Xiaomi 17 Ultra is becoming available. The powerful camera phone has dropped to 22 thousand, it will impress with its zoom and night shots

When we reviewed the Xiaomi 17 Ultra in the spring, its price was one of its only criticisms – you paid 35,990 Kč at launch for a flagship with such features. Now the same phone looks completely different: the Xiaomi 17 Ultra with code ALZADNY20 comes out to 22,191 Kč instead of the pre-promotion price of 27,739 Kč, which is 13,799 Kč less than at its March launch. It impresses with its telephoto lens with a mechanical lens system or its main lens utilizing LOFIC technology.

Quick summary:
✅ Makes sense if you’re tempted by a top-tier camera phone with Leica optics and 200Mpx zoom and don’t want to pay almost 36 thousand for it like at launch.
⚠️ Consider that in the review, battery life disappointed us and there’s bloatware in the system – if you don’t primarily take photos, you can get comparable remaining features elsewhere for less.
💡 For 22,191 Kč you are buying a half-year-old flagship for almost 14 thousand less than it cost in March.

Price dropped by almost 14 thousand in half a year

Flagships usually hold their launch price for a long time, and this is doubly true for Xiaomi’s Ultra series. That makes it even more interesting that the Xiaomi 17 Ultra now costs 22,191 Kč with code ALZADNY20, whereas in March the brand launched it on our market for 35,990 Kč. That’s a difference of 13,799 Kč, and we’re barely halfway through its life cycle. Furthermore, Alza itself describes the discount from the pre-promotion price – i.e., from 27,739 Kč to 22,191 Kč, a 5,548 Kč reduction – as real, not an inflated “original price.”

The configuration on offer is 16/512 GB in black, which is the only memory variant Xiaomi brought to the Czech market. So for those 22 thousand, you’re not getting any stripped-down model, but a full-fledged flagship as it was introduced.

Cameras are the reason to go for the Ultra

The main reason to consider this phone is, of course, the cameras. The trio of rear sensors was tuned by Leica, and the hardware is technically more advanced than its predecessor, even though the phone has one less camera. Photos from it sometimes look as if you took them with a DSLR – even at night.

The biggest star for me is the 200Mpx periscopic telephoto lens with mechanical zoom, which smoothly switches between focal lengths of 75 to 100 mm without digital cropping and also offers 200mm and 400mm modes in the native application. Thanks to its large 1/1.4″ sensor, it handles poorer light well and produces portraits with nice bokeh. Also excellent is the main 1″ Light Fusion 1050L sensor with LOFIC technology, which extends dynamic range directly in the hardware – night photos retain details and colors, and you’ll look in vain for noise. The only weaker link remains the ultrawide camera, which doesn’t quite catch up to the other two sensors.

Display, performance, and connectivity without compromise

The rest of the features are expected from a flagship, and the Xiaomi 17 Ultra delivers. The front is covered by a 6.9″ HyperRGB AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2608 × 1200, a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, and a brightness of 3,500 nits, which is a joy to look at even in direct sunlight. Plus 12-bit color depth, Dolby Vision, and HDR10+. Performance is handled by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 manufactured with a 3nm process with a clock speed of up to 4.6 GHz, which is at the absolute top in the Android field – it handles demanding games and video editing without hesitation.

Also included are Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, dual SIM including eSIM, and an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint reader, which is fast and reliable. The phone has IP68 protection, a USB-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard, and an infrared transmitter for controlling appliances. The system consists of Android 16 with the HyperOS 3 overlay, which has Google Gemini built-in.

Where we encountered issues in the review

To not paint too rosy a picture: two things disappointed me about the phone. The first is battery life. Even with a 6,000 mAh capacity and an efficient 3nm chip, I had to charge the phone overnight without exception and sometimes top it up in the evening, even though I don’t do anything extra demanding on it. How long it lasts for you specifically depends heavily on how you use the phone, but I expected more from a 2026 flagship. Fortunately, this is compensated by fast charging at 90 W wired and 50 W wirelessly, plus reverse wireless charging.

The second criticism is bloatware – in a phone costing tens of thousands, one doesn’t want pre-installed junk and ads in system applications. And thirdly, the speakers didn’t impress me; competitors play better, especially in terms of bass. None of this is a major obstacle, but at the full price of 36 thousand, it would be more regrettable than it is now.

Who benefits from the discount

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra is a full-fledged flagship whose main draw is its cameras. In our review, it earned 88%, and at 22,191 Kč with code ALZADNY20, almost 14 thousand cheaper than in March, the criticism regarding its price largely dissipates. If you enjoy shooting with various focal lengths, playing with portraits, and want top-notch quality even at night, it’s hard to find a better option right now. On the other hand, if you take photos rather occasionally and primarily want long battery life, you can get comparable remaining features for significantly less with other phones. And I would advise owners of last year’s fifteen against upgrading for now.

Is a camera phone for 22 thousand a clear choice for you, or do you primarily expect endurance from a flagship?