Redmi Note 17 Pro Max 5G vs Honor X9e Pro: Battle of the midrangers with massive batteries
The midrange market for smartphones has been heating up recently, with the latest big trend in this segment this year being all about batteries. Specifically, we’ve seen a number of premium midrange devices pushing battery capacities to the limit, and we’re going to put two of the most recent entries up against each other: the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max 5G and the Honor x9e Pro.
Battery
Of course, we have to start with the batteries in these two devices. The Honor X9e Pro here takes the lead, thanks to its gargantuan 11,000mAh battery which we were able to comfortably push through an entire weekend during our review.
Nevertheless, the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max 5G still comes with a very respectable 10,000mAh battery, and actually has faster 100W fast charging too compared to the 80W charging on the Honor X9e Pro. Both devices by the way also support 27W reverse wired charging, which you can use to power up your accessories and gadgets.
Processor and software
Under the hood, the two devices are actually pretty similar, as they both come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 system-on-chip, which is a fairly respectable midrange processor that should be more than enough for general day-to-day usage. The two also come with 8GB of memory and up to 512GB of storage.
The difference will likely be more to which flavour of Android skin you prefer, with the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max 5G coming with HyperOS 3 while the Honor X9e Pro gets Magic OS 10, both skinned over Android 16. However, the Redmi takes the clear win in terms of software support, with 4 major Android OS upgrades and 6 years of security patches, compared to the Honor’s 2 major upgrades and 2 years of security patches.
Display
As for displays, there’s barely any real difference between the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max 5G and the Honor X9e Pro. The former comes with a 6.83-inch AMOLED panel with a 2772 x 1280 resolution, while the latter gets a 6.8-inch AMOLED panel with a 2788 x 1280 resolution instead.
The Honor does get a slight advantage with 10,000nits of peak brightness compared to the Redmi’s 3,500nits, but the Redmi has a higher typical brightness of 1,060nits versus the Honor’s 800nits; the two share the same normal high brightness mode of 2,000nits anyway. The Redmi has slightly better colour reproductions too with 12-bit colour, while the X9e Pro has 10-bit colour instead. Both also have a 120Hz refresh rate and a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 over their screens too.
Cameras
On paper, the Honor X9e Pro seems to have a slight advantage here with a 108MP, f/1.7 main camera compared to the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max 5G’s 50MP, f/1.5 main camera, but the Redmi does have a better overall camera setup with an 8MP, f/2.2 utlra wide and a 32MP, f/2.2 selfie shooter versus the Honor’s 5MP, f/2.2 ultrawide and 16MP, f/2.5 front camera.
Having used both though, I think the Redmi slightly edges out the Honor in the camera department. While both offer serviceable main cameras, I personally prefer having a more versatile camera setup, which the Redmi definitely offers; the Honor’s 5MP ultrawide is just a bit too rough for 2026 in my opinion.
Durability
Unsurprisingly, both Xiaomi and Honor have been pushing the durability aspect of their devices quite hard, and so both come with a plethora of claims regarding how well they’ll survive in the real world.
For the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max 5G, Xiaomi has introduced its Redmi Titan Structure, with the device getting IP66/68/69/69K dust and water resistance ratings, passing a TUV SUD 2 meter, 72 hours water-resistance test and having been certified by SGS for drops of up to 3 meters onto a granite surface.
As for the Honor X9e Pro, it too comes with an SGS 5-star rating for drop resistance from up to 3 meters and all-angle drop protection at 1.2 meters, an IP68/69/69K dust and water resistance ratings, a new bumper design for reduced screen damage risk when dropped, along with stronger adhesives used in the chassis.
Price
Lastly, we come to its price. The Redmi Note 17 Pro Max 5G starts at RM1,999 for the base model with 256GB of storage, while for RM2,299 you get 512GB of storage instead. The Honor X9e Pro meanwhile is actually cheaper than the Redmi for its own 256GB model at RM1,899, but the 512GB one is priced higher at RM2,399.
Overall, both devices will be great options is battery life is a priority for you, with the Honor X9e Pro arguably edging out the Redmi Note 17 Pro Max 5G here with its larger battery, though better cameras and a longer software support policy means that the Redmi is perhaps a more well rounded device.
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