Xiaomi has announced it will skip the 16 lineup and directly release the 17 series to compete with Apple’s new iPhone 17.
In a post on Weibo, Xiaomi president Lu Weibing said the Xiaomi 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max will be launched later this month. This is the first time Xiaomi is using the “Pro Max” name, similar to Apple’s branding. There was no mention of the usual Ultra model.
Weibing explained the naming decision. “We started our premiumisation strategy five years ago to learn from our greatest competitor, benchmarking ourselves against the iPhone. Apple is still outstanding but we are highly confident we can face the challenge with the same generation of product,” he wrote.
The new series will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. Weibing said the base model will come with upgrades, but no price increase. The Xiaomi 15 launched in China at CNY 4,499 ($630).
Xiaomi has invested over 100 billion yuan in research and development in the past five years. The company plans to double that to 200 billion yuan in the next five.
The Xiaomi 17 Pro is expected to be the company’s most powerful compact imaging flagship, while the 17 Pro Max will be its top-end model.
The base Xiaomi 17 may include a 6.3-inch LTPO OLED panel with 1.5K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, a 7,000mAh battery, and an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor.
