If you follow Xiaomi’s Ultra lineup, you already know the company has been on a steady climb in the camera rankings. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra landed in 13th place on DxOMark back in 2024. Now, DxOMark has officially put the Xiaomi 17 Ultra through its full camera test suite, and the results show just how much ground Xiaomi has covered. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra camera scored 166 points overall, good enough for 6th place globally, tied with the OPPO Find X9 Pro.
The phones ahead of it are the Huawei Pura 80 Ultra (175 points) in first, the Vivo X300 Pro (171 points) in second, and the OPPO Find X8 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro sharing third with 168 points each. So the 17 Ultra came very close. Just two points separated it from the top five.
According to DxOMark, the photo performance is where the phone really shines. It earned a photo score of 170, with the main camera pulling in 171 points and bokeh hitting 175. Zoom performance also ranked in the top three globally. Colors are accurate, noise is well-controlled, and low-light photos hold up better than most phones at this price point.
Where it falls short
Video is a different story. The 17 Ultra scored 157 points in that category, which trails the iPhone 17 Pro’s 172-point video score by a noticeable margin. DxOMark flagged inconsistent autofocus transitions during video, along with weaker performance in low-light footage from the ultra-wide and telephoto lenses.
Group shots are another weak spot. The 50MP main camera’s f/1.7 aperture and large 1-inch sensor create a very shallow depth of field, which means people in the foreground can end up slightly out of focus. It’s the kind of trade-off that comes with using big sensors, and Xiaomi opted not to include a variable aperture to compensate.
Worth noting: DxOMark tested the Chinese model, since the global variant hasn’t launched yet. Camera performance between the two shouldn’t differ much, but it’s something to keep in mind ahead of the global release.
For anyone upgrading from the 15 Ultra, DxOMark called the 17 Ultra a significant improvement across nearly every test area. Sixth place globally is nothing to dismiss.