Xiaomi 17 launches alongside Redmi Buds 8 Pro, Xiaomi Watch 5, Xiaomi Tag, and more

Xiaomi’s ecosystem of gadgets is expanding.

As is customary, the company brought its new flagship phones to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, including the Xiaomi 17 and the Xiaomi 17 Ultra.

Xiaomi also launched a new smartwatch called the Xiaomi Watch 5, a new pair of earbuds called the Redmi Buds 8 Pro and, for the first time, an AirTag-like tracking device called the Xiaomi Tag.

Xiaomi Tag is here to compete with AirTag

Xiaomi Tag is as simple as they come: A white puck that you can attach to your keys and track via your phone. But the big deal with this one is that it works with Apple Find My, making it a very real competitor to Apple’s AirTag. Xiaomi sent me one to test, and I can confirm that it’s trackable via Find My just like any other Apple gadget (you don’t get Apple’s Precision Tracking, though).

Xiaomi Watch 5 is ready for your wrist

Xiaomi’s new Watch 5 was launched in December 2025 in China. It’s a round smartwatch running Xiaomi’s HyperOS 3, with a 1.54-inch AMOLED display inside a stainless steel frame, a Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chip inside, and a 930mAh battery.

Xiaomi also has a different line of smartwatches called the Redmi Watch, and these are square and very resemblant of Apple Watch. The Xiaomi Watch 5 is more of a successor to 2024’s Watch S4, which had a slightly smaller display, and a battery that was half the size.

The Xiaomi 5 Watch is a hefty, sturdy looking device that’s more of a dress watch than a sports watch. It does, of course, come with various health and activity tracking features, including an EMG sensor and an ECG heart rate sensor.

Xiaomi Redmi Buds 8 Pro are packed with features

Launched a few weeks back, Redmi Buds 8 Pro are a pair of sleek-looking earbuds with hi-res audio support, active noise cancellation, and up to 36 hours of battery life.

The Buds 8 Pro also have a noise reduction system that should make calls clear in extremely noisy scenarios (up to 95dB of external noise), as well as very windy environments.

Other features of note include Dolby Audio support, dynamic head tracking, and IP54 dust and water resistance.

Xiaomi 17 brings all the megapixels

Xiaomi 17 has a crisp, 6.3-inch display, and is just the right size for my hand.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Finally, the star of the show is the Xiaomi 17. It’s Xiaomi’s no-nonsense flagship, a powerful Android smartphone that sets its sights on Apple’s non-Pro iPhone. It has a 6.3-inch, 120Hz OLED display, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, 12GB of RAM, 256/512GB of storage, and a hefty 6,330mAh battery with 100W fast charging (and 50W wireless charging).

On the back, you’ll find a Leica-branded, triple camera system that consists of a 50-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera, and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera. There’s also a 50-megapixel selfie camera on the front, hidden inside a punch-hole cutout at the top of the display. Yes, Xiaomi just slapped a bunch of 50-megapixel cameras onto this one, and we don’t mind it one bit.

Having had some time with both the Xiaomi 17 and the 17 Ultra, I can say that I actually prefer the “regular,” Xiaomi 17 variant, even though it has a less powerful camera system. It has a very clean design with glass on both front and back, and I love the Venture Green color my unit was in, as it covers both the back and the sides of the phone (other colors on offer are Black, Alpine Pink, and Ice Blue).

The Xiaomi 17 has a triple, 50-megapixel camera system on the back, and a 50-megapixel selfie camera on the front.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The phone sits in the hand perfectly as it’s not top heavy like its Ultra brother. Xiaomi includes a see-through case which isn’t bad, but the phone’s color and feel is so nice that wrapping it up in plastic is a shame.

Other features of note are an in-display fingerprint sensor, Hi-Res audio support, and IP68 dust and water resistance. Xiaomi also offers a very simple and super-thin magnetic battery which wirelessly charges the phone when attached. Interestingly, it only works with the Xiaomi 17; the Xiaomi 17 Ultra has such a massive rear camera bump that the magnetic battery doesn’t fit.