Xiaomi already copied the standard iPhone 17 lineup, so why not add a 17 Air to the collection, too? Apparently, the company plans to make its own Xiaomi 17 Air that will take the battle cries straight to the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge. Here’s what a new leak tells us about Xiaomi’s ultra-thin device.
These details were all spilled by SmartPikachu in his recent Weibo post. He cleverly dropped hints that an eSIM and a 200MP camera are coming to Xiaomi’s next flagship phone. That leaves a lot of questions unanswered, but then the leaker starts talking about the newcomer being a lightweight model.
This break confirmed that there’s an eSIM mobile in the works at Xiaomi headquarters, which may be 6.6 inches at 1.5K resolution. Of course, the 200MP camera, as mentioned in the post, and a light right-angle design might be part of the story.
Some meaning is lost in said leak due to machine translation (from Chinese to English), but the term “17 Air” at the end of his post might be the phone’s name. Again, that name is enough to assume that Xiaomi is about to land in the murky water where Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air are already struggling to survive.
Neither Samsung nor Apple got the results they were hoping for. The Edge and Air never caught on, and every expert saw it coming. There’s not enough interest from consumers to pay exorbitant amounts for what’s necessarily just eye candy. But Xiaomi still believes there’s potential for Xiaomi's new Air model in that niche segment.
Xiaomi has the tech to make the ultra-thin device more practical if they stuffed in a bigger battery. That will set it apart from the Edge and Air crowd. Silicon carbon anode paid off quite well on the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, which has a 7500mAh battery in an 8mm frame.
Let’s say Xiaomi drops the 17 Air’s thickness down to 6mm; math dictates they should still be able to maintain a 5000mAh battery on this device. That figure’s a bit exaggerated, we admit, but if Tecno and Infinix can do it with their Tecno Spark Slim and Hot 60 Pro Plus, there’s no reason for Xiaomi to back down.
