You might know Xiaomi for its, well, everything. It wasn’t one of the Chinese company’s vacs, TV boxes, or massage guns that caught our attention today, however. It was the Xiaomi 17T and 17T Pro phones that appeared to have leaked ahead of their official launch, thanks to the folks over at WinFuture (via GSMArena).
Normally, we’d be discontent with watching these upper mid-rangers from afar, but after the Xiaomi 15T got its start in South Africa in October, we’re a little more optimistic about their future here. We’ll likely still have to wait a month or two, but we can wait. Just don’t be surprised if South Africa doesn’t get a turn with the Pro model.
Xiaomi’s playing it safe
In addition to a couple of official-looking renders, we’ve got a pretty solid idea of what’s inside the phone, as well as its outside. The cheaper Xiaomi 17T will keep the budget down by utilising a plastic shell, while the 17T Pro rewards the big spenders with a metal one. Either way, Xiaomi’s punting a fairly bog-standard look here. A single punch hole adorns the flat display, while a triple-camera array lives on the back. See? Nothing special.
More important are the screens themselves. You’re getting a 6.59in 1.5K AMOLED panel for your budget bucks, and a 120Hz refresh rate. Go Pro, however, and Xiaomi will up that to a 6.83in OLED, capable of hitting 144Hz. Xiaomi’s keeping other specs, like peak brightness, close to its chest.
We’d rather know what’s powering the device. Thankfully, we do. The 17T will probably adopt (remember, these are still just rumours) a Dimensity 8500 SoC, bolstered by 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB storage. The 17T Pro will seemingly have the same RAM spec, but upgrade to Dimensity’s flagship 9500 chip.
Read More: Xiaomi is coming for your morning cup of coffee
Both devices will employ a triple camera setup, with the cheaper 17T getting a 50MP (Light Fusion 800) main shooter, 50MP telephoto, and a 12MP ultrawide. The 17T Pro apes its sibling’s cameras at nearly every turn, only swapping out the main sensor for a more competent 50MP main Light Fusion 950 sensor.
Xiaomi’s packed a (hopefully) decent 6,500mAh battery into the plastic frame of the 17T, accompanied by 67W charging. While pretty enticing on its own, the 17T Pro will plead its case with a 7,000mAh battery and support for 100W wired charging (and 50W wireless). Again, though, Saffas may not have much of a choice come launch.
That’s assuming Xiaomi doesn’t skip South Africa entirely with the 17T line-up. We’ll find out whether we cracked the list a month or two after launch, which could come as early as May. Why Xiaomi is nixing the September launch is unknown, but we’re not complaining.
A report from Dealabs gives us a rough idea of what sort of pricing the Xiaomi 17T will take on. A rough R15,000 (€750) starting price is being thrown around for the 17T (12GB/256GB variant), while the 17T Pro may start as high as R20,000 (€1,000) for the 12/512GB model.
