AI Fail: Xiaomi 17 Ultra turns the eclipsed Sun into a cratered Moon

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra appears to have applied Moon enhancement software to photographs of a solar eclipse, adding crater-like surface details to the Sun. The incident highlights how AI image processing can produce convincing but inaccurate results when a camera system misidentifies its subject.

Omar Belkaab reports for Frandroid that the problem emerged during tests of four smartphones used to photograph the August 12 eclipse. In at least one image from the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, the reddish-orange Sun shows apparent relief, lines and craters normally associated with photographs of the Moon.

These details came from a common computational photography technique used by smartphone makers. At very high digital zoom levels, phones may use AI models trained on Moon imagery to reconstruct or strengthen surface detail. The resulting image can look sharper and more dramatic than the optical data captured by the camera alone.

That approach has long prompted debate over whether smartphone Moon photographs accurately represent the scene. Xiaomi is not alone in using such processing. Samsung’s Space Zoom has also faced scrutiny over AI-enhanced lunar images.

In this case, the system seems to have treated the eclipsed Sun as a bright Moon-like object and applied the wrong visual template. Frandroid says not every eclipse image taken with the Xiaomi phone showed the effect. Users on X also posted comparable images, including shots taken with protective solar filters.