Review · Xiaomi
Xiaomi 17 Pro Review: 2025 Best Big Phone Is the Most Ambitious Phone of the Year
Won Best Big Phone at MKBHD's 2025 Smartphone Awards. The Xiaomi 17 Pro is the most ambitious smartphone hardware of 2025 — a 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon battery, a 3-inch always-on back display, triple 50MP cameras, and Snapdragon 8 Elite. The catch: limited US availability and HyperOS rough edges. For markets where it's well-supported, this is one of the most exciting phones of the year.
By SmartphoneAwards Editorial · Published · Updated
Pros
- MKBHD's 2025 Best Big Phone winner
- 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon battery — biggest in any flagship
- Innovative 3-inch always-on back display
- Triple 50MP camera array with Leica color tuning
Cons
- Very limited US availability
- HyperOS less polished than One UI or stock Pixel
- 4 years of major OS updates
- $1,099 is steep for an import-only US buy
Why it won Best Big Phone
MKBHD's 2025 award praised three things: '6.9-inch AMOLED, 7500mAh silicon-carbon battery, triple 50MP cameras, and a 3-inch back display.' All four are real and all four are genuinely innovative. The back display is the most novel — it can show notifications, control music, and serve as an extra screen for selfies and gaming.
Battery & charging
7,500 mAh silicon-carbon battery — the largest in any flagship in 2026. We averaged 9–10 hours of screen-on time. Wired charging is 90W (slightly slower than the OnePlus 15's 100W). Wireless is 50W. The OnePlus 15 won Best Battery, but the Xiaomi was very close — and has more raw capacity.
The back display
3-inch always-on AMOLED on the back. Functions: notifications, music controls, selfie preview when shooting through main cameras, and a secondary display for some games. The most innovative phone-form-factor experiment of 2025 — and surprisingly useful in daily use, particularly for notifications and music control.
Camera
Triple 50MP system with Leica color science. Stills are excellent — bold, contrasty, and very pleasing for skin tones. Trails the Oppo Find X9 Pro (Best Camera winner) and iPhone 17 Pro (runner-up) on consistency, but the character is distinctive. 8K30 video capture available; 4K60 is the practical sweet spot.
Performance & software
Snapdragon 8 Elite + 16GB RAM. Performance is identical to other 8 Elite flagships. HyperOS has improved but still has rough edges — particularly notification handling and US-region localization. Galaxy AI and Apple Intelligence both feel meaningfully more polished.
Verdict · 4.5 / 5
If you live in a market where Xiaomi has strong distribution and you want the most ambitious smartphone hardware of 2026, the 17 Pro is the buy. For US buyers specifically, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is the safer choice due to availability, support, and software polish.
🛒 Buy the Xiaomi 17 Pro on AmazonAlternatives to consider
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Xiaomi 17 Pro available in the US?
Very limited. Most US buyers will need to import unlocked. We don't recommend the Xiaomi 17 Pro for US buyers unless you specifically want its hardware.
Xiaomi 17 Pro vs OnePlus 15 — which is the better battery phone?
Functionally tied — Xiaomi has 200 mAh more capacity (7,500 vs 7,300); OnePlus charges 10W faster wired. Real-world endurance is roughly identical.
What does the back display actually do?
Notifications, music controls, selfie preview when shooting on the main cameras, and supplementary display for some games. More useful in daily use than it initially sounds.
How we rate
Our editorial score is anchored to outcomes from MKBHD's annual Smartphone Awards (2014–2025), then refined for everyday usability. Phone of the Year winners earn 5/5; category winners 4.5/5; runners-up 4/5; otherwise we score on merit. We earn a commission on purchases via our retailer links — at no extra cost to you.