Xiaomi is introducing a $630 phone to rival the Apple iPhone 17
Published on Sep 26, 2025 at 6:07 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Sep 26, 2025 at 6:07 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Ben Thompson
Xiaomi has unveiled the new 17 Pro, a direct rival to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but with a twist.
According to the tech brand, it has a better camera and a better battery.
It even has a second screen near the main camera.
And the price of this tech marvel will surprise you.
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Like an iPhone, but with an extra screen
Visually, the Xiaomi 17 Pro looks similar to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but it has an extra screen at the back.
The Chinese tech giant calls this new screen the ‘Dynamic Back Display’, and it measures 2.5 inches in width and 1.8 inches in height.
You can use it for a variety of things.
For example, you can use it to display animated and/or custom wallpapers or to display notifications with certain apps for things like flights, trains, ride-hailing apps, food delivery apps and so on and so forth.
Coming in with a 6.7-inch display, the 17 Pro features 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage and 5X optical zoom for the camera.
The camera is technically smaller – 6,300mAh vs 7,500mAh – but the tech company uses silicon-carbon battery technology, which means the phone can offer the same battery life even though it is slimmer.
In China, Xiaomi 17 Pro starts at $5,640, which makes it a lot cheaper than a 17 Pro Max.
The bad news is, for now, 17 Pro is not available anywhere else.
Xiaomi is still a tech company
We tend to forget these days since the company is mostly making headlines for its cars but Xiaomi is technically a tech company.
A couple of years ago, to everyone’s surprise, the Chinese company unveiled a new sedan, which is now available alongside an SUV that looks vaguely similar to the Ferrari Purosangue.
But Xiaomi is a tech company, and they’ve been in business for a long time.
Founded in 2010, the company spent the next 10 years focusing on budget smartphones to rival Apple and Samsung, and it then branched out to produce electric cars.
It’s going to be interesting to see what’s next for the automaker/tech giant.
