Xiaomi 17 Ultra: Leaker details planned camera upgrades for 'Ultra Premium Edition' smartphone

Xiaomi has only just released the Xiaomi 17, Xiaomi 17 Pro and Xiaomi 17 Pro Max in China with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. While global launch plans remain unconfirmed for now, leakers have already turned their attention to what is expected to be Xiaomi's final Xiaomi 17 series release.

As we have discussed separately, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra could well launch before the end of the year in some capacity. Now, Digital Chat Station has weighed in on the state of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, which he indicates may launch with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 'Ultra Premium Edition' chipset rather than the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 also now found across the OnePlus 15, iQOO 15, Redmi K90 Pro Max and the Realme GT 8 Pro. We would not rule out this being lost in translation at this stage, though.

Moreover, the leaker reiterates earlier rumours that the Xiaomi 17 Ultra will support a 'physical zoom experience', despite evidence previously indicating that Xiaomi is developing the device with Samsung ISOCELL JN5 (S5KJN5) and ISOCELL HPE (S5KHPE) telephoto cameras. Apparently, the latter will support tele macro and lossless zoom across multiple focal lengths too, thanks to its native 200 MP output.

As well as that, Digital Chat Station believes that the new OmniVision OVX10500U primary camera will seamlessly integrate with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra's periscope telephoto camera to create 'lossless focal lengths'. Currently, Xiaomi is expected to deliver the Xiaomi 17 Ultra in China before Samsung has the opportunity to replace the Galaxy S25 Ultra (curr. $949 on Amazon). Past performance suggests that there is every chance that Xiaomi will wait until after Samsung's Galaxy S26 series global launch event before releasing the Xiaomi 17 Ultra internationally, though.