Remember when we reported that Xiaomi was bringing back the secondary display because apparently the first time went so well? Well, the leaked renders are here, and it looks like they were right on the money. The Xiaomi 17 Pro Max has surfaced in high-quality images showing off that familiar rear screen setup, complete with Xiaomi’s shameless adoption of Apple’s “17” naming scheme.
The new renders confirm what leaked spy shots hinted at: a large secondary display taking up the whole camera island. Unlike the Mi 11 Ultra’s tiny 1.1-inch rear display from 2021, this secondary screen appears much larger and more functional. The leaked images from Abhishek Yadav show a boxy chassis with dual rear cameras embedded within the secondary display, plus a clock widget running on the rear panel.
Perhaps more telling than the secondary display itself is Xiaomi’s decision to skip the “16” series entirely and jump straight to “17.” As Android Police notes, Xiaomi has boldly brought its naming in line with Apple’s latest models. The timing is hardly coincidental, arriving just as Apple recently launched its own iPhone 17 series.
The bigger question remains whether anyone actually wants a secondary display on their phone’s back. Other manufacturers like Meizu tried this with the Pro 7, and we all know how that turned out. The Xiaomi 17 Pro Max will reportedly pack a 7,500mAh battery and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor when it launches later this month, giving us our first real look at whether secondary displays are the future or just another tech gimmick.
