Xiaomi 17 Ultra - More Camera than Phone!

MKBHD reviews Xiaomi 17 Ultra Leica Edition, calling it the most fun smartphone camera experience ever despite not being the outright best.

• Main camera is a 1-inch, 50MP sensor at f/1.67 — unusually large for a smartphone.
• Telephoto is 200MP with true variable focal length (75–100mm), enabling crop-free punch-in before digital zoom.
• Leica modes (M9 daylight-locked, M3 monochrome film emulation) are baked into the capture pipeline, not post-processing filters.
• Physical camera ring simulates notched clicks via haptics and is fully remappable per mode (zoom, exposure, manual focus, shutter speed, white balance Kelvin).
• Phone shoots 1080p at 1,920 fps and 8K video; maintains IP69 rating despite the moving ring mechanism.
• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, 6,800 mAh silicon-carbon battery, 90W wired and 50W wireless charging.
• Critical flaw: camera app resets resolution to 12MP bin mode on every relaunch, breaking the ‘real camera’ experience the phone markets itself on.
• MKBHD rates it best camera shooting experience on any smartphone, not best image quality — a meaningful distinction.

2026-01-22 · Watch on YouTube