Xiaomi’s Leica-Powered 17T Hits India as Profit Slump and Soaring Chip Costs Drag Stock to the Brink

Xiaomi unveils 17T in India with Leica triple lens, but shares hover near 52-week low as profit dives 57%, smartphone demand slumps, and EV business loses $5,600 per car.

Xiaomi has launched its most ambitious camera phone yet in India, the 17T featuring a full Leica triple-lens system, but the fanfare contrasts sharply with a stock that is sagging near its 52-week low. The shares changed hands at €3.12 on Thursday, just €0.08 above the trough of €3.04 touched on May 29 — a level that marks a 30% year-to-date decline. Investors are grappling with a perfect storm of collapsing smartphone demand, a 57% plunge in quarterly profit, and an expensive new electric-vehicle venture that is bleeding the equivalent of $5,600 on every car delivered.

The 17T, unveiled in India on June 4, 2026, is the clearest expression yet of Xiaomi’s push upmarket. It packs a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel ultrawide and a 50-megapixel periscope capable of 5x optical zoom, all co-engineered with Leica under a partnership that has deepened since 2022. Power comes from MediaTek’s Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset and a 6,500 mAh battery. The strategy of fewer but more profitable phones is already showing results in Europe: first-quarter shipments there dropped 15% to 4.5 million units, but the average selling price jumped 21% year-on-year, driven by strong demand in France, Germany and Spain.

Yet on the bottom line, those gains are being overwhelmed by headwinds elsewhere. Xiaomi’s net profit in the first quarter sank to 4.7 billion yuan, a 57% collapse from a year earlier, as revenue contracted 11%. The global smartphone market is forecast to shrink almost 14% this year to 1.08 billion units, and analysts expect Xiaomi’s own sales to fall 28%. Making matters worse, the cost of mobile memory chips is set to surge roughly 200% in the second quarter, a direct hit to margins that the premium shift can only partially offset.

The mounting losses from the fledgling EV business add another layer of pressure. The car segment posted an operating loss of 3.1 billion yuan in the first quarter, or about $5,600 per vehicle delivered. Management is nevertheless sticking to a full-year target of 550,000 units. To stem the stock’s slide, the company has launched a 20 billion Hong Kong dollar buyback programme and has already repurchased nearly 15 million shares in recent days.

Technological hopes are pinned on the next flagship, tipped to be called the “18 Pro Max” and expected in September. Leaks point to an enormous 8,500 mAh battery and a dual 200-megapixel camera, but the market is deeply divided. Jefferies rates the stock a sell with a target of HK$25.49, while Goldman Sachs sees a buy at HK$40. All eyes now turn to August 26, when the company reports second-quarter results. Until then, the direction of memory-chip prices and monthly EV delivery numbers will dictate whether the stock can crawl back from the edge.