Xiaomi 16 series tipped to embarrass flagship competitors with ultra-thin bezels amid rumours of telephoto camera upgrades
The Xiaomi 16 series is likely at least six months away from being officially launched. As it stands, Xiaomi is expected to deliver Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Pro successors in China first. By contrast, the global release of the Xiaomi 16 is unlikely to occur before March 2026, possibly to coincide with Mobile World Congress 2026 (MWC 2026) in Barcelona between March 2 and March 5.
Nonetheless, leakers like Kartikey Singh claim to have received information about Xiaomi's next-generation flagships well ahead of time. For now, less appears to be known about the Xiaomi 16 Ultra, which Singh believes will retain the Samsung ISOCELL HP9 that replaced the Sony IMX858 inside last year's Xiaomi 14 Ultra (curr. $949 - used like new on Amazon). The leaker adds that the Xiaomi 16 Ultra will not mark a return of a variable aperture primary camera that Xiaomi dropped for this year's release.
Conversely, Singh asserts that the Xiaomi 16 Pro is set to launch with an upgraded telephoto camera. Although the leaker has not shared specifics yet, he states that Sony will be providing Xiaomi with a Lytia (LYT) sensor that has a larger optical format than the 1/2.51-inches that the IMX858 inside the Xiaomi 15 Pro provides. Allegedly, this new sensor will be joined by a larger aperture and refined Leica optics to achieve better zoom performance; it remains unclear whether Xiaomi will stick with a 5x optical zoom, though.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi is expected to leverage Low-Injection Pressure Overmolding (LIPO) across all Xiaomi 16 smartphones to minimise display bezel thickness. As it stands, Singh suggests that the trio will feature 1.2 mm symmetrical bezels when accounting for their frames, which will help the display in the Pro model grow from 6.73-inches to over 6.8-inches in size. Currently, the Xiaomi 16 and Xiaomi 16 Pro are expected to be some of the first devices to ship with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset.
