Xiaomi: New high-end smartphone surfaces with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 rumoured

Just under a month has passed since Xiaomi unveiled a new luxury smartwatch and a lightweight Intel Panther Lake laptop in its home market. By the looks of a new State Radio Regulation of China (SRRC) certification, the company is on the verge of returning to its flagship smartphone division with a new release.

Specifically, multiple sources have observed the SRRC certifying the mysterious '2605EPN8EC' for sale in China. From its model number alone, we can infer that Xiaomi intends to offer the device in its home market during May 2026. Whether that comes to pass remains to be seen at this point, though.

Setting that aside, the rest of its model number indicates that 2605EPN8EC is a flagship release rather than a mid-range or entry-level alternative. Reportedly, 2605EPN8EC is the Xiaomi 17 Max or Xiaomi 17S Plus/Max. Currently, Xiaomi is expected to have equipped the handset with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a 6.9-inch display and a 200 MP primary camera.

In that sense, the device should rival the Galaxy S26 Ultra (curr. $1,299 on Amazon). Popular Weibo accounts have compared the Xiaomi 17 Max against the Vivo X300s though, which landed less than a month ago in China. There is no word on international availability yet, though.