Xiaomi 16 Pro may go flat - while building on Xiaomi's zoom edge over the Galaxy S25 Ultra

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra and the Galaxy S25 Ultra. | Image Credit - PhoneArena

A new leak is hinting that the upcoming and yet-unannounced Xiaomi 16 Pro may get a new sensor for its periscope telephoto camera. Also, the phone may sport a design element that's become trendy again, ditching the somewhat dated curved look for its display.

The Xiaomi 15 series has just been launched globally not too long ago, including the beastly Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and already rumors are surfacing about the company's next global flagship, the Xiaomi 16 Pro. A new leak now is revealing what we could expect from the phone's camera, and we may be getting a major camera upgrade this time.

The Xiaomi 15 Pro sports a triple-camera system with a 50MP main camera and a 50MP periscope telephoto camera with the Sony IMX858 sensor. This new leak is saying a huge upgrade is getting prepped for the successor's periscope camera.

According to the leaked info, the phone may sport a Sony LYTIA sensor for the periscope camera. It is not known yet exactly which sensor, but this suggests the new telephoto sensor may be larger in size. A larger sensor usually means better image quality, especially in low-light environments.

Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra and its periscope lens do quite well with zooming in, but a level of noise when zooming in a low-light environment is still there. Maybe, this neat new sensor the Xiaomi phone may get will shake things up in this department, potentially winning a little point over Samsung's camera beast in this overly competitive market.

Reportedly, Xiaomi may complement it with a new generation of lenses, and also a large aperture for long-range zooming. Judging just by this info alone, this sounds like a notably improved photography experience. Also, keep in mind the Xiaomi 15 Ultra got ahead on the Galaxy S25 Ultra in our camera score, delivering more detailed zoom, so would we see a widening of the gap?



But that's not all. The Xiaomi 16 pro may also rock a flat display with LTPO tech. Back in 2024, almost all phones made by China-based brands featured a quad-curved OLED display, but the new (old) flat display trend is setting here as well.

According to rumors, the entire Xiaomi 16 series will rock a flat display, this includes the Xiaomi 16, 16 Pro, and 16 Ultra. Meanwhile, LTPO (Low-Injection Pressure Overmolding) is a relatively new tech for manufacturing phones, which ensures super-thin bezels and a very good screen-to-body ratio.

Well, it's quite obvious at this point that the trend is again for flat displays. Samsung has ditched curved displays with its recent flagships, starting to trim the curve since the Galaxy S23 series. On the other hand, the other main competitor for the best flagship phone, Apple, has long-abandoned the curved look.

However, the Xiaomi 15 series retained the curved look, including with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra model. Apparently, this strategy may change with the next generation.

The Xiaomi 16 Pro may have a larger 6.8-inch flat panel, which would be an upgrade over the 15 Pro's 6.73-inch quad-curved panel. Meanwhile, the base model, the Xiaomi 16, is said to retain the 6.36-inch display from its predecessor.

The series is going to be one of the first phones to come with the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 processor, and a recent leak about the powers of this chip makes the series sound even more enticing. We expect the Xiaomi 16 and Xiaomi 16 Pro to launch first in China, and the Ultra model, as per tradition, may arrive a bit later.

Meanwhile, rumors are indicating the company is also working on a Xiaomi 15s Pro model that may come before the Xiaomi 16 series. However, this phone is likely to remain exclusive to China, making the Xiaomi 16 series the best big thing to look forward to from Xiaomi for the global market. Let's wait and see how big of a challenge these phones would prove to be, facing the best of the best.