A camera-style zoom ring on a phone? Xiaomi may be onto something

Xiaomi 17 Ultra Leica Edition comes with a physical camera zoom ring; here’s how it works.

When it comes to the camera experience on flagship phones, brands have brought in multiple innovations. Apple introduced the camera control button, trying to mimic a real camera shutter button, with half-press functionality to lock focus and exposure. We have also seen other brands bring advanced telephoto lenses with variable apertures, behaving more like real cameras. And now, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra brings a rotatable camera zoom. Yes, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra’s Leica Edition has a rotatable camera zoom ring feature. It also has a telephoto lens with optical zoom built in, just like a real camera. How does it work? Let’s find out.

The physical zoom ring on the Xiaomi 17 Ultra (Xiaomi)

By Shaurya Sharma

Shaurya Sharma is the Technology Editor at Hindustan Times Digital Streams, where he oversees technology coverage across digital and social platforms. With over eight years of experience across editorial, video production, and digital media, his work focuses on smartphones, AI, consumer gadgets, and shaping audience-first content strategies for modern tech consumers.

He began his career in 2018 as a fashion cinematographer before turning his lifelong passion for technology into a profession. From spending his childhood immersed in tech magazines, video games, and the latest gadgets to covering the global consumer tech industry today, technology has remained a constant throughout his journey.

Over the years, Shaurya has worked with some of India’s leading media organisations, including CNN-News18, Sportskeeda, and Guiding Tech, where he led video initiatives that combined strong editorial storytelling with engaging visual and social-first execution.

A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication from Manipal University, Shaurya has reviewed hundreds of products across categories including smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras, and wearables. Beyond work, he is passionate about animal welfare, environmental causes, and automobiles, particularly turbo-petrol cars

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Trying something new to inspire clicking photos

The major difference between smartphones and real mirrorless cameras is the tactile feel associated with rangefinder-style mirrorless cameras and other professional cameras in general. They inspire and motivate you to click photos, and with this, Xiaomi seems to be heading in that direction. The tactile feel of a physical zoom ring certainly adds to that. Many would compare it to the camera control button on iPhones, but this one could be different. It is something you actually find on real cameras, and Xiaomi is trying to capitalise on that concept.

The good thing is that the ring is not limited to just zooming in on the 75–100mm focal range. You can also reprogram it to adjust focus, white balance, and more. So, it does bring a lot of functionality as well. That said, it is moving parts on a smartphone at the end of the day, and moving parts can break, so there is some concern there, although I am not too worried about it. What I do like is that the brand is trying something new, something to inspire people to click photographs. Yes, you have virtual buttons on the screen, but that is where the difference between a real camera and a phone comes in. I think features like a physical rotatory zoom ring help bridge the gap between a real camera and a phone.

How the ring works

The ring itself is situated right on the circular camera module of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra Leica Edition. It is not too large or similar to what you would get on a real mirrorless camera lens, so you will have to locate it. Do not expect the same kind of grip that you would get on a real zoom lens. It is also worth noting that because you will be constantly touching the zoom ring, you may accidentally brush against the camera lens module and end up dirtying it. That is something you need to keep in mind.

All in all, having a 1-inch main sensor, a 200-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 50MP ultrawide camera, along with Leica colour magic, means this is shaping up to be quite a camera-centric phone at this point.

It remains to be seen where Xiaomi launches the Xiaomi 17 Ultra in India and whether the Leica Edition will ship in the country. As for the rest of the specifications, it features the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with up to 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage. The display is a 6.9-inch 120Hz AMOLED LTPO panel. The battery is a 6,800mAh silicon-carbon unit with support for 90W fast charging.

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