Xiaomi has announced the 17T and 17T Pro, two cheaper spins on its 17 series flagships. As is usual for the T-series, the focus is more on performance than photography, with the biggest batteries Xiaomi has included on any of its phones outside China yet.
The 17T includes a 6,500mAh silicon-carbon battery, while the 17T Pro goes even bigger with 7,000mAh, which I found to be enough to keep the phone running for up to two days. Xiaomi has included bigger batteries than these on previous China-only phones — the recent 17 Max has an 8,000mAh capacity — but never its international models, except those released under subsidiary Poco.
Both phones are powered by MediaTek Dimensity chipsets — the 8500-Ultra in the 17T, and the 9500 in the 17T Pro — with 12GB of RAM. The Pro model is bigger, with a 6.83-inch display rather than 6.59-inch, and also benefits from a 144Hz refresh rate, wireless charging, and faster 100W wired charging.
The camera setups are almost identical, apart from a slightly larger main camera sensor on the 17T Pro — both phones have the same 50-megapixel, 5x telephoto camera; 12-megapixel ultrawide; and 32-megapixel selfie shooter. I tested the 17T Pro for a few days and mostly enjoyed the camera, but it’s pretty clearly a step down from the regular Xiaomi 17, which uses the same main camera but is superior across the other three lenses. The 17T phones are for those who want bigger versions of the Xiaomi flagship, with better battery life, and don’t mind compromising a little on the cameras to get it.
Both 17T phones are launching across Europe. The 17T starts from €749 (about $870), while the 17T Pro begins at €899 ($1,045), keeping them comfortably cheaper than the €999 Xiaomi 17.
Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge
