Xiaomi 17 Pro Max: An iPhone… But Better!

Summary

MKBHD reviews the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, a flagship smartphone that deliberately mirrors the iPhone 17 Pro Max in design and naming convention but aims to one-up Apple in nearly every specification. The phone features a 6.9-inch display with ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip matching iPhone’s single-core performance, a massive 7,500mAh silicon-carbon battery with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, and an impressive triple camera system. The standout feature is a 2.9-inch 120Hz OLED rear display that serves as a selfie viewfinder, notification center, and even supports a retro gaming controller case. While only available in China, the phone represents the most complete execution of the rear-screen concept to date.

Highlights

”Lighter than iPhone 17 Pro Max”

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“This phone is lighter than the iPhone 17 Pro Max” — Marques Brownlee, 4:19

”Charge up an iPhone to 100%”

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“22 and a half watt reverse wireless charging - so you can use this to wireless charge all your other devices and could charge up an iPhone to 100% if you really wanted to.” — Marques Brownlee, 4:25

”Highest quality selfies mankind has ever seen”

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“So turning it into a viewfinder for those primary cameras to take just the highest quality selfies mankind has ever seen.” — Marques Brownlee, 6:43

”Ridiculous retro handheld gaming case”

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“They even made this ridiculous retro handheld gaming case for the phone with real physical buttons. So if you put that on it connects via Bluetooth, and it becomes a controller for games on that back screen.” — Marques Brownlee, 9:37

”Back screen impressed me more than I ever thought”

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“This back screen really impressed me more than I ever thought I would in my life.” — Marques Brownlee, 10:41

Key Points

• 0:00 - Introduction comparing iPhone 17 Pro Max and Xiaomi 17 Pro Max designs
• 0:41 - Xiaomi’s software takes design cues from iOS including dynamic island
• 1:05 - Xiaomi renamed their flagship lineup to match iPhone’s naming (17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max)
• 1:38 - Display comparison: 6.9-inch with ultrasonic fingerprint sensor vs Face ID
• 2:11 - Chip comparison: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 matches iPhone A19 Pro in single-core, beats in multi-core
• 2:52 - Paired with 16GB RAM and up to 1TB storage
• 3:07 - Battery comparison begins
• 3:14 - Xiaomi 17 Pro has 6,300mAh battery (bigger than S25 Ultra, OnePlus 13, any iPhone)
• 3:37 - Pro Max has 7,500mAh battery with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging
• 4:12 - Silicon carbon battery tech keeps phone lighter than iPhone 17 Pro Max
• 4:25 - 22.5W reverse wireless charging can charge other devices
• 4:44 - Camera overview: triple camera system with detailed, crisp shots
• 5:26 - 5x optical zoom telephoto with nice portrait mode
• 5:49 - Teleprompter mode feature in camera app
• 5:59 - Rear display reveal: 3,000 nit 120Hz OLED
• 6:30 - Rear display sizes: 2.7” on Pro, 2.9” on Pro Max
• 6:38 - Rear display as selfie viewfinder for primary cameras
• 7:02 - History of rear screens: Xiaomi 11 Ultra had similar concept
• 7:34 - 2025 version is full edge-to-edge screen
• 7:42 - Rear display features: clock faces, notifications, camera quick access
• 8:14 - UI similar to Apple Watch with widgets and customization
• 8:44 - Always-on display for notifications and camera viewfinder
• 9:06 - Timer display and music/call controls on back screen
• 9:37 - Retro handheld gaming case with Bluetooth controller
• 10:16 - Most complete version of rear screen concept ever
• 10:26 - Comparisons to Nothing Phone 3 and ROG Phone 9 rear displays
• 10:41 - Back screen implemented without drawbacks, still IP68 rated
• 11:05 - Screen protector included for both front and back
• 11:17 - Overall impressions: Very impressed but China-only availability
• 11:25 - Dbrand helped source the review unit

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Surprising Quotes

“This phone is lighter than the iPhone 17 Pro Max” - Despite having a 7,500mAh battery, the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max weighs less than its Apple counterpart thanks to silicon carbon battery technology. 4:19

“22 and a half watt reverse wireless charging - so you can use this to wireless charge all your other devices and could charge up an iPhone to 100% if you really wanted to” - The Xiaomi can fully charge an iPhone wirelessly. 4:25

“To take just the highest quality selfies mankind has ever seen” - Using the rear display as a viewfinder allows using the main cameras for selfies. 6:43

“They even made this ridiculous retro handheld gaming case for the phone with real buttons - so if you put that on it connects via Bluetooth, and it becomes a controller on that back screen” - Xiaomi created a gaming accessory that turns the rear display into a portable gaming screen. 9:37

“This back screen really impressed me more than I ever thought I would in my life” - MKBHD admits being genuinely impressed by the rear display implementation. 10:41

Full Transcript

0:00 So this is the iPhone 17 Pro Max and this is the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. And at first glance, it would appear as just another Chinese iPhone clone because it kinda is, and that’s kind of how Xiaomi has been making their appeal to iPhone users for years now. It’s an extremely similar shape. It has the same flat sides, the speakers and the antenna lines, and just the general aesthetic. Like this one’s camera bump is very reminiscent of the new iPhone’s.

0:41 The software experience has also taken some not so subtle cues from iOS, from the quick control pull down to certain stock app aesthetics to even certain widgets and icons. They have their own dynamic island and Xiaomi even, yes, changed the name of their whole flagship phone to match the iPhone’s. So yes, there is a base Xiaomi 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max this year.

1:11 But as I talked about in the video link below the like button, that stuff’s just to get you in the door. That’s just to make you comfortable. But then, once you start looking and actually using it like I have, that’s when you’re exposed to all the rest of what makes it so good. And this phone is impressive. I guess, specifically, it’s like an iPhone but better.

1:38 Like take this display, for example. This is the Pro Max, 6.9 inch diagonal, same as the iPhone Pro Max. Pretty similar, even the resolution. Now it’s actually slightly higher on the Xiaomi but you can never tell. What you can tell is it has a smaller notch and it has a much higher screen-to-body ratio because it trades face ID for a super fast ultrasonic fingerprint sensor underneath the display. So you know, like an iPhone, but better.

2:06 But you know, maybe all that’s superficial. Like the iPhone’s display is great. What about the chip? Because the iPhone Pro Max is the absolute maximum performance and that A19 Pro chip with the vapor chamber is pretty sick. But the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max is one of the first phones shipping with the new Qualcomm flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and turns out it’s made some impressive gains over the already impressive previous generation to the point where it’s essentially now matching the iPhone’s record breaking single core performance bar for bar and it’s actually beating it in multi-core.

2:46 So now it has credible claim to just be the world’s fastest smartphone chip and it’s paired with 16 gigs of RAM and up to a terabyte of storage. So yeah, I’d say like an iPhone but better.

3:02 But okay, every flagship has a fast chip. That’s just bragging rights, you know, a little higher benchmark score. What about battery? That’s where the Pro Max is really impressive. Yeah.

3:14 So the smaller Xiaomi 17 Pro has a silicon carbon battery, the highest density we’ve ever seen. It is a 6,300 milliamp hour battery. That’s already bigger than the S25 Ultra, bigger than the OnePlus 13, bigger than any iPhone and that’s without getting huge.

3:35 But then this Pro Max, well this Pro Max has a 7,500 milliamp hours and it has 100 watt wired charging with a charger that comes in the box and it has 50 watt wireless charging. This thing is ridiculous. You know, I haven’t really been able to fully test it since it’s been just a few days, and I can’t run my normal battery test since it’s the China only version but I kind of have zero doubts that this is gonna be a battery champion. So if that’s something you want in a Pro Max flagship, this is your phone.

4:12 And the fact that it’s silicon carbon means you get all this extra capacity but the phone’s not any thicker. Matter of fact, this phone is lighter than the iPhone 17 Pro Max. My favorite stat, though, 22 and a half watt reverse wireless charging. So you can use this to wireless charge all your other devices and could charge up an iPhone to 100% if you really wanted to. So yeah, the battery is kind of just better.

4:44 Now if it’s cameras that you care about, well naturally the triple camera setup on the iPhone 17 Pros is excellent. I don’t think it’s a coincidence, though, that this Xiaomi is nicely outfitted also with triple cameras that all have higher megapixel counts for a nice little one up. But it’s not the megapixel count that matters.

5:02 What matters is all three of these cameras are actually really good. They’re super impressive. They each take very detailed, crisp shots with a naturally shallow depth of field, and honestly mostly decent colors with some different tastes. You know, they tend to overexpose faces like a lot of other phones do. But my own skin tone with no faces detected looks great.

5:24 The telephoto has also impressed me. It’s a 5x optical zoom and it produces very sharp results and naturally a really nice portrait look. And these are all just 12 megapixel shots, not even full 50 megapixel shots.

5:36 And then there’s a bunch of nice features in the camera app UI, which you’re watching right now. Also the little exposure slider which is always there, I actually use that a lot and it’s sweet. Also teleprompter mode, which lets you read text while recording video and no one would ever know, mostly.

5:59 But there’s one more important thing, one more very important thing that I’ve somehow gotten through this whole video without mentioning it, which is that if you hit this button in the corner, that turns on the preview on the rear display, the back display. Because yes, that entire camera module I mentioned earlier is actually a 3,000 nit 120 hertz OLED display.

6:28 And it’s kind of a lot bigger than before. On the 17 Pro, it’s 2.7 inches diagonally. Here on the Pro Max, it’s 2.9 inches, and it’s only really interrupted by the camera lenses.

6:38 So turning it into a viewfinder for those primary cameras to take just the highest quality selfies mankind has ever seen. Kind of a no-brainer. And then you get all of the camera controls. You can do zoom, you can switch lenses and video modes and stuff like that. So that is the number one use case.

6:58 But now that it’s so much bigger, there’s also way more you can do with it. You might remember a couple years ago, this is not the first time we’ve seen a screen on the back camera bump. The Xiaomi 11 Ultra wasn’t that long ago and it had the same thing, an absolutely gigantic camera bump and a little screen on the back.

7:16 But the thing is, this concept has evolved just like the outside folding phone screens. Like when they were small, you could kind of only check the time or maybe a notification alert. But then it got a bit bigger and it was enough to see yourself for a quick selfie. So that was nice.

7:34 And now the year is 2025 and it’s a full screen edge to edge and there’s way more you can do with it. So on this phone, you can tap to wake it where it’s showing clock faces. Could be an analog style, could be a digital style, could be an Apple Watch ripoff style.

7:55 But once it’s awake, you can swipe down to check your notifications. You can also swipe over from the side to the camera app and you can swipe up to close whatever’s open.

8:08 And then a lot of the widget interface is frankly just like an Apple Watch. And that’s probably exactly what iPhone users would expect if they suddenly had a screen on the back of their phone. So you can hold down and swipe back and forth between your widgets.

8:27 And then if you want to add more options, the settings app has a whole section dedicated to personalization, changing colors and dialing in all sorts of customization. Everything from complicated watch faces to fitness themed widgets to simple minimalist looks. It’s everything. And there’s a whole marketplace of all sorts of other options. So there’s something for everyone.

8:44 And then just beyond even the always-on display of the phone that you can always see and see your notifications and the camera view finder, there’s all sorts of other neat touches. Like this feels very well considered. It’s like a real, genuine feature, a reason to buy the phone. I feel like they’ve pushed this concept into an actual useful thing.

9:06 Like this can also show live activities. So if you’ve got a timer running and it shows this nice little animation to show your progress on that timer. Why would you do this over watching a countdown on the main display? I don’t know, but it looks cool.

9:23 And then it also shows things like phone calls or music playback, and then I can control them from the back. Why would I do this on the back instead of the main screen? I still don’t really know, but it looks cool.

9:37 They even made this ridiculous retro handheld gaming case for the phone with real physical buttons. So if you put that on it connects via Bluetooth, and it becomes a controller for games on that back screen. I can’t believe they actually made this thing.

9:59 Why would anyone wanna play games on a small screen with two huge camera lenses in the way instead of actually playing some games on that awesome main screen? I still don’t know and I probably wouldn’t, but nostalgia really does something to some people’s brains.

10:16 But really I bring up all of this to say that this is clearly the most complete version of the rear screen concept that I think we’ve ever seen. Like I said, we’ve seen it before. We saw Xiaomi do it with that 11 Ultra, but we also saw the Nothing Phone 3, which did that dot matrix thing, which was kind of useful sometimes, or even the ROG Phone 9 for that matter, but none of them quite passed the usefulness test.

10:41 This back screen really impressed me more than I ever thought I would in my life, just because of how good the cameras are, and the fact that they’ve done it all with basically no drawbacks, like it’s edge to edge, it somehow doesn’t disrupt the feel of holding the phone. And like I said, it’s still IP68. You can dunk the whole thing in water.

11:04 And it even has a screen protector on both the front and the back screen because, you know, you’re gonna set it down on some debris once in a while, and yeah, you could still scratch it but so would a normal glass back anyway.

11:17 So I’m impressed. I’m very impressed. I am bummed that I can’t use it as my daily driver because like I said, this is a China version of it. And shout out to Dbrand for actually going and getting one in my hands, ‘cause a lot of you were asking. So I’m glad I did and I hope we can get something like this over in these parts ‘cause what it does next to the iPhone is really compelling.

11:41 Anyway, that’s been it. Thanks for watching. Catch you in the next one. Peace.