Xiaomi 15 review

Xiaomi bombards us with so many affordable smartphone options under its Redmi and Poco sub-brands that it can be easy to forget what the company’s day job is.

That is: making extremely well-equipped flagship phones worthy of mixing with the Google Pixels and Samsung Galaxies of this world.

Indeed, 2024’s Xiaomi 14 was arguably the most impressive compact flagship phone of the year. The Xiaomi 15 picks up where that phone left off, making precious few compromises despite a relatively small form factor.

There is reason for concern, however, in that Xiaomi has bumped up the asking price by between £50 and £100. Does the Xiaomi 15 do enough to justify such an increase, and is it up to the task of topping the Google Pixel 9 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S25?

Design & Build

• Very familiar look and feel
• Compact and classy
• Four colours

It didn’t bother our reviewer that the Xiaomi 14 looked a lot like the Xiaomi 13. Third time around for this design in the Xiaomi 15, though, has us feeling a little restless.

Especially when said design was hardly fresh and distinctive to begin with. True, Xiaomi isn’t the only manufacturer to have cribbed from Apple’s homework. But that just means that the Xiaomi 15, the Pixel 9 Pro, the Galaxy S25 and, of course, the iPhone 16 Pro all look pretty much the same.

Familiarity aside, there’s no denying that the Xiaomi 15 is a well built piece of kit

You have the same flat metal frame, the same dead-flat front and rear glass surfaces, and the same curved corners.

The main thing that distinguishes all of these phones is their own unique takes on the camera module. Xiaomi essentially takes the iPhone’s curvy square platform and fills in all the space between the three cameras, so it’s a single flat piece of glass.

Familiarity aside, there’s no denying that the Xiaomi 15 is a well built piece of kit, and one that’s lovely to use day to day. It’s not as small and light as the Galaxy S25, but at 152.3 x 71.2 x 8.08mm and 191g, it’s still at the smaller end of the smartphone spectrum.

Xiaomi claims to have toughened up the Xiaomi 15, too, with a Xiaomi Shield Glass material that’s said to be 10x more drop resistant than the Xiaomi 14’s Gorilla Glass Victus. The aluminium frame of the phone, meanwhile, is reportedly 33% tougher, and you still get IP68 certification into the bargain.

It’s impossible to test these claims of superiority, of course. All I can say is that the Xiaomi 15 came away completely unscathed from the everyday bumps and bashes of my test period – although this was doubtless aided by the welcome inclusion of a silicone case.

My model comes in a sober Black, with a matt finish that stands up well to fingerprints. I’m intrigued by the Liquid Silver option’s “shimmering curves crafted from heat-bent glass”, although this special finish adds a little to the thickness and weight of the phone.

Screen & Speakers

• 6.36-inch AMOLED
• 1-120Hz
• Stereo speakers

A pervasive sense of familiarity creeps into the Xiaomi 15’s display as well, although this time it’s perfectly understandable. The Xiaomi 14’s screen was excellent.

Once again you’re getting a 6.36in AMOLED panel with a 2670 x 1200 (aka 1.5K) resolution. It’s an LTPO panel, which means that it can scale all the way between 1 and 120Hz to save battery when those high refresh rates aren’t needed – which is most of the time.

There’s been one tweak with this year’s model, and that’s a slightly higher peak brightness of 3200 nits, compared to 3000 nits in the Xiaomi 14.

That only pertains to limited HDR scenarios. In general use, with auto brightness off and the sunlight boost active, I recorded a top brightness of 799 nits. It’s not quite Pixel 9 Pro territory, but it’s still very strong.

HDR10+ and Dolby Vision are supported, and all the media content I threw at the Xiaomi 15 looked great. This is one of the most colour-accurate screens in its category, and I wasn’t forced to switch away from its default ‘Original colour PRO’ colour scheme to achieve such a natural look either.

Xiaomi has upgraded the under-display fingerprint sensor to an ultrasonic unit, making it up to 50% faster and more secure than the preceding optical sensor. I can vouch for its speed and accuracy.

Flanking the display – at least in landscape orientation – is a set of speakers that get impressively loud without distortion. They still lack a little low end grunt and nuance, but they offer a loud, crisp output.

Specs & Performance

• Snapdragon 8 Elite
• 12GB RAM
• 256/512GB storage

Performance is unimpeachable on the Xiaomi 15, as it should be with every 2025 phone that uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. This really is a beast of a chip, offering class-leading performance along with decent energy efficiency.

Geekbench 6 benchmark results are broadly in line with the Samsung Galaxy S25 and the OnePlus 13, not to mention the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. All of which utilise the same chip. They’re also way ahead of the Google Pixel 9 Pro with its outclassed Tensor G4 chip.

We’ll have to update this review with GPU benchmark results after the phone’s launch. Xiaomi blocked its phone from accessing any such server-referencing GPU tests before the review embargo.

Still, I’m not remotely concerned for the phone in this respect. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite onboard, I’m pretty confident the Xiaomi 15 is going to score similarly well to its contemporaries. It’s capable of running GRID Legends and Genshin Impact very fluidly on maxed out settings.

It should be noted that the model Xiaomi sent to me for testing comes with 16GB of RAM, despite the fact I was told that both UK models (256 and 512GB) will only come with 12GB. Again, that should prove ample – it’s a match for the Galaxy S25 at least – but it’s always a little annoying whenever such specs aren’t universally applied.

This is a well specced phone elsewhere as well, with Bluetooth 6.0 and Wi-Fi 7 support covering your connectivity bases.

Xiaomi also supplies its customary IR blaster, this time as part of the camera module, so you can control your TV or Hi-Fi using the provided Mi Remote app.

Xiaomi 15 benchmarks

Cameras

• Triple 50Mp rear cameras with Leica
• New improved 60mm telephoto
• 32Mp selfie cam

We were seriously impressed with the Xiaomi 14’s photographic chops, so it’s understandable that the company has only made moderate improvements to the Xiaomi 15 camera system.

You’re still getting a capable trio of Leica-branded cameras, led once again by a 1/1.31″ 50Mp f/1.62 Light Fusion 900 sensor. This is accompanied by OIS and a 7P lens array.

This main camera produces shots with plenty of detail and dynamic range, together with spot-on exposure. Colours appear either nice and natural in Leica Authentic mode, or with a punchier and more Insta-worthy look in Leica Vibrant. Both shooting modes are always available from the main camera UI.

Xiaomi offers some of the most extensive portrait options around, too. You can choose between four focal lengths, while Master Portrait mode boosts the depth and vibrancy of these shots.

The 50Mp f/2.2 ultrawide camera looks the same as before, and is a solid landscape snapper, if a notable step back from the main camera in terms of detail and exposure. What’s truly new this time around is the 50Mp Leica 60mm floating telephoto camera.

Technically the optical zoom has taken a step back from the Xiaomi 14’s 3.2x (60mm here equates to 2.6x), but I have few complaints about that. Hybrid zoom shots taken on the Xiaomi 15 look great right up to 5x, and still look pretty decent at 10x.

More importantly, this new telephoto camera captures double the dynamic range of the Xiaomi 14 equivalent. Sure enough, the zoomed-in shots that I took captured the contrast between bright and shady areas beautifully, with rich colours that pop without that artificial, processed look.

This new telephoto camera also lets you take nicely detailed macro shots from a distance of 10cm. In truth, this doesn’t feel like the most impressive macro implementation I’ve seen, with the camera not able to get quite close enough for proper perspective-shifting results, but it still expands your artistic options.

Behind the scenes, Xiaomi claims that its AISP 2.0 AI image processing algorithm runs 82% faster. This is another element that’s hard to quantify in real time, but I can certainly confirm that the shooting experience is sharp and fluid, with no pauses or delays for processing.

The 32Mp front camera remains a strong performer, too. It recognises and locks onto faces quickly and consistently, and will automatically ‘zoom out’ to the wider 0.8x view if it detects that your selfie subject is a little too tight.

I did notice a curious shadowy halo effect on one set of selfies taken in shadow with a sunny background, though.

Video continues to impress, with 8K possible at 24 or 30fps, or 4K/60fps with Dolby Vision HDR.

Battery Life & Charging

• Significantly larger 5240mAh battery
• 90W HyperCharge
• 50W wireless HyperCharge

The Xiaomi 15 packs a 5240mAh battery, which is 14% larger than its predecessor.

At this point, we could point to the fact that this is much larger than the Samsung Galaxy S25’s 4000mAh battery. However, the more remarkable comparison would be with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – a significantly larger phone with a smaller 5000mAh cell.

Xiaomi claims that this larger battery, in conjunction with a more efficient Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, leads to a 25% boost in battery life.

I’m not entirely convinced by that claim. In our PCMark Work 3.0 battery tests, the Xiaomi 15 scored 13 hours 50 minutes – just over an hour longer than the Xiaomi 14 12 hours and 43 minutes, which is about a 9% increase.

That’s a considerable improvement nonetheless. It still falls well short of the Samsung Galaxy S25’s score, but it narrowly beats the Google Pixel 9 Pro.

I certainly never struggled with the Xiaomi 15’s stamina in day to day use. On a working day with 4 hours 20 minutes of screen on time – what I’d call the upper end of ‘moderate’ usage – I would tend to be left with 50% left in the tank. It’s a potential two-dayer.

Xiaomi hasn’t touched its charging provision, but it really didn’t need to. 90W wired continues to be hugely competitive, and way beyond what the Samsung Galaxy s25 (25W), Google Pixel 9 Pro (27W), and iPhone 16 Pro (25W) offer.

What’s more, unlike those rivals, you get Xiaomi’s speedy 90W HyperCharge charging brick in the box.

It’s good enough to get the Xiaomi from 0% to 39% in just 15-minutes, and then 68% in half an hour. That’s not as good as the Xiaomi 14, due to the larger capacity battery, but it comfortably beats its compact rivals.

On the wireless charging side, 50W support goes similarly above-and-beyond. You’ll need the relevant Xiaomi Wireless Charging Stan Pro charger for the job though, otherwise it’s plain old Qi speeds, and with no magnetised Qi2 support.

Software & Apps

• HyperOS 2.0
• Android 15
• AI provision feels somewhat threadbare

Xiaomi has upgraded its UI to HyperOS 2.0 layered over Android 15, but this is very much business as usual. If you’ve used a Xiaomi phone with HyperOS or its predecessor MIUI before, it will all feel familiar.

That’s not exactly a glowing recommendation, because Xiaomi’s take on Android has never been my favourite. It’s quite a fussy UI, with cluttered and confusing menus, loads of extra system apps, and a convoluted split notification menu.

Xiaomi has wisely reinstated the Settings menu shortcut to this menu, so that’s an improvement over HyperOS 1.0. More praise should be offered for the general speed and fluidity of the UI, which never stuttered during my time with the Xiaomi 15.

Indeed, with the high degree of personalisation potential, I was able to tweak the UI to a point where I found it quite pleasant to use. However, I switched back and forth between this and the Pixel 9 Pro a few times during the review period, and I was always happy to return to Google’s flagship with its sleek, stylish UI.

Bloatware is still a wearisome issue here. There are 10 third-party apps preinstalled, including such non-essentials as Booking.com, LinkedIn, and AliExpress.

At least you don’t get a folder full of terrible games, as you do on Xiaomi’s cheaper phones. There are only the two web browsers this time around, too, which is progress of a sort.

This being a 2025 flagship phone, the Xiaomi 15 packs in a few AI tools, though it doesn’t seem to be as all-in as Google or Samsung. Head into AI services in the Settings menu and you’ll find just six AI-enhanced elements. One of those is Google’s Circle to Search, too, which I seemed unable to initiate despite being toggled on. Perhaps I’m missing something.

Still, Gemini is prominently placed, and Xiaomi offers its own AI-enhanced tools for note summaries and layout assistance, translation, video subtitles, and the like.

There are loads of AI tools in the Gallery app, too, though you’ll need to install individual plug-ins for each tool. Background object removal works, but not as elegantly as Google’s or Samsung’s, while changing the skies felt a bit more Instagram filter-like to me.

There’s certainly nothing as spookily impressive as Google’s scene manipulation tools here.

Price & Availability

The Xiaomi 15 hits the UK in two variants, starting with the model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for £899.

Then there’s a step up model with the same 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for £999.

Given that the Xiaomi 14 started from £849, this represents a £50 price bump. Even worse is that the 512GB model of the Xiaomi 14 arrived at just £899, which represents a £100 price increase.

Considering that larger increase for the top model, I’m a little confused as to why the top UK model only has 12GB of RAM. It’s not that this is a substandard amount, but rather that the model I was sent for testing comes with 16GB.

With double the storage and an increase in RAM, this price disparity would be more understandable.

Regardless of the price bump, I’d argue that the Xiaomi 15 represents excellent value for money. It’s £10 cheaper than the equivalent 256GB model of the Samsung Galaxy S25, despite featuring a better camera, display, and charging provision, as well as a larger battery.

It’s also £200 cheaper than the equivalent Pixel 9 Pro. Google’s compact flagship runs the Xiaomi 15 closer in many respects, but falls well short on performance, stamina, and charging.

You can buy both variants of the Xiaomi 15 direct from the Xiaomi UK website. As usual, Xiaomi isn’t selling the Xiaomi 15 in the US.

Should you buy the Xiaomi 15?

The Xiaomi 15 hasn’t changed all that much from the Xiaomi 14, and it’s received an unwelcome price bump into the bargain. Despite that, it remains one of the best compact flagship options on the market.

Its performance is up there with the best; its display is sharp and accurate; and its camera system is beautifully accomplished. Xiaomi has squeezed in a much larger battery this time around, while its charging provision remains one of the most impressive in its class.

Even the unfortunate matter of the price bump isn’t all that much of a complaint – it’s still cheaper than all of its compact flagship rivals when you compare like for like storage capacities.

Just about the only major complaint I have relates to Xiaomi’s overly busy software, which continues to fall short of the Pixel 9 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro on clarity, usability, and ongoing support. If you can live with that, there’s no more impressive a small phone than this.

Specs

• Android 15 with HyperOS 2
• 6.36in, 1.5K, OLED, 120Hz, flat display
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite
• 12GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 256GB/512GB storage
• 50Mp, f/1.62 main camera
• 50Mp, f/2.2 ultra-wide camera
• 50Mp, f/2.0 telephoto macro camera
• Up to 8K @ 30fps rear video
• 32Mp front-facing camera
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 5240mAh battery
• 90W wired charging, 50W wireless charging
• 152.3 x 71.2 x 8.08mm
• 191g
• Launch colours: Black, White, Green, Liquid Silver