Renaming on one hand and adding a rear screen on the other, can the Xiaomi 17 Pro really compete with Apple?

Did you guys watch the Xiaomi new product launch event the day before yesterday? Tony thinks that Xiaomi expanding its product line from the standard and Pro models to the standard, Pro, and Pro Max models, aiming to comprehensively compete with Apple, is actually a strategic move similar to Tian Ji's horse - racing strategy in product planning.

After all, Xiaomi has been learning from Apple in recent years and achieved great success in the 6.3 - inch "small - screen" market. Last year, other smartphone manufacturers also learned from Xiaomi and tasted the benefits of the "small - screen" trend, starting to compete in the 6.3 - inch phone market.

Even Apple, a well - established brand, has gone against its traditions and adopted "Android - style thinking" by equipping the standard version of the iPhone 17 with a 6.3 - inch high - refresh - rate screen, making the iPhone 17 standard version a hit this year.

Facing such a market situation, Xiaomi finally gave its answer at the launch event. Let's get back to the main topic of today's article: How good is the Xiaomi 17 Pro?

Let me give you the conclusion directly:

If last year's Xiaomi 15 series was Xiaomi's first step in the direction of "emphasizing user experience over specifications", then this year's Xiaomi 17 Pro is the result of Xiaomi's continued efforts in this direction.

In this regard, the Xiaomi 17 Pro is quite similar to Apple. Its specifications may not seem outstanding, but the more you use it in daily life, the smoother the experience becomes. However, the addition of the rear screen makes it less like an Apple product...

Next, let me specifically talk about the user experience of the Xiaomi 17 Pro, which starts at 4,999 yuan.

Performance & System

Tony plans to discuss the most controversial rear screen at the end. Let's first talk about the upgrade of the processor.

Just like in previous years, this year's Xiaomi 17 Pro is still the first to be equipped with Qualcomm's new flagship processor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5.

Many of you might be wondering, wasn't the previous generation just the 8 Elite? Why did it jump straight to Gen 5 this time? Tony believes that Qualcomm thought last year's product line was too confusing (it was hard to tell the differences among 8 Elite, 8 Gen 3, and 8s Gen4). This year, unifying them under Gen 5 avoids such confusion.

Let's look at the specific benchmark scores. In the CPU section, the 8 Elite Gen5 can compete with the A19 Pro. The gap in single - core performance is very small, and the multi - core performance is on par. Compared with the previous generation 8 Elite, the performance has increased by about 17%.

Graphics performance used to be Qualcomm's strength. However, this year, the GPU performance of Apple's A19 has improved far more than expected.

After all this talk, how does it perform in actual games? We set the room temperature at 25 degrees Celsius, tested each game for half an hour, and used perfdog to record the whole process to see if the 8 Elite Gen5 can handle it.

First, in Genshin Impact when exploring Sumeru City, running at the highest graphics settings is no longer a problem. At a resolution of 930P, the average frame rate remains stable at 60 FPS, and the power consumption is 3.8W. With the lower power consumption, the temperature on the back of the phone is only 41.5 degrees Celsius. It seems that Genshin Impact will soon be on par with Honor of Kings as a medium - to - low - load test...

In the more demanding game Honkai: Star Rail, when exploring the Golden Hour area, it can still maintain a frame rate of 59.7 FPS at 800P resolution. From the frame - rate curve, we can see that the 8 Elite Gen5 can handle this game well.

However, performance is not what people worry about when it comes to Xiaomi flagships. What really needs attention is HyperOS. We've already published an article about this year's HyperOS 3. You can click the link to read it.

In summary, this year's HyperOS 3 should not be a drag. Combined with the performance of the 8 Elite Gen 5, Tony believes that the daily user experience will definitely be good.

Imaging

When it comes to imaging... To put it nicely, Xiaomi has truly implemented a comprehensive competition strategy against Apple in this area. But to put it bluntly, although Xiaomi is an Android manufacturer, its approach to imaging has never been typical of Android.

Because Xiaomi has been relatively conservative in selecting imaging components for its Pro series and has been quicker to adopt features such as ultrasonic fingerprint sensors, USB3.2 Gen1, and IP68/69 ratings.

Compared with the "imaging flagship" strategy adopted by other high - end Android phones, Xiaomi's approach makes its phones more like "well - rounded flagships" or even "Apple - like flagships".

Based on previous reviews, Xiaomi fans do appreciate this more balanced approach to flagship phones. After all, a phone should first be a good all - around device before being a good camera.

Imaging specifications of the Xiaomi 17 Pro

However, there are also some highlights in this year's Pro model's imaging system. The periscope telephoto lens that was first used in last year's Pro model is now on the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max.

The Xiaomi 17 Pro uses an inverted periscope lens similar to that of last year's OPPO Find X8, which allows for a longer focal - length lens assembly in a thinner body.

Another highlight is the main camera. Although it is advertised as the Light Hunter 950L, according to Tony's sources, it is actually a customized version of the SC590XS sensor from domestic sensor manufacturer SmartSens.

This sensor is advertised to have a 1/1.28 - inch large - size sensor and a high dynamic range of 16.5EV based on LOFIC technology. Previously, the Huawei Pura 80 Ultra used SmartSens' SC5A0CS sensor to achieve a high dynamic range of 16EV, which was highly praised. Xiaomi has now increased it by 0.5 EV. It is also said that the upcoming Huawei Mate 80 series will use the SC590XS. You can imagine its significance.

Without further ado, let's compare the sample photos taken by the previous - generation Xiaomi 15 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro.

In daily shooting, the basic quality of this main camera is still good. In this set of sample photos, the Xiaomi 17 Pro captures the color of the house paint more accurately.

From top to bottom: Xiaomi 17 Pro, Xiaomi 15 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro

In this set of photos, it shows the difference in color tone preferences between Xiaomi and Apple.

From top to bottom: Xiaomi 17 Pro, Xiaomi 15 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro

In this set of photos with high - contrast lighting, the high dynamic range of the main camera shows its advantage. The details in the dark areas of the Xiaomi 17 Pro's photos are significantly better than those of the previous generation.