Xiaomi 17T 2 Month Review: This ₹64,999 Phone Gets Almost Everything Right

We all know what the current smartphone market is like, with prices increasing and options for value buyers vanishing every day. There is, however, one segment where this notion doesn’t apply: the around ₹60K segment. It’s the only area where I see really good phones, and there’s one I’ve been testing for about two months now: the Xiaomi 17T. It costs about ₹64,999, and for that, you get MediaTek’s near-flagship Dimensity 8500 processor, a premium design, and a triple-camera setup whose telephoto lens is better than the regular Xiaomi 17’s, at least on paper. Given those promises, I knew I had to test the Xiaomi 17T for a long time and get to know its ins and outs like someone who’d actually buy the phone.

I got the perfect opportunity to test the 17T’s limits on a recent trip to Vietnam. If you’ve already been there, you know August isn’t the best time to visit Vietnam. It’s rainy season, and some days can get really humid. The Xiaomi 17T served as my primary phone for the whole trip, which meant constant GPS navigation to find my Grab driver, checking restaurant reviews, and taking about 1,000 photos. But is it worth your money? This review should help you find out.

Design & Hardware

Xiaomi’s T-series phones have followed a simple rule. Take what you can from the flagships, like the internals and design, and leave the rest of the fluff out to hit a price point that’s more accessible. The Xiaomi 17T follows this exact philosophy, with a design that’s straight from the regular 17 series, and that’s a great thing. Xiaomi has created a recognizable identity with its flagships, which is important if you want to take the fight to Apple and Samsung. Unlike the others, however, the 17T ditches the individual glass-top camera modules, and probably for the best. As good as they looked, a lot of dust collected in between the crevices. With the 17T, you don’t have to worry about it. The sensors are part of a camera island that’s stunning to look at. Perfectly aligned, as all things should be

You get three color options: Sky Blue, Violet, or Black. I got the Violet model for review, and it’s definitely the best of the three. The finish is matte, so you don’t have to worry about fingerprints, and the back shimmers a little when light hits just right. It’s a great phone to take photos of, which is the highest compliment.

The frame, though, is where Xiaomi has cut some costs because it’s plastic. I don’t have a problem with plastic frames because they tend to hold up well in drops, and the same is true for the 17T. Yes, I did drop it by accident inside a train in Vietnam, and it escaped without a mark. You can also use the included case for more peace of mind. Handling also felt pretty good thanks to its relatively compact dimensions, and you can use it easily one-handed.

The 17T has an optical fingerprint scanner located at the bottom of the display. In practice, it worked well to unlock the phone in just about every scenario, even when my fingers were soaking wet after being at the beach. Speaking of that, you get IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance ratings. I took the phone in the swimming pool to capture some shots of the view, and it came out just fine. Just remember not to take your phone into seawater, as it can damage the phone.

Display

If you’re a company making a more affordable flagship, the display is one area you might cut corners. Well, that’s not the case with the Xiaomi 17T. It features a big 6.59-inch 1.5K AMOLED panel, with a 120Hz refresh rate. The bezels on the sides are just a tad wider than those on the regular 17, but still premium enough. Beyond that, watching movies and other content is a joy on the 17T. Colors have that punch that makes things look lively, and sharpness is on point. I watched Ted Lasso while on the flight to Vietnam and had no complaints.

Xiaomi says the brightness can reach up to 3,200 nits, and it certainly felt bright enough in Nha Trang’s summer heat. The panel was always visible, even in direct sunlight. As expected, this pays great dividends in the HDR performance of the 17T. Combined with Dolby Vision and HDR10+, you’d be enjoying every movie on Netflix and Prime. The panel covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color space, so it should be well suited to editing reels or shorts.

Since this is a Xiaomi phone, there are tons of display features. The best are PWM and DC Dimming. Both can make AMOLED displays more comfortable for people with sensitive eyes. There’s also this new Reading Mode that you can configure to turn on at any time. When enabled, the display reduces blue light, which can interfere with your sleep schedule, and adds a paper-like texture.

Performance & Software

Powering the Xiaomi 17T is MediaTek’s Dimensity 8500 Ultra processor, built on the 4nm platform. It’s coupled with the Mali-G720 MC8 GPU, up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and 512GB UFS 4.1 storage. You can think of the 8500 Ultra as a smaller cousin of the flagship 9500 found in devices like the vivo X300 Ultra. In everyday use, it’s more than capable. Coupled with HyperOS, the 17T flies through its UI without breaking a sweat. Animations have that Apple-level smoothness, and every app, even heavy games, opens without a hitch. Scrolling reels and reading articles are no problem for the 17T.

If you’ve used a Xiaomi device before, then HyperOS will feel right at home. If not, however, there would be a little learning curve. Still, the new skin is far more refined than I expected. There are many customization options, including everyone’s favorite lock screen elements. You can tweak them by long-pressing the lock screen, as on iOS. Similarly, the notification and quick settings are divided into two sections, which was a bit of a headache for me, since I like them combined and there’s no way to change that setting. Xiaomi also has its own versions of every Google app, which may be a good thing or not, depending on your preferences. I found some, like Remote, Files, and Recorder, to be useful enough. Others, like the Indus App Store, can be classified as bloatware because they can’t be deleted.

There are a few positives, too. The AI photo editing features are great. You can change the sky in your photos, erase background objects really effectively, and upscale older images. Xiaomi says the 17T will get five years of Android updates and six years of security patches, so long-term support isn’t a concern.

Benchmarks & Gaming

To put the 17T’s Dimensity 8500 Ultra through its paces, I also ran a series of benchmarks. In Geekbench, the device scored 1,705 in the single-core test and 6,764 in the multi-core test. Those numbers are only beaten by the flagship Dimensity 9500, which is about 10%-15% faster in multi-core performance. That difference isn’t particularly noticeable, though, because Xiaomi has optimized the UI well. On the other hand, the phone scored 2,312,966 in the AnTuTu benchmark.

As a surprise to no one, you can play pretty much every game on the 17T. My friends and I play PUBG (BGMI in India) together to hang out, and the 17T has been great for that. You can play at HDR + Extreme settings, and the gameplay was smooth. I got a stable 90 FPS, which stayed consistent even during combat. I’m not sure why BGMI doesn’t offer 120 FPS, but you do get it in CODM, so that may be an optimization issue.

Battery Life & Charging

Given the powerful hardware, it’s easy to assume that the battery life will just be average. Fortunately, that’s not the case here, thanks in part to the newer silicon-carbon battery technology. And the same is true for the 17T. It has a big 6500mAh cell, and it’s plenty good. I could use the phone to navigate around HCMC all day, find cafes, take photos, and still come back to my hotel at night with about 35% remaining. If you’re not addicted to doomscrolling, you can even stretch it to two full days without a charge.

Speaking of recharging, you get a 67W charger in the box, which takes the battery from 20% to 80% in around 30 minutes. You can also use the phone to recharge other phones at up to 22W, and this was a lifesaver. My flight back to India had only USB-A charging ports, which was a problem since I only carried a USB-C charger. Since the phone with my Indian SIM was sitting at 5%, I used the 17T to recharge it instead.

Cameras

Like the display, the cameras are the first place where any brand tries to cut corners. But Xiaomi seems a bit different. Instead of giving it worse cameras, Xiaomi has given the 17T a proper 5X periscope sensor, which isn’t even available on the regular Xiaomi 17. That telephoto is coupled with a 50MP Light Fusion 800 main sensor and another 50MP ultrawide lens. Colors are handled in collaboration with Leica. Given the lineup, the photos from the 17T are really good. You can take it to a party, function, or sightseeing trip around HCMC and come back with photos ready for your Instagram story. The photos I captured had plenty of detail, handled HDR quite well, and had contrast that was usually on point. Nighttime scenarios are not a challenge for the main sensor. It retains its sharpness and colors well.

Since this is a Leica co-branded camera, I had to play with the different filters. Each has a distinct look that adds character to your photos, making them stand out among the sea of HDR-heavy processed looks. My favorites were Leica Negative and Cinematic, but I’d strongly recommend experimenting with the filters to find the look you want. I would still take the phone with me on any vacation just for these filters. Xiaomi doesn’t rely much on AI processing, so photos always have that natural look, which I prefer. This was particularly noticeable in portraits, where skin tones looked pretty natural, and the depth of field was pleasing.

The telephoto sensor was another highlight. It activates at 5x, which some might say is a bit high, but for shooting landscapes, it’s great. You can take detailed photos at 10x-12x zoom, with colors similar to the main sensor, and even the nighttime performance was really good. The ultrawide lens offers a similar level of sharpness, though it struggles a little with very dark objects. Video performance, however, is a bit different. You can capture crisp 4K videos at 60 FPS with decent detail and color, but only with the main and telephoto sensors. The ultrawide and selfie shooters can only take 4K 30 FPS videos, which was a bummer. The lens switching inside the camera app can also use some polish.

Verdict

At ₹64,999, the Xiaomi 17T’s closest competitor is the vivo X200T. Since I’ve tested both, I think either one deserves a place on your shortlist. The 17T is a great value flagship phone that gets many things right. The design, especially in Violet, is a looker. The display is bright enough to remain visible in direct sunlight. I loved the performance of the Dimensity 8500 Ultra, and HyperOS remains one of the smoothest Android skins, even though it has a few annoying pre-installed apps and some iOS-like features I don’t like. Beyond that, the cameras are the highlight, with a strong primary lens that captures great photos in any lighting condition. Not to forget the telephoto lens, which is great for landscape photography. The ultrawide video issue was a bit disappointing, but it’s not a deal-breaker and doesn’t keep the 17T from getting my recommendation.