Xiaomi is pushing battery life hard with the new REDMI Note 17 Series, and this time it has added something new to the family: a Pro Max. The lineup consists of four models — REDMI Note 17, Note 17 5G, Note 17 Pro 5G and the first REDMI Note 17 Pro Max 5G — with UAE pricing starting at AED 1,059.

The Pro Max is easily the attention-grabber. It packs a massive 10,000mAh silicon-carbon battery in supported markets, paired with 100W HyperCharge and 27W reverse charging. Xiaomi claims up to three days of use on a charge, although real-world endurance will naturally depend heavily on how the phone is used. The Note 17 Pro 5G isn’t exactly small on battery either, offering 8,340mAh with 67W charging, while both standard Note 17 models get 7,700mAh batteries and 45W charging.

READ our REDMI Note 17 Pro 5G review here.

Durability is another major part of Xiaomi’s pitch. The two Pro phones carry IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and reinforced internal structures. Xiaomi says they have also been tested for drops from up to three metres onto granite under SGS testing conditions. That’s considerably more protection than you’d normally associate with a mid-range phone, though certification tests aren’t a licence to start throwing your phone around.

The Pro models use 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED displays with 120Hz refresh rates and claimed peak brightness of 3,500 nits. The Pro Max runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 with LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.1 storage on 256GB and 512GB versions, while the Pro uses the Snapdragon 6s Gen 4. Both ship with Xiaomi HyperOS 3.

Camera hardware is surprisingly restrained considering the increasingly ridiculous megapixel race. The Pro Max gets a 50MP OIS-equipped main camera, 8MP ultrawide and 32MP selfie camera, while the Pro drops to a 16MP front camera. Xiaomi has instead leaned into software, including Google Gemini, Circle to Search and a collection of AI-assisted editing features.

In the UAE, the REDMI Note 17 starts at AED 1,059, the Note 17 5G at AED 1,299, the Pro 5G at AED 1,499 and the Pro Max 5G at AED 1,799. The 512GB Pro Max tops the range at AED 1,999.

The enormous batteries are what make this generation interesting. Mid-range phones have been creeping beyond the old 5,000mAh standard, but Xiaomi putting as much as 10,000mAh into the Note 17 family makes endurance a much bigger part of the buying decision — and potentially gives rivals a rather large number to chase.