This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
New year, new generation of phones is coming our way, and the usual suspects aren't the ones I'm most excited about. Neither the upcoming iPhone 18, Pixel 11, nor the Galaxy S26 series excite me, as they will once again predictably reuse hardware and bet on software features to excite potential.
It's devices like the upcoming Xiaomi 17 Ultra, Oppo Find X9 Ultra, and the Vivo X300 Ultra that currently occupy the back of my mind, a trio of phones that will hopefully once again push the hardware and software limits of the Android ecosystem. I've already shared my 2026 New Year resolution, and it's to not use any devices from Apple, Samsung, or Google due to the way they treat intergenerational upgrades and innovation.
Here's which devices currently excite me:
Xiaomi 17 Ultra
One-inch sensor and a 200MP telephoto? Sign me up!
One of the most intriguing phones that came out from China this year was the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, which was mostly a cheeky answer to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but also reintroduced one genuinely cool feature––the rear display. Useful for all kinds of usage scenarios, this one is a spiritual successor to the Xiaomi 11 Ultra's rear status screen back in the day.
Even camouflaged, this camera looks like it will mean business
Well, the upcoming Xiaomi 17 Ultra won't come with this useful rear display, but it will carry something that's way more exciting to me. The phone's rear camera setup will combine a massive 1.0-inch Omnivision OV50X 50MP main rear camera with a 200MP telephoto camera, which will certainly be great for zooming and cropping your shots.
Based on my first-hand, one-month experience with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra that I reviewed earlier in 2025, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra will most certainly land near the very top of camera prowess and image quality both in still photography and video-recording. The phone will also come along with a new LOFIC (Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor) sensor, which promises to deliver high dynamic range in a single exposure while simultaneously getting rid of noise and pesky LED flicker. Sounds promising and exciting!
There's also the rumor that the Xiaomi 17 Ultra will come with variable optical zoom, but I've been burned by similar rumors for many other phones before, so I wouldn't keep my hopes up.
Recommended For You
Last but not least, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra could be vastly improving portraiture with a new 35mm portrait focal length that will crop from the main camera sensor and will feature new filters, bokeh effects, and live photos for portraits. HDR portraits with very strong backlighting could also benefit from the new LOFIC sensor.
Aside from the camera package, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra will come with a flat display, the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and a battery in the 7,000 mAh range along with 100W charging. Pretty much going through my wishlist of features as it stands right now.
Vivo X300 Ultra
World's first phone with two 200MP cameras
I won't hide the fact that I'm partial to Vivo phones and I'm currently daily-driving an X200 Pro, which is still going strong even in late 2025, and the prospects of Vivo one-upping itself with the upcoming X300 Ultra is particularly tantalizing.
The Vivo X200 Ultra that launched earlier in 2025 was a spectacular phone with a camera that's easily among the best ones and most feature-rich ones you could get in 2025.
Well, the Vivo X200 Ultra will undoubtedly up the ante, and the rumor mill agrees it will arrive with 200MP sensors. There will be a 35mm lens with a 1/1.12-nch Sony LYT-901 sensor behind the main camera and another 1/1.4-inch Samsung HPB one for the 85mm telephoto. The ultrawide will use a 50MP 1/1.28-inch ultrawide and will likely be used to capture both ultrawide and wide scenes.
It is actually expected to be the first phone to launch with dual 200MP cameras, and this will push its imaging capabilities to new heights.
Unfortunately, of all upcoming devices I'm excited about, the least seems to be known of this model, as the rumor mill has been mostly mum on its full specs and features. We do know that it will likely come with a ~7,000 mAh silicon-carbon battery in the boot along with 100W wired charging. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is also making an appearance here.
The most exciting part? The phone is rumored to be getting a global release, which is great news to me! The X200 Ultra wasn't released globally, and that was a shame.
Oppo Find X9 Ultra
All around superb hardware
How could one improve on the already exceptional Oppo Find X9 Pro, the phone that packed everything but the kitchen sink in its specs sheet? Simple––by giving us more of everything, of course!
I'm particularly excited to see how Oppo could improve on the Find X9 Pro experience, which I deemed nearly perfect in my recent review of the device. The rumors claim we'd get a noteworthy follow-up to the quad-camera Oppo Find X8 Ultra, substituting the Dimensity 9500 for a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
We'd get four cameras here as well, likely the new Sony LYT-901 200MP sensor for the main camera, a 200MP short telephoto and 50MP long telephoto, as well as a 50MP ultrawide. Sounds promising, and if the image quality is anything like the Oppo Find X9 Pro, but better, then we'd be in for a treat!
The phone could also score a battery in the vicinity of 7,000 mAh, and while I'm sad it would be some 500 mAh smaller than the one on the X9 Pro, the tradeoff is one extra camera. Totally worth it in my opinion, as you can always charge your phone but you can't emulate a whole another camera.
No two ways around it––China is at the forefront of phone innovation. It has been for quite some time, and shows no signs of stopping, so we could expect most hardware innovation to come from this part of the globe for the foreseeable future. I'm all in for that as it makes an otherwise boring and mature phone market actually exciting for once, even though the overall software experience might not always be top-notch.
Peter, an experienced tech enthusiast at PhoneArena, is captivated by all things mobile. His impartial reviews and proficiency in Android systems offer readers valuable insights. Off-duty, he delves into the latest cryptocurrency trends and enjoys sci-fi and video games.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: