This smartphone is much cheaper than a Galaxy S25 Ultra and even faster, but there is a catch

Sure, you can get fantastic smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max, but depending on the storage capacity, you'll also pay well over $2,000.

Do you really have to spend that much money on a top-of-the-line phone? Xiaomi says “No!” with its 17 Pro Max, which copies the iPhone's name for a reason – they want to compete with the best. We recently put the smartphone through its paces and can say that it does a pretty good job.

The Xiaomi phone is just as high-quality, but cheaper

The Xiaomi 17 Pro Max comes with a very sturdy and stylish metal housing, almost invisible bezels and even a secondary display on the back as a bonus feature.

In terms of performance, it holds its own thanks to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. Battery life is excellent given the massive 7,000 mAh battery. Another technically impressive aspect is that its dimensions and weight are almost identical to those of its competitors from Samsung and Apple despite the significantly larger battery,

What the Xiaomi phone cannot do, however, is be as expensive as the phones from Korea and the US. At TradingShenzhen, the model with 1 TB of storage and 16 GB of RAM costs just over $1,200. This is just under the price of cheapest iPhone 17 Pro Max, and even the cheapest Samsung offers much less storage for the same price.

If only it weren't for the import process

Importing via TradingShenzhen comes with a number of limitations. Firstly, local warranty rights do not apply, although the retailer does offer its own warranty policy. Secondly, almost all goods imported to the US are now subject to import duties. Thirdly, the Chinese software on the smartphone comes with certain restrictions. For example, eSIM support isn't available, as eSIMs aren't yet widespread in China. Lastly, using Android Auto is at least not fully possible. And English is the only Western language available. Many of the pre-installed apps are also unusable outside of China.

For those who still might be tempted

The Xiaomi 17 Pro Max is undoubtedly a great value option among top-of-the-line smartphones. It is high-quality, fast and has excellent battery life.

If you'd like to learn more, we recommend taking a look at our detailed review of the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max.