Xiaomi 16 Ultra officially confirmed for the first time with Leica camera improvements teased

Xiaomi released the Xiaomi 15 Ultra less than six months ago as its alternative to the Galaxy S25 Ultra (curr. $1,105 on Amazon) and other Ultra-branded flagships. Nonetheless, leakers have begun speculating on the state of the Xiaomi 16 Ultra.

Surprisingly, Xiaomi CEO's has now weighed in on rumours months before the device's anticipated release. Writing on Weibo, Lei Jun reiterates that Xiaomi and Leica's partnership will return for the former's next flagship smartphones. According to Digital Chat Station, the pair will work more closely this time around too, which Lei Jun implies in his same Weibo post.

Moreover, Xiaomi's CEO indicates that the Xiaomi 16 Ultra will surpass its predecessor in terms of its camera hardware. To that end, recent rumours suggest that the Xiaomi 16 Ultra could feature three major camera upgrades within a new triple camera system. Reportedly, Xiaomi's Ultra-branded flagship will return with a circa 7,500 mAh battery capacity too. Based on current thinking, all this should be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset as well. However, the Xiaomi 16 Ultra is currently expected to debut globally during MWC 2026 in Barcelona, which runs between March 2 and March 5, 2026.