The Xiaomi 17T, priced at ₹59,999, emerges as a compelling camera-centric smartphone that aims to balance premium features with a more accessible price point, following a trend of increasing costs in the smartphone market. It boasts a 6.59-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset paired with 12GB of RAM, and a substantial 6,500mAh battery that provides all-day endurance. The device's key highlight is its Leica-branded triple rear camera system, featuring a 50MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide, and another 50MP telephoto lens, which are praised for their natural color reproduction and detail, particularly in outdoor settings, though portrait shots in medium light can sometimes appear over-processed. Performance is generally smooth for daily tasks, gaming, and video editing, with only minor warmth during charging, and the front-facing 32MP camera delivers detailed selfies suitable for social media. Overall, the Xiaomi 17T offers a well-rounded package with a reliable camera, good battery life, and strong performance, making it a noteworthy option for users seeking a capable camera phone without the highest premium price.

The Xiaomi 17T, priced at ₹59,999, emerges as a compelling camera-centric smartphone that aims to balance premium features with a more accessible price point, following a trend of increasing costs in the smartphone market. It boasts a 6.59-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset paired with 12GB of RAM, and a substantial 6,500mAh battery that provides all-day endurance. The device's key highlight is its Leica-branded triple rear camera system, featuring a 50MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide, and another 50MP telephoto lens, which are praised for their natural color reproduction and detail, particularly in outdoor settings, though portrait shots in medium light can sometimes appear over-processed. Performance is generally smooth for daily tasks, gaming, and video editing, with only minor warmth during charging, and the front-facing 32MP camera delivers detailed selfies suitable for social media. Overall, the Xiaomi 17T offers a well-rounded package with a reliable camera, good battery life, and strong performance, making it a noteworthy option for users seeking a capable camera phone without the highest premium price.

The Xiaomi 17T, priced at ₹59,999, emerges as a compelling camera-centric smartphone that aims to balance premium features with a more accessible price point, following a trend of increasing costs in the smartphone market. It boasts a 6.59-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset paired with 12GB of RAM, and a substantial 6,500mAh battery that provides all-day endurance. The device's key highlight is its Leica-branded triple rear camera system, featuring a 50MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide, and another 50MP telephoto lens, which are praised for their natural color reproduction and detail, particularly in outdoor settings, though portrait shots in medium light can sometimes appear over-processed. Performance is generally smooth for daily tasks, gaming, and video editing, with only minor warmth during charging, and the front-facing 32MP camera delivers detailed selfies suitable for social media. Overall, the Xiaomi 17T offers a well-rounded package with a reliable camera, good battery life, and strong performance, making it a noteworthy option for users seeking a capable camera phone without the highest premium price.

Camera-centric smartphones have seen a significant price increase, similar to other smartphone categories, in recent times. Xiaomi, with its Leica partnership, has been offering camera-centric phones for a while with the 17 series. I really liked the regular Xiaomi 17, but if you want something at a lower price without sacrificing much on the camera side, the new Xiaomi 17T might just be worth your attention.

Priced at ₹59,999, the 17T has a 6.59-inch full HD+ (2756x1268) AMOLED display with support for up to 120Hz refresh rates. It has really nice viewing angles and does a good job when used outdoors for reading texts. 

Output for HDR10 content isn't bad either, with good colour reproduction and details in place. The phone weighs 200grams, has curved corners, but isn't as nice to hold as the standard Xiaomi 17, but still decent enough.

Coming to the star of the show, the phone features a triple camera system on the back: there's a 50MP (f/1.7) main (Leica) camera, a 12MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide camera, and a 50MP (f/3.0) telephoto camera. 

I do like the Leica look and feel of photos when you are using that mode. There's a nice tone to it such that photos look close to how the scene actually looks while retaining details. Skin tones are generally decently handled but at times can look a little too processed when taking portrait shots in medium light conditions. I really liked the tone of the photos in the Leica mode, especially outdoors, which really shows the camera in its glory.

The front-facing 32MP f/2.2 camera takes detailed shots with somewhat punchy colours, though there can be a bit of shutter lag, especially in low light conditions. It gets the job done for social media selfies needs as well as video calls.

The phone is equipped with MediaTek's Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset (up to 3.4 GHz octa-core processor, Mali G720 GPU) with 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB or 512GB UFS 4.2 internal storage. It's running on Android 16-based HyperOS 3.0 with the May security patch. You can expect to get day-to-day tasks, social media scrolling, video calling, 4K videos on YouTube, as well as quickly editing a short video without the phone showing any struggles. The phone handled switching between apps smoothly and didn't stutter while playing games such as BGMI in medium to high settings without any major heating issues.

The phone sports a 6,500mAh battery unit and lasted me a day pretty much every single time. It isn't quite a two-day device on a single full charge, but it really didn't show any battery drainage issues for a busy day. You can charge it using the bundled 67-watt charger in a bit over an hour, and the phone can get a little warm during the initial 30 minutes. 

The loudspeakers in the device are sufficiently loud and have decent depth, though I would say these aren't the best in terms of output that I have seen from a Xiaomi phone—still generally quite good.

All in all, the Xiaomi 17T is quite a well-rounded camera-centric smartphone that has a reliable camera for most occasions, all-day battery life, smooth performance for most things, while keeping a relatively familiar design in place. If you're looking for a smartphone that isn't low on battery or camera performance and are used to Xiaomi's software bundle, the 17T can certainly be on your consideration list.

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