Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Xiaomi 17 Ultra (& Leica edition)

EDITORIAL: Apple decided to introduce an aluminium frame for it's Pro phones after years of promoting steel and titanium as better options. The camera bump now stretches across the top portion of the back to allow for a bigger battery and the new cooling chamber. These make for the biggest design changes in years and its a needed move considering there is much more Android competition in the premium segment. All of the back cameras are now 48MP but photography is not showing improvement over 16 Pro Max while phones from Vivo, Huawei, Vivo and Xiaomi now offer better pics. A new 18MP selfie produces great photos (as did the old one) and iPhone Pros still record the best videos, front and back. New A19 Pro is a good processor but not as powerful as are the latest SnapDragon and Mediatec chips. iOS 26 brings Liquid Glass design language while keeping the fundamentals same. UI design feels a bit outdated with multiple pages of icons and (while labels can now be removed) the overall design is not as flexible as with Android competition.

EDITORIAL: Ten months since last Xiaomi’s Ultra comes a phone with the first-ever physical zoom ring. 17 Ultra Leica edition features a physical zoom ring, ribbed frame for better grip, encryption chip and dual satellite communication chops that plain 17 Ultra lacks. Both models loose one of the two telephoto lenses 15 Ultra had and their screens drop below 500ppi. The phones gained in width and battery size but their photography skills are better then ever. SUPERPOWER: this is the TOP 5 photo phone in the world