Forget iPhone 17 Pro — Xiaomi just pulled a power move.

[justseyi]

The newly unveiled Xiaomi 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max are here, and they come with a twist Apple hasn’t dared to try: a second screen slapped on the back. Who needs one display when you can have two?

For years, major phone makers have been accused of copying each other, leading to endless lookalike devices. Xiaomi, however, isn’t shy about leaning into Apple comparisons — in fact, it’s flaunting them. At the Beijing launch event, CEO Lei Jun repeatedly stacked the Xiaomi 17 series against Apple’s latest iPhones, claiming superior performance, photography, and, most of all, battery life.

And that’s where things get wild. The Xiaomi 17 Pro houses a 6,300mAh battery, while the Pro Max boasts a colossal 7,500mAh — nearly double the rumored iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 5,088mAh cell. Add in 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, and these handsets are designed to keep going long after an iPhone has tapped out. In Xiaomi’s own video tests, the 17 Pro outlasted the iPhone 17 Pro even after Apple’s device had a 5,000mAh MagSafe battery pack clipped on.

But it’s the rear display that really sets these phones apart. Sitting on the camera plateau (eerily similar to Apple’s own design), this secondary screen can act as a selfie viewfinder, a media widget hub, or even a miniature gaming device thanks to Xiaomi’s quirky Game Boy–style case. It’s the kind of flashy hardware feature that Samsung flirted with on its Galaxy Z Flip line, but Xiaomi has mainstreamed it in a flagship form.

Under the hood, the 17 Pro runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Xiaomi’s Android-based HyperOS 3, arriving in October. The naming jump — skipping from the Xiaomi 15 to the 17 — is no accident. As Xiaomi’s president bluntly put it: “We are directly competing with the iPhone in the same generation and at the same level.”

The catch? For now, these devices are locked to China. Preorders are live with release set for September 27, but there’s no word yet on a global rollout. Europe may see the lineup next year at Mobile World Congress, and a rumored “Xiaomi 17 Ultra” could be on the way. But U.S. buyers won’t get a taste thanks to the ongoing ban on Chinese smartphones.

So while Apple fans gear up for another incremental upgrade, Xiaomi is making a splash with batteries that refuse to quit and a second screen that dares you to rethink what a flagship should look like. Whether it’s a gimmick or a glimpse at the future, the Xiaomi 17 Pro is the kind of bold swing that makes the iPhone 17 feel suddenly … ordinary.

[Divine]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Can’t wait to see this</p>

[Author]

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