You may have heard the news already. Xiaomi is skipping the 16 series lineup altogether, jumping straight to the 17 series, which includes the basic, Pro, and Pro Max devices. Right before the expected debut later this month, the company has started teasing the Xiaomi 17 Pro and Pro Max on Weibo. Here’s what they look like.
Xiaomi had previously teased the Pro Max variant with a secondary display on the back. Fans assumed this feature would be Pro Max-exclusive, but it seems that’s not the case at all — the company dropped another video teaser today for Xiaomi 17 Pro, which also has a rear screen.
Both phones have expanded horizontal camera islands. The blank space around the lenses is used to mount a screen. The 14-second clip only showed its design and title, but there are no official specs to be found regarding the rear display.
We’ll have to wait for more teasers or leaks to pinpoint the exact size of that screen. Nonetheless, there are some obvious benefits to this feature. Some of them were shown right in the teaser. This screen, likely an AMOLED, will show Watch Faces and Notifications at a glance.
The best use of this secondary display on the Xiaomi flagship new model is probably the camera viewfinder, which will allow you to take front videos and selfies with the back camera, just like today’s clamshell phones. The Weibo post where we found this video addressed the feature as “Magic Black Screen.”
This isn’t Xiaomi’s first rodeo with a slab-style phone using a second screen. The company had a Xiaomi 11 Ultra back in the day, which carried a small 1.1” AMOLED right next to the cameras. However, it had limited functionality due to size and software restrictions.
Xiaomi 17 Pro and Pro Max might fix all the previous grievances, which forced the company to give up on the rear display idea. At this point, the company has a lot of experience designing cover screens for the Flip phones. That innovation might trickle down to these slab phones as well. Keep watching the news for more details on the Xiaomi 17 series.