If you're planning to change your phone in the next year, I highly recommend doing so now.
This quote comes from Lei Jun's remarks at last night's launch event when he introduced the price of the Xiaomi 17 Max. It sounds like a sales pitch, but it also points out a rather helpless reality—in the next two years, memory costs will continue to rise, and mobile phone prices will most likely only get more and more expensive.
So, if you're looking to get a new phone, how about the brand new Xiaomi 17 Max?
In conclusion: This is an "ordinary" product. The configuration is basically as expected, except that the screen and battery are larger and the imaging configuration has been slightly modified.
This is not to say that it is not a good product. In fact, its experience is quite solid, and it is probably my favorite phone in the entire Xiaomi 17 series.
However, it would be more interesting to discuss why the Xiaomi 17 Max exists in the context of the broader environment than to discuss the product itself.
Large screen and super long battery life
Unlike the Redmi K90 Max, which focuses on performance, the "Max" in Xiaomi 17 Max has multiple meanings.
The most obvious difference is the 6.9-inch screen size, which is larger than the Xiaomi 17. However, it is not a simple proportional enlargement. Whether it is the appearance design or the configuration, its highlights are very prominent: huge battery capacity, 200-megapixel main camera and periscope telephoto lens.
Even though the design languages of the entire Xiaomi 17 family (standard version, Max, Pro, Ultra) are quite different, the Xiaomi 17 Max is still the most out of place—its black square Deco design clearly belongs more with the Xiaomi 13-15.
In recent years, Xiaomi has put a lot of effort into the "feel" of its phones. The Xiaomi 17 Max continues the excellent feel of the Xiaomi 17, with a frosted glass back panel and a metal frame. The texture is quite delicate, the transition is smooth, and the weight distribution is relatively reasonable. It is much easier to hold than the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max with a back screen.
Xiaomi officially stated that the 1.5K screen of the Xiaomi 17 Max uses "Super Pixel" technology, which can display clearer textures and details. However, without a magnifying glass to look at the pixels, the difference is actually hard to perceive. On the contrary, the 6.9-inch narrow bezel screen brings a very obvious improvement in the viewing experience.
With the body size further increased, the Xiaomi 17 Max also managed to fit in a massive 8000mAh battery, making battery life another extremely prominent advantage.
During the week I used the Xiaomi 17 Max, I almost completely said goodbye to "battery anxiety": after two days of normal use, the battery still had about 15% left.
Moreover, the large battery did not bring any noticeable burden to charging. With 100W fast charging fully enabled, the phone can be charged from 12% to full in about 55 minutes, which is a satisfactory speed.
Finally, let's look at the performance. Although it uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor as the Xiaomi 17, the larger body and more space for heat dissipation allow for more flexible performance scheduling. The Geekbench 6 score is slightly higher than the Xiaomi 17, but the difference is very small.
Footage with both selective omissions and juicy details
Besides the large screen and large battery, another highlight of the Xiaomi 17 Max is the adjustment of its imaging configuration, with two key features: a 200-megapixel main camera and a periscope telephoto lens.
Let's talk about the 200-megapixel main camera first. In terms of specific configuration, it has a 1/1.4-inch sensor and a large f/1.68 aperture, which is the same as the main camera of the vivo X300. In fact, its size is smaller than the 1/1.28-inch main camera of the Xiaomi 17.
Based on specifications and user experience, the main camera of the Xiaomi 17 Max and the Xiaomi 17 are evenly matched. In low-light scenes, the detail of the Xiaomi 17 Max's images is significantly weaker than that of the Xiaomi 17, but it is less prone to highlight clipping and overexposure issues like those found in the latter.
The 200-megapixel configuration, which even the Pro version lacks, is more of a sweet spot. The processing time of up to 10 seconds and the file size of up to 60MB make this feature unsuitable for everyday shooting. It is more suitable for use in some complex scenes and where lighting conditions are required.
What significantly impacts the user experience is that when reviewing 200-megapixel photos in the album, there's a wait for a clearer image to load each time you zoom in, as well as a waiting time after each shot—while Vivo, with the same 200-megapixel resolution, can already produce photos instantly and zoom in smoothly.
The periscope telephoto lens performs even better. Unlike the Xiaomi 17 Pro series, the Xiaomi 17 Max features a 3x telephoto lens, making it more suitable for everyday shooting compositions.
Even when magnified to 6x or higher, the Xiaomi 17 Max still performs very well, although the algorithmic effect becomes slightly more pronounced in low light.
The only drawback is that the ultra-wide-angle lens of the Xiaomi 17 Max is still the same "narrow ultra-wide" lens as the Xiaomi 17 series, with a focal length of only 17mm. The resulting images are not much different from those of the main camera, and there will be a noticeable "not wide enough" feeling.
As a user who isn't exactly a photography enthusiast, I prefer to use a telephoto lens for everyday shooting. Therefore, the imaging experience of the Xiaomi 17 Max is more comfortable than the standard version. The main camera also has a unique sweet spot of 200 million pixels, which is more in line with the needs of daily photography and light creative work.
Large-screen phones are back.
In the first half of last year, Xiaomi launched its "half-generation flagship" – the Xiaomi 15s Pro – whose biggest highlight was Xiaomi's first self-developed processor, the Xuanjie O1.
This year, the Xiaomi 17 Max has taken that spot.
If the Xiaomi 15s Pro is a phone that "chasees dreams," its most appealing aspect is that long-lost emotional value and idealistic spirit—
The Xiaomi 17 Max is a more "down-to-earth" phone. It doesn't rely on storytelling or emotional appeal, but wins people over with its powerful and robust configuration.
This shift will be particularly evident in 2026. So far this year, all new smartphones released, except for those from Apple and Huawei, have seen significant price increases due to soaring costs. For example, the Oppo Find X9s Pro, with the same specifications, is 1000 yuan more expensive than last year's Find X8s+.
When products become more expensive, to attract customers, they must have a very eye-catching advantage that makes consumers feel that their money is "worth it".
For example, the vivo Y600 Pro was originally a low-end product line. In previous generations, it tried to emulate the flagship X series in terms of appearance and configuration. However, this year it has switched to features such as a large battery and dust and water resistance, which is a more tangible advantage for consumers in the 2000 yuan price range.
The Xiaomi 17 Max, positioned as a flagship phone, follows a similar strategy: a large screen and a large battery provide a solid foundation for practicality, while sacrificing the size of the main camera sensor in favor of more perceptible "sweet spots" like 200-megapixel resolution and periscope telephoto lens to further support the price.
The Xiaomi 17 Max starts at 4799 yuan, and after the national subsidy, it's 4299 yuan. At this price, you get a Snapdragon flagship chip, an 8000mAh large battery, and a 6.9-inch large screen. Plus, it's a new phone from 2026. All these advantages combined contribute to the Xiaomi 17 Max's product strength.
These very "flashy" upgrades are designed to make you feel that this not-so-cheap phone is a worthwhile purchase.
Interestingly, after three years of sluggish sales, Apple finally discontinued the "large screen standard version" model last year.
The starkly contrasting choices made by Xiaomi and Apple reflect the completely different brand identities and strategic paths the two companies have taken.
Aside from a larger screen and a larger battery, the iPhone Plus doesn't offer any other upgrades and costs 1,000 yuan more, placing it between the standard and Pro versions.
For Apple, the iPhone Plus is more like a price anchor, further highlighting the value of the "Pro" version. They don't need to add more features to it, which would reduce the original high profit margin of the product and may also affect the sales of Pro products.
Xiaomi cannot match Apple's brand power, making it unable to further support a premium price. Coupled with the precedent of the iPhone Plus's lukewarm reception, Xiaomi needs to provide consumers with a more compelling reason to buy through more obvious features.
In a sense, the Xiaomi 17 Max is actually the "Xiaomi 17s", a half-generation updated flagship designed to refresh its presence – and the "large screen" is a very "present" selling point.
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