The Xiaomi 17 Ultra comes in two flavors

This is Xiaomi's new top tier camera phone, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra by Leica. It's got some of the best photo cameras we've seen yet on a phone. But if you're thinking to get this Leica edition over the standard one, there are some things you need to consider. I'm will go for  this post and this is our Xiaomi 17 Ultra Leica Edition review. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra brings a bunch of nice features, including a larger screen than last year and a huge battery, but the main attraction is the camera

system. Not only do you get a 1-in type sensor on the main cam, but the telephoto cam also has continuous optical zoom, so it can cover multiple zoom levels by itself. That's it right there. You can get the phone in either a standard version or this special Leica edition which comes with a few extras. For example, you'll find additional shooting modes in the camera app which recreate the look of classic Leica cameras. And this dual tone design inspired by Leica M series cameras is pretty neat.

The back here is split between fiber reinforced plastic and eco leather. Another interesting touch is the etched pattern on the side frame. These grooves feel nice, and we're fans of the additional grip they provide, too. The Leica Edition also comes with extra goodies inside the retail package. We got a magnetic case, a lens cap, a red lanyard, and a cleaning cloth. The case is nice and doesn't block the rotating mechanism. And the lens cap looks snazzy, but is it really necessary for a smartphone?

Finally, the Leica version packs a dedicated chip for security and encryption. as well as dual satellite communication, but that doesn't work outside of China. You heard that right. The phone we have here is only released in China for the time being. And the upcoming global release might bring some small changes. Anyway, now let's get into the display. It's slightly bigger than last year at 6.9 in. And it's flat with Xiaomi Shield Glass 2 protection. The resolution is lower this time around

for some reason, but still appears sharp in person. And it's nice to have more real estate. This screen is an LTPO one, and we saw it dialed down his smooth 120 Hz refresh rate quite low when idling to save power. We measured the display's max brightness to over 1100 nits maximum in automatic brightness mode. Not too high, but that goes much higher on a smaller patch of the display, over 3600 nits. So, HDR visuals look just fine, and the phone is easy to use out in the sun. The Ultra has stereo speakers for audio, and

they earned a score of good on our loudness charts. The sound quality is quite nice, even some of the best around. It's full and warm with clean vocals. You can check it out for yourself through the comparison tool link below. For biometrics, there's an ultrasonic underdis fingerprint reader, and for me, it worked flawlessly. Just a note that this is a new generation sensor which they promise is better compatible with glass screen protectors. And as on other Xiaomi phones, there's an IR blaster which you

can use to control other appliances with. The interface of the phone is Xiaomi's new Hyper OS 3 on top of Android 16. It's quite similar to what you may have seen on any relatively recent Xiaomi phone. The connectivity has been improved though to be compatible with not only Xiaomi devices logged into the same Xiaomi account but other manufacturers devices too. As I mentioned, this unit is imported from China, so some features that require Google services wouldn't work, like Google Discover, location

history, quick share, or Android Auto. However, setting things up was pretty straightforward. The Google Play Store was easy to find on Xiaomi's App Store, and from there, we installed the rest of the apps we wanted. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra packs Qualcomm's top chipset. And in our benchmark testing, this phone is up there with the best Android flagships we've reviewed. You won't be left wanting for power here. And when we tested the Ultra under prolonged stress, the phone handled itself pretty decently. The performance

did throttle down, but then it was relatively stable and quite all right for a flagship. Xiaomi's given this phone a huge battery upgrade all the way up to 6,800 mAh. The 17 Ultra aced our usual battery testing and got a commendable overall active use score of over 19 hours. This means it not only outlasts its predecessor, but many of its direct rivals, too. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra supports 90 watt charging, and our unit came with a Xiaomi 100 watt charger. With it, we were able to charge from zero to nearly 70% in half an hour, and

a full charge took a little less than an hour. There's also support for 50 watt wireless charging here. And now the cameras. There's a main cam with a 1-in type sensor, a novel telephoto camera with continuous zoom, and a high-res ultrawide with autofocus. The rotating ring around the cameras is a unique way to control them while you're shooting. It's customizable and can be used to launch the cameras and do things like zoom and adjust the exposure. But as we also discovered with the

iPhone's camera control key, this ring doesn't actually solve any problems. It's just an alternative way to do things. And because of how it's placed, it's quite easy to hit this ring with your finger when just using the phone normally. At least you can make a fidget spinner out of it. Anyway, in our testing, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra takes some of the best photos out of all the camera phones out there. It's got a superb main camera that is nearly flawless at its native focal length.

People shots are looking great, too. Even at two times digital zoom, the photos come out natural, sharp, and detailed. And in low light situations, the main camera's results are about as good as you can get on a phone. You get excellent dynamic range, exposures, sharpness, and detail. The new continuous zoom telephoto is excellent at both 3.2 two times and 4.3 time zoom. And it does well at the intermediate levels, too. While this camera can't focus as close as some competitors, you can still get

some solid close-ups through the help of a digital crop. And the telephoto cam definitely doesn't let you down at nighttime with top class detail. The ultra wide camera is better than most in daylight with very good sharpness for this sort of camera and it's also quite solid in low light situations. There's a new 50 megapixel selfie camera this time around and it brings improved detail as well as autofocusing capability. And as for the selfie video quality, you can stick around to the end

of this video to check that out as well. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra boasts a wide range of video recording capabilities, including 8K on all of the rear cameras, Dolby Vision recording, and a featurerich pro mode. Videos come out very good, though not class leading. They have excellent global properties, except that the sharpness leaves a little more to be desired. And again, when recording videos at night, the results are very good, though there are some competing camera phones that can come up with sharper results.

And overall, despite the electronic stabilization, the footage from the main cam is a bit shakier than expected. So, there you have it. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra Leica Edition. It's just a matter of time before this phone is released globally, and it's got excellent specs and quality across the board, especially the cameras. But, is it worth getting this expensive Leica version over the regular model? Sure, you do get the unique design and extra accessories in the box, but how useful is a lens cap

going to be. The satellite communication would only work in China, and the rotating camera ring seems to us borderline gimmicky. With all of this in mind, you might be better off to get the non-like a model and save some cash. But either way, you'll get a great camera phone. Thanks for watching, guys. If you'd like to compare to some other recent camera phones, you can check out our reviews of the OPPO Find X9 Pro and the Vivo X300 Pro. Let us know what you think down below, and I'll see you on the next one.