very similar squircle-shaped camera island on the back, and you'll find the USB-C charging port in the same place. So yes, it looks like an iPhone, but honestly, that's not a bad thing. It's subtle, it's lightweight, and it's stylish. If that's what you're looking for from a phone, the Xiaomi 17 has it.
In a world where it feels like the standard size of a flagship phone is getting bigger and bigger every year, the Xiaomi 17 is a compact reprieve. I like that. There's a slight downside in that if, like me, you've got big thumbs, it might take a little while to adjust to the smaller keypad, but outside of that, I can't think of any downsides to the smaller form factor. It feels nicer to hold than a lot of the alternatives, and considering how much time I spend with my phone in my hand, that's a pretty big deal.
The last thing worth mentioning on the design front is that the Xiaomi 17 is IP68 rated for dust and waterproofing, which is basically the industry gold standard. That means you can use the phone in the rain with the confidence that a few splashes or, worst case scenario, a quick dunk in a puddle isn't going to render it useless.
Display
The Xiaomi 17's 6.3-inch OLED display is exactly what you want from a flagship phone. It's durable, thanks to Xiaomi's Shield Glass material; it offers refresh rates of up to 120Hz for buttery-smooth gaming visuals; and it has super-slim bezels, so you don't feel like you're missing out on any screen real estate.
If all that isn't impressive enough, the Xiaomi 17 goes up to a peak brightness of 3,500 nits, which should be more than bright enough for any situation. I tested it out in the blinding spring-summer sun and had no problems playing my game and watching some YouTube content. With all that in mind, I don't really know what else you could ask for. There are phones at the same price with higher refresh rates, but honestly, the difference above 120Hz is negligible, at least in my opinion.
Cameras
Xiaomi phones have always had some pretty impressive cameras, but they've only gotten better since the company partnered with Leica back in 2022. This flagship boasts a 50MP main lens, a 50MP floating telephoto lens, and a 50MP ultra-wide lens, with a 50MP selfie snapper on the front. For a start, that's the sort of setup you'd expect from a premium flagship, like the S25 Ultra or iPhone 17 Pro, so the fact you're getting it all for the slightly lower regular flagship price is already a big win. There are also two camera modes, 'Leica Authentic' or 'Leica Vibrant.' For context, I used 'Leica Authentic' throughout.
To see how well the Xiaomi 17 captures a subject, I took a few pictures of my dog, Floyd. I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with the results. The images are sharp and detailed. You can tell there's a touch of processing going on, but it doesn't feel egregious. It's also a good example of how the phone manages motion blur and avoids shutter lag, as, like most dogs, Floyd didn't feel all that much like staying still during our little photo shoot, but you wouldn't know it from the picture below.
As for landscape photography, I'm pleased to report that the Xiaomi 17 is capable of great things, and better still, that's true of both ideal and low-light scenarios. I took a little twilight walk around the block to grab some pictures for this review, and even though I'm a relatively hopeless photographer, I managed to grab some pictures that I think look great. Take the example below, where in one image, you've got the bright blue of the sky and the shadow of the buildings below. The balance and dynamic range are wonderful, and I'm sure if you lived somewhere a bit more interesting than I do, you could take some great shots with this phone.
The Xiaomi 17's zoom capabilities are also worth mentioning, as they're almost unbelievable. Thanks to some AI magic and powerful camera hardware, images at 20x zoom aren't just legible; they're high quality. Previous Xiaomi phones have offered this ultra-zoom feature, but before, the processing was pretty obvious, and the AI took some liberties in recreating details. Now it's almost eerily lifelike, and this is super useful if you use your phone's camera at concerts or sporting events to capture the action from a distance.
As for the selfie camera, I only have good things to say. While all the beautification filters are still there, as is the case with a lot of phones these days, they're completely optional, so you can just snap as you go. The pictures you get from the front-facing camera are lifelike, consistent with the white balance of the back cameras, making for some of the best selfies I've seen captured on a non-Apple phone. You can tell there's a touch of digital processing going on, but it doesn't seem at all heavy-handed.
Battery
If you've ever used a Xiaomi phone before, you can probably anticipate how this section is going to go. The Xiaomi 17 is an absolute battery life beast, with its 6,330 mAh cell easily capable of keeping you going all day, if not for longer. In testing, I found that the phone lost about 10-12% of its charge for every hour of gameplay in Honkai Star Rail, so even if you squeezed in six hours of gaming in a day, as well as regular use for messaging and social media, you're unlikely to have to charge if you started the day with a full battery.
Not only does the Xiaomi 17 have a bumper battery, but it's also a rapid charger, thanks to its 100W wired and 50W wireless capabilities. For context, the iPhone 17 offers 40W charging, and the Samsung Galaxy S25 boasts 25W charging, so the Xiaomi easily beats out two of the most popular picks on the market right now. The only problem is that the phone doesn't come with a charging brick in the box, so you'll need an adapter capable of 100W speeds if you want to get the most out of it.
Should you buy the Xiaomi 17?
If you're looking for a stellar all-rounder phone that offers great cameras and top-tier performance, all packed into a lovely, compact form factor, I can't recommend the Xiaomi 17 enough. The best compliment I can pay this phone is that it has finally convinced me to switch over to Android from Apple and to use the Xiaomi 17 as my daily driver. Considering how many phones I test a year and how lazy I am when it comes to moving all my data across, that's basically the highest form of praise I can give.
Usually, I'd fill this section with drawbacks, but for me, the Xiaomi 17 doesn't have many. That is subjective, though. If you're currently using a bigger phone, anything more than around 6.7 inches, the compact design of the 17 might feel like a step backwards. It would also be a nice touch if a charging brick came in the box, as not everyone has an adapter capable of 100W juicing, but in fairness, Xiaomi isn't the only brand guilty of not including all the accessories we once took for granted when picking up a new phone.
Alternatives
If this Xiaomi 17 review hasn't sold you on the handset, here are some alternatives you can check out instead.
iPhone 17
Okay, so I spent a lot of time in this review comparing the Xiaomi 17 to the iPhone 17 in a way that doesn't exactly sell the latter. However, it's still a very good phone, especially if you're a fan of indie games, with the Apple Arcade games library offering a massive selection of titles. iOS is also still a slightly more user-friendly operating system compared to HyperOS, despite improvements to Xiaomi's software in recent years.
REDMAGIC 11 Pro
If you'd rather have pure performance firepower than stellar cameras, the REDMAGIC 11 Pro is a more than viable alternative. As it's a gaming phone, it's a bit bigger than the Xiaomi 17 and not as subtle in terms of design, but for a one-trick pony, it does a great job. The only thing worth noting about the 11 Pro is that its selfie camera is plain bad. So, if you're a regular selfie snapper, it's not ideal. You can get more details in our full REDMAGIC 11 Pro review.