Xiaomi 17 Pro Max hands-on review

Camera hardware and photo samples

The 17 Pro Max doesn't have any significant camera updates compared to last year's 15 Pro.

• Wide (main): 50MP Light Fusion 950L (possibly Smartsens SC590XS), f/1.7, 1/1.28", 23mm, 1.22µm, dual-pixel PDAF, OIS; 8K@30fps
• Telephoto 5x: 50MP Samsung ISOCELL (S5K)GN8, f/2.6, 1/1.95", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS; 4K@30fps.
• Ultra wide angle: 50MP OmniVision OV50M40, f/2.4, 1/2.88", 17mm, 0.61µm, PDAF; 4K@30fps
• Front camera: 50MP OmniVision OV50M40, f/2.2, 1/2.88", 21mm, 0.61µm, PDAF; 4K@30fps

The handset still employs a triple 50MP camera setup on the back, but the main camera now uses a slightly larger 1/1.28" customized sensor, which the company is calling Light Fusion 950L. It also uses a Leica Summilux lens with OIS and an f/1.67 aperture.

Here are some samples we were able to take with the phone in China before hopping on a plane to return home, where we put it through our usual review routine.

Main camera (1x): daylight photos

Main camera (1x): low-light photos

Can't go without some 2x zoom shots.

Main camera (2x): daylight photos

Main camera (2x): low-lilght photos

The telephoto camera is also updated with a new prism layout that allows a bigger 50MP sensor, a 1/2.0" type, to be specific. It's a Samsung ISOCELL GN8 unit with 5x optical zoom. The aperture on this one is f/2.6, which is negligibly smaller than last year's f/2.5. A perhaps harder-to-swallow trade-off is the focusing distance, as it's now 30cm, up from 20cm. Still, the results are pretty solid, as you can see below. We had to discard quite a few photos due to camera shake at the time of shooting so we would definitely pay more attention to testing out the OIS in our full review.

5x telephoto camera daylight photos

5x telephoto camera low-light photos

The viewfinder offers a 10x zoom toggle, too.

10x crop from 5x telephoto camera

The ultrawide camera appears quite small when you look at its lens on the back of the phone (it sits next to the flash). It's a similar 50MP sensor as before, but with a smaller aperture at f/2.4 and crucially, a longer 17mm focal length (so it's got a narrower 104-degree FoV). Updated: This camera does have autofocus, so it can still be used for taking close-up photos.

Ultrawide camera daylight photos

Ultrawide camera low-light photos

Undoubtedly, the biggest camera upgrade on this year's Xiaomi 17 lineup are selfies. For one, the 17 Pro Max is now equipped with a more potent 50MP f/2.2 shooter with autofocus, which is a huge upgrade over the outdated 32MP selfie unit that has stuck around for the last five generations at least. Better yet, the rear screen enables you to use the main cameras for your selfie-taking needs and those are miles better than any selfie camera on any phone out there.

As far as video recording is concerned, the phone supports 10-bit Dolby Vision HDR video capture as well as 10-bit LOG if you prefer to do your editing and color grading yourself.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples by all cameras.

We will wait until we've completed the full review for more in-depth analysis and camera assessment. These first samples are certainly looking great, but we didn't have the time and enough reference devices to feel confident in passing a final judgement.

Early verdict

Xiaomi is feeling bold and confident with this year's Xiaomi 17 lineup, even if they are only launching the devices in China for now. We rarely see large smartphone makers experiment with features like secondary displays on the back. The last Xiaomi phone with a similar feature was the Xiaomi 11 Ultra, released in 2021. Xiaomi might be onto something this time around, as the rear screen is already confirmed to stay for at least another generation

The rear screen isn't the only highlight feature of the 17 Pro Max too. It is seemingly packed to the bream with some great hardware - a huge and bright LTPO OLED panel on the front, the most powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, a huge 7,500 mAh battery with fast charging and a capable camera setup. What's not to like?

The last unknowns are the price and how good the rear-screen integration of third-party apps will be once the phone launches internationally. It will be a while before we get the answers to those, as the phone is only available in China for the time being, and Xiaomi has not revealed its plans for the global release. That won't stop us from checking out how the rest of the phone performs, though - stay tuned for the full review!