It’s March (yes, we know), and while it can be difficult to believe that the third month of the year is already here, so too is Mobile World Congress 2026, which also means new phones.
While Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra and co kicked things off last week before the big mobile hullaballoo, Xiaomi is kicking MWC off by showing off what it has in store for flagships this year, offering a one-two punch for folks who love phones and folks who love cameras.
Technically, if you love both, Xiaomi’s new phone, the 17 Ultra, might be for you. But for folks who really love cameras, there’s a specific variation on the way from the Xiaomi-Leica collaboration, as Xiaomi reveals this year’s Leica phone, the Leica Leitzphone.
It’s worth noting both models are very similar, and are essentially the same phone, but with a few changes.
They’ll both share the same processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and they’ll both get 16GB RAM and a max of 1TB storage (the Leitzphone only comes with 1TB). Both the 17 Ultra and Leitzphone also come with a 6.9 inch OLED screen running 2608×1200, running at a max of 120Hz, and are protected by a layer of screen protection Xiaomi calls “Shield Glass 3.0”.
And they both have WiFi 7, high-res audio, stereo speakers, USB-C, 5G, IP68 water resistance, and a 6000 mAh battery with 50W of wireless charge and a max of 90 watts USB fast charging.
The cameras are also identical, delivering a 50 megapixel F1.67 main wide camera, a 200 megapixel F2.39 to 2.96 3X to 4X zoom with macro supported on this camera, and a 50 megapixel F2.2 ultra-wide, effectively covering a range of 14 to 100mm translated in 35mm camera jargon. Use a bit of AI and you’ll even get closer, with cropping down that 200 megapixel sensor able to get closer to 400mm, we’re told.
Where the differences lie are in how you control the camera.
You see, while the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is your typical phone camera design — touchscreen and all — the Leica Leitzphone borrows from Leica’s camera heritage and comes for the 100th anniversary of Leica. That means the company is making it a little special, giving it a camera ring that can control the zoom, a custom camera interface, filters for Leica styles, and even Leica lens simulations.
It’s kind of like what Leica builds with the Q-series compact cameras, but for phones, and there’s even an optional camera grip with shutter and 2000 mAh battery inside to recharge the phone while you snap, something that would be clever on the a Leica phone, but also neatly works on the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, as well.
There will be a price difference between them, with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra starting at $1799 in Australia for the 512GB model, but the 1TB version costing closer to $1999. The Leitzphone is only a 1TB model, and will cost $2299, adding a little more for that extra Leica-ness of it all.
And Xiaomi also has a variant of the 17 series as just the “Xiaomi 17”, made to be a little smaller at 6.3 inches, but using the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, 12GB RAM and either 256GB or 512GB storage, the same water resistance, another sizeable battery over 6000 mAh (6330mAh), and a slightly different three camera system, covering the same 50 megapixel F1.67 wide camera, a different 50 megapixel F2.4 ultra-wide, and a 50 megapixel F2.0 telephoto technically covering 3X zoom, as well.
Priced from $1399 in Australia, the Xiaomi 17 is a little less pricey, still bringing that high-end Snapdragon performance, just to a lower price point.
Launch for these models is more or less now, with the Xiaomi 17 and Leica Leitzphone range available online from early March.
