Google Pixel 8 Pro vs Xiaomi 17 Ultra

Google Pixel 8 Pro

Google

8.5

Best Pixel of 2023 — AI camera + 7-year update commitment

Xiaomi 17 Ultra

Xiaomi

8.5

Best phone camera, flawed software

Google Pixel 8 Pro

What Reviewers Agree On

Industry-first 7-year software update commitment (through 2030) — meaningfully longer than Samsung's 4 OS / 5 sec at the time
Magic Editor, Best Take, Audio Magic Eraser and Zoom Enhance — Tensor G3 enables a Google-only AI camera/editing suite
6.7-inch LTPO at 2400-nit peak — brighter than the iPhone 15 Pro Max (2000 nits) and S23 Ultra (1750 nits) of its era
Triple-camera upgrade: 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide (up from 12MP on Pixel 7 Pro), 48MP 5x telephoto periscope
Magic Editor lets you reposition subjects, change backgrounds, add detail — most-discussed new feature of late 2023

Pros & Cons

Google Pixel 8 Pro

Pros

Industry-first 7-year software update commitment (through 2030) — meaningfully longer than Samsung's 4 OS / 5 sec at the time
Magic Editor, Best Take, Audio Magic Eraser and Zoom Enhance — Tensor G3 enables a Google-only AI camera/editing suite
6.7-inch LTPO at 2400-nit peak — brighter than the iPhone 15 Pro Max (2000 nits) and S23 Ultra (1750 nits) of its era
Triple-camera upgrade: 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide (up from 12MP on Pixel 7 Pro), 48MP 5x telephoto periscope
Magic Editor lets you reposition subjects, change backgrounds, add detail — most-discussed new feature of late 2023

Detailed Comparison

Performance

Google Pixel 8 Pro

Tensor G3 is purpose-built for AI workloads but still trails Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and A17 Pro on raw performance. Runs hotter under sustained load; gaming performance is the weak spot.

Tensor G3 (4nm) + 12GB RAM + UFS 3.1 — purpose-built for Google's AI workloads, integrates the new TPU for Magic Editor / Best Take.
Tensor G3 still trails Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and A17 Pro on synthetic benchmarks — Google's chip strategy continues to prioritize AI over raw performance.
Runs hotter under sustained gaming/4K recording than Snapdragon-based rivals — Tensor G3 thermal throttling is a recurring real-world complaint.
Three years on (2026), Tensor G3 still handles everyday Android smoothly — only sustained gaming exposes the chip-vs-Snapdragon gap.

Xiaomi 17 Ultra

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 keeps it firmly in the flagship tier with strong gaming, though sustained behaviour and thermals draw mixed verdicts.

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Xiaomi 17 Ultra

What Reviewers Agree On

Class-leading camera hardware: a 1.0"-type LOFIC main sensor and a true continuous mechanical optical zoom (75–100mm) that GSMArena rates as quite probably the best of its kind
Among the very best phones for photography on the market today, possibly the single best for stills
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 delivers flagship-class performance — ~20% faster CPU and ~23% faster GPU than the previous generation, leading the iPhone in multi-core
Bright 6.9-inch 120Hz LTPO AMOLED rated at 3,500 nits peak with strong measured outdoor brightness
Distinctive physical camera controls (zoom ring on the Leica edition, Leica film simulations) that no mainstream rival offers
6 years of security patches confirmed (EOL February 2032)

Deal Breakers

HyperOS is widely seen as lagging the hardware — camera-app limitations, automatic JPEG post-processing criticised as poor, and a Phone Arena verdict that it's 'the best camera phone you'll hate using every day'
The global model runs noticeably hotter and shorter on battery than the China version, draining ~10% per hour in mixed use and losing more battery and running hotter than the OnePlus 15 and Oppo Find X9 Pro in head-to-head endurance
Very expensive globally — about $1,750 for the 17 Ultra and ~$2,300 for the Leitzphone — narrowing its value versus the previous generation
Polarising design and a usability tax: it's a camera-first device that some reviewers and users find feels more like a toy than a polished daily phone

Xiaomi 17 Ultra

Pros

Class-leading camera hardware: a 1.0"-type LOFIC main sensor and a true continuous mechanical optical zoom (75–100mm) that GSMArena rates as quite probably the best of its kind
Among the very best phones for photography on the market today, possibly the single best for stills
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 delivers flagship-class performance — ~20% faster CPU and ~23% faster GPU than the previous generation, leading the iPhone in multi-core
Bright 6.9-inch 120Hz LTPO AMOLED rated at 3,500 nits peak with strong measured outdoor brightness
Distinctive physical camera controls (zoom ring on the Leica edition, Leica film simulations) that no mainstream rival offers
6 years of security patches confirmed (EOL February 2032)

Cons

HyperOS is widely seen as lagging the hardware — camera-app limitations, automatic JPEG post-processing criticised as poor, and a Phone Arena verdict that it's 'the best camera phone you'll hate using every day'
The global model runs noticeably hotter and shorter on battery than the China version, draining ~10% per hour in mixed use and losing more battery and running hotter than the OnePlus 15 and Oppo Find X9 Pro in head-to-head endurance
Very expensive globally — about $1,750 for the 17 Ultra and ~$2,300 for the Leitzphone — narrowing its value versus the previous generation
Polarising design and a usability tax: it's a camera-first device that some reviewers and users find feels more like a toy than a polished daily phone

Battery & Charging

Google Pixel 8 Pro

4,950mAh battery + Tensor G3 efficiency delivers ~6 hours of SOT typical, fully a day for most. 30W wired charging is modest — slower than 45W on S23+/Ultra, much slower than OnePlus 11's 80W.

4,950mAh battery (largest in a Pixel) — fully a day for most users, ~6 hours of screen-on time typical.
Multi-phone drain test (7-phone shootout): Pixel 8 Pro knocked off first at 8h10m — beaten by iPhone 15 Pro Max (~11h), Vivo X100 Pro, OnePlus 12 and even the S23 Ultra (8h21m).
30W wired charging — modest by 2023 standards, 0-50% in ~30 min, full in ~1h20m. Slower than S23+/Ultra's 45W.
23W Qi wireless via Pixel Stand 2; standard Qi caps at 12W — wireless charging is a real-world strength on the Pixel.

Xiaomi 17 Ultra

The single biggest divide in the coverage: lab tests record an excellent active-use score, but the global model's smaller battery, ~10%/hour real-world drain and heat make endurance inconsistent. Charging stepped down to 90W wired / 50W wireless.

The global 17 Ultra earned an excellent active-use battery score of over 19 hours, charging 0–70% in half an hour and to full in just 43 minutes.
After 3 months a user still had around 45% battery left at the end of the day when not using the camera intensively.
For a 6,000mAh battery, ~4 hours of screen-on time over a full day was disappointing — the S26 Ultra's 5,000mAh cell matched or beat it under the same camera-and-navigation use.
In a head-to-head extreme test the 17 Ultra ran hotter and lost more battery than the OnePlus 15 and Oppo Find X9 Pro at nearly every stage, finishing about 8 hours 8 minutes at 43.7°C.
The global model holds ~800mAh less than the China version and drains roughly 10% per hour, so it can't last a full 15-hour day the way the China version does.
JerryRigEverything's battery test had the 17 Ultra last 19.25 hours versus the iPhone 17 Pro Max's 26.5 hours.
Charging stepped down this generation — 90W wired (full charge ~62 minutes) and 50W wireless, down from 80W wireless previously.
It's one of the best phone batteries used on a flagship in recent memory according to a dedicated battery review.