Xiaomi 15 review

Modern smartphones (including the relatively smaller ones) are much bigger than what they used to be a few years ago, but there’s still a firm and visible differentiation between a regular-sized smartphone, a slightly bigger option, and a compact device. To call a smartphone with a 6.36-inch screen such as the Xiaomi 15 ‘small’ would have been ridiculous in the mid-2010s, but you’re unlikely to find a flagship smaller than this today.

The size of the Xiaomi 15 makes it a lot easier to hold and handle, and it isn’t purely about the smaller dimensions that come with the screen size. The hand-feel of the phone tends to help in giving you the impression that this phone is smaller than it actually is, and it’s actually really convenient to grip and hold. The flat sizes and curved edges also help, and the Xiaomi 15 also benefits from the relative minimalism on the frame.

 

 

 

 

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The screen itself is completely flat, as is much of the back save for the obvious bulge in the camera module. The Xiaomi 15 gets a Leica-engineered triple-camera setup at the back, sitting neatly in a square camera module. The matte finish on the back and sides also help in hiding grime and fingerprints, making this phone look both figuratively and literally a lot cleaner than much of the competition.

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The Xiaomi 15 comes in three colour options - black, green, and white. They all look good, thanks to the dull finishes and minimalist styling. The phone is IP68 rated for dust and water resistance, so it can handle being submerged in shallow water for a few minutes without worry.

The size of the display is what keeps the Xiaomi 15 compact and gives it the ‘small phone’ credentials. It’s got a 6.36-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2670x1200 pixels, along with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Usefully, that refresh rate can also drop to 1Hz for the always-on mode, letting the screen run in a low-power setting for easy access to time, battery levels, and notification icons.

 

 

 

 

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It’s not the sharpest at this price if you measure in pixels-per-inch, but that’s understandable given the size of the screen itself; it’s still plenty sharp and detailed. Usefully, you get a peak brightness level of around 3200 nits, DCI-P3 colour gamut, and support for HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision high dynamic range formats. Specifications aside, it’s a pretty good screen, and the flat design of the display helps in maintaining the excellent grip and look of the Xiaomi 15.

ALSO SEE: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review

The smaller dimensions of the Xiaomi 15 don’t hold it back when it comes to specifications, and this is a flagship device on the basis of its components. You get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset under the hood, along with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage on the single variant of the Xiaomi 15 available in India. Perhaps 16GB of RAM would have given the Xiaomi 15 a bit of future-proofing, but 12GB is more than enough for now.

As expected, the Xiaomi 15 gets 5G connectivity with dual-SIM compatibility, so you can use a 5G connection on both slots. You can also configure eSIM connectivity on one of the slots, but it helps to have two dedicated SIM slots in case you don’t want to go down that route yet. Apart from 5G, there’s also Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 6 compatibility.

On the software front, the Xiaomi 15 takes a big step forward in the form of HyperOS 2.0. The software experience does tend to be different on even different Xiaomi devices, but it’s been nicely cleaned up and polished for the flagship smartphone experience. Customisability in terms of layout of apps, the app drawer, and quick settings shade is pretty good, also feeling familiar and closer to the Android way of things. That said, Xiaomi’s unique touches are visible, which is nice.

 

 

 

 

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Visual tweaks such as themes and dynamic wallpapers have always been part of the Xiaomi way, and those remain in place. Icons and fonts are straightforward and tasteful, suggesting that Xiaomi has made a conscious effort to gear the 15 towards a more premium audience. Bloatware is kept at a minimum, although there are a few Xiaomi system apps which sit alongside Google’s own suite of apps and essentially create duplication for the same functions.

Apart from the more detailed visual personalisation options, HyperOS on the Xiaomi 15 also gets a few quality-of-life features such as dual-apps for separate account logins on the same app simultaneously, heart rate measurements using the camera, second space for securing certain content and apps, Enterprise mode, and Xiaomi interconnectivity for ecosystem benefits with other Xiaomi products. 

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There is also Xiaomi’s HyperAI suite, which largely utilises Gemini to operate AI-based functionality on the device. Additionally, you get ‘AI app boosts’ which add some AI-based functionality such as transcription, language interpretation, image editing and enhancement, and more. There are detailed descriptions for how these work in the settings menu, but Xiaomi sensibly isn’t putting too much emphasis on this given that widespread AI use for basic functions is still not mainstream; the focus is understandably on ease of use.

While the Xiaomi 15 Ultra - and indeed the Ultra lineup in general - is pitched as the camera beast in Xiaomi’s lineup, the Xiaomi 15 doesn’t fall too far behind. Like on the Ultra, the Xiaomi 15’s camera setup is co-engineered with Leica, although it does have one less camera with a triple-camera setup at the rear and two of those three sensors are slightly toned down as compared to the Ultra’s cameras.

Leaving aside the differences, the Xiaomi 15’s camera system performs admirably, delivering versatile performance in different environments that improves upon the Xiaomi 14. I was particularly impressed with the low-light performance, with the camera able to keep pace with quick moving subjects and background movements, while keeping the focus on the subject matter and also delivering a decent level of background detail.

The Leica-branded camera system on the Xiaomi 15 features a 50-megapixel primary camera with a 23mm-equivalent focal length, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with a 60mm-equivalent focal length and 2.6X optical zoom, and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera with a 14mm-equivalent focal length. In terms of capabilities, this means you get telephoto shots (digital zoom beyond 2.6x), portrait, ultra-wide, and video recording in Dolby Vision format and up to 8K resolution at 30fps or 4K at 60fps.

Slow-motion video can be recorded at up to a staggering 960fps at 1080p, but this almost certainly involves some interpolation rather than native recording at that frame-rate. There’s plenty of options to get your pictures and videos according to your preferences, including being able to shoot at 50-megapixel resolution, variable focal lengths for portrait shots, and ‘fastshot’, a mode which allows for rapid motion capture to prevent unwanted blur.

If you prefer to keep things simple and let the camera system function on its own settings with little input from you, the Xiaomi 15 does a very good job. Really, the only major choice to make is choosing between Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant modes (pick ‘Authentic’ for better results). After that, just point and shoot, and the Xiaomi 15 delivers excellent results for a smartphone that costs Rs. 65,000.

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It’s a versatile camera that delivers good results in different scenarios, and provides images that are fairly authentic-looking, sharp, and detailed. While there is a bit of enhancement, the effects are subtle, with the resulting shots looking and feeling both impactful and real. 

What I really enjoyed was the low level of effort that had to go into getting shots right. In proper daylight this was very easy, although even low-light settings didn’t throw the Xiaomi 15 off too much. Optical zoom is capped at a somewhat low 2.6X, but digital zoom can deliver decent results at up to 5X in most conditions.

With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset under the hood, the Xiaomi 15 very obviously positions itself as a flagship offering, and is priced reasonably as far as devices with this chipset go. For the most part, you’ll even get the promised levels of performance

Thermals - Heats up a bit under some load because of design. Shouldn’t affect most things but you’ll see results with processing times for intense tasks, or gaming. Benchmark scores are largely on par with what you’ll see on similar flagship devices running the Snapdragon 8 Elite or MediaTek Dimensity 9400, but on the lower side - still, the difference isn’t much.

What I did experience on the Xiaomi 15 were some issues with cooling; the smartphone tends to warm up a bit when put through the paces or with heavy use of mobile data. Gaming and multi-tasking causes this, as does updating 20-25 apps at a time on the Google Play Store using a 5G data connection.

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That’s not to say that the phone gets very warm to the point of feeling dangerous, but the Xiaomi 15 definitely feels like it’s putting in the work. I’d say that this is because of the design of the phone, which along with its compact dimensions, makes it hard to expel heat. 

 

 

 

 

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This does cause a bit of performance throttling, so you might see occasional choppy performance with gaming or heavy use of some functions on apps such as video editing and exporting, or recording high-resolution video for long periods of time. You’ll see some impact with these kind of process-heavy tasks, but the phone largely manages to remain stable and operational even with the throttling; it didn’t cause any crashes or reboots during my time with the phone.

Despite the compactness, the Xiaomi 15 has a 5240mAh battery - fairly large for a phone of this size. You should be able to get a full day of battery life on the Xiaomi 15 even with moderate-to-heavy usage. Charging is fast thanks to the 90W charging support, and the right adapter and cable are usefully included in the box. Expect a full charge in about 45 minutes, or burst charging that can get you from about 30-80 percent in about 20-25 minutes. 50W wireless charging is also supported, if you have the right hardware.

Given that not many smartphone makers are making genuinely compact flagship devices, the Xiaomi 15 has definite value for those looking at a small and easy-to-handle premium device. That said, it’s not that different from what the Xiaomi 14 offered apart from the iterative upgrades, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; this is a decent phone with a great camera system to back it up as its star feature.

The cooling issues and throttling under load are perhaps the only major issues here - the Xiaomi 15 is a reliable device with good software, decent battery life, fast charging, and a flagship-tier hardware. Buy this if you want a small flagship with a good camera setup.