Xiaomi 15 review: Powerful phone with impressive Leica camera

Besides the fantastic camera, Xiaomi 15 comes with top-class build quality, robust design, great display and a very powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which can run any apps and games without breaking a sweat. And, delivers great with long battery life too.

Recently, Xiaomi unveiled the company's ultra premium smartphone Xiaomi 15 series, in India.

It comes in two variants- Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra- and are slated to hit stores on April 3 with prices starting at Rs 64,999.

I have been using the Xiaomi 15 for a little over a week, and here are my thoughts on the latest flagship Android phone.

Design, build quality and display

The new Xiaomi 15 retains the design elements of the predecessor (Xiaomi 14 review). It comes in solid candy-bar structure made sturdy glass and metal.

It has same curved square camera module with Leica branding and LED flash at the top left corner. The rest has minimalistic plain design with just Xiaomi branding in veritical orientation.

Xiaomi 14 (left) and Xiaomi 15 (right).

The company has used high strength alumnium alloy (6M42) for the metallic rails around the edge, which offers stability to the device's design. It can take a dent during the accidental fall, but ensures the internal components stay in their place.

Also, the front and the back is protected by propreitary Xiaomi Shield Glass cover.

Xiaomi 15.

Further, the company has pre-fitted additional screen guard to protection against scratches. And, the device comes with IP68 water-and-dust resistant rating, meaning it can survive accidental drop in the swimming for up to 1.5 metres (approx. five feet) for close to 30 minutes. God forbid, if the device falls in water body, ensure is dried for at least an hour before plugging it to the power supply.

Also, the frosted glass with matte finish on the back does a fine job with repelling the sweaty fingerprint smudges.

Xiaomi 15.

The company also offers a high-quality silicone with the retail box. Xiaomi has covered all bases to ensure the device serves the customers for a long.

The standard Xiaomi 15 sports a gorgeous 6.36-inch 1.5K(2670 x 1200p) M9 12-bit LTPO OLED display. It has 94 per cent screen-to-body ratio and also the bezel is uniform in all sides and corners. The company has used 3D packaging technology, whiche enabled them significantly reduce the bezel width at the chin.

Xiaomi 15.

It has a 20:9 aspect ratio, supports variable 1-120Hz refresh rate, and offer up to 3200 nits peak brightness. The display is great for consuming multimedia cosumption and also thanks to compact design and super sensitive display, it is really easy to type messages single handedly.

Xiaomi 15.

It also featrues a Type-C USB port, infrared sensor, four microphones, dual SIM slots (no room for microSD) and an in-display fingerprint sensor. The latter is super quick to recognise the fingerprint impression and unlock the phone.

Besides green, the Xiaomi 15 also comes in two other colour options-black and white.

Performance

Xiaomi is powered by 3nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite with Adreno 830 GPU, 12GB RAM, and 512GB storage.

Xiaomi 15's CPU and GPU performance score on Geekbench 6.0 app.

It delivers a super-smooth performance without breaking a sweat. It never showed a sligthest sign of lag-ness as such. Be it 8K video recording or while playing graphics-rich games, the device amazingly smooth performer. It also did not over heat while performing heavy duty tasks such editing photos, and running generative AI features indoors.

Xiaomi 15 supports several generative AI features including Gemini AI app, Circle to Search and more.

However, with rising temperature in Summer, Xiaomi 15 like any other premium phone with metal and glass body gets warmed up when playing graphics-rich games outdoors. I have note that the IceCool vapor chamber does a fine job with the efficient heat dissipation. The heat never felt overwhelming to complain about. Also, with silcone case on, the fingers don't feel the heat much when holding the device.

Xiaomi 15 comes with IceCool Vapor Chamber.

It runs on familiar Android 15-based Xiaomi HyperOS 2. It has some third-party apps, but with 512GB base storage, one will never feel any anxiety of running out of memory space any time soon.

Xiaomi 15.

The device houses a a 5,400mAh battery. It was able to deliver more than a day battery life under normal usage and with Wi-Fi connectivity at the home and the office. If you are fully dependent on cellular network for streaming content or watching YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels for hours, the device will be able to last up to dinner time.

The company offers 90W wired fast charged with the retail box. It takes less than one hour to fully charge from zero to 100 per cent. And, it also supports 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging as well.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample.

Photography

Xiaomi 15 boasts of triple camera with Leica system— main 50MP (with 1/ 1.31-inch Light Fusion 900 sensor, f/1.62 aperture, Hyper OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation, Leica Summilux lens) + 50MP 115-degree Leica ultra-wide angle camera (with f/2.2) + 50MP (2.6X 10cm to Infinity Leica telephoto camera with f/2.0, OIS) with LED flash.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample.

As advertised, the Xiaomi 15 does a superb job with photography. It takes stellar images in all light conditions, and I have to say, this is the best camera phone I have tested in 2025.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample.

Subjects such as human faces, pets, and flowers come with vibrant and lively colours, perfect to share on social media platforms.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample with digital zoom.

It has the best portrait modes in its class. It offers a cinematic master-lens system with options such as swirly bokeh, soft focus, wide, and bubble to deliver professional camera-like quality portrait images.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample.

There are Leica filters such as Leica Oringinal, Leica VIV, Leica Nat, Leica BW Nat, Leica BW HC, Leica Sepia, Leica Blue, Scarlet, Teal Mist, Cinematic, Vivid, Gold Vibes and Monsoon.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample.

With ultra wide angle, the device here too, performs great with accomodating wide area of the landscape without using software tricks.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample with ultra-wide angle mode.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample with ultra-wide angle mode.

Also, with macro mode, it takes fantastic close-up shots with clear details of the subject.

And, it supports up to 5X optical zoom. As you can see in the samples below, there is hardly any loss of image quality.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample with 2X optical zoom.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample with 5X optical zoom.

Even with digital zoom up to 30X, the camera does good with capture fine quality images with less noise. It can zoom upto 60X.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample with 30X digital zoom.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample with 60X digital zoom.

AT night too, Xiaomi 15 captures sharp pictures with less noise. One of the best in its class.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample with night mode on.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample with night mode on.

The device can record high-quality 8K videos at 24/30 frames per second.

On the front, it has a 32MP camera (with f/2.0) and can record 4K at 60 fps (frames per second) video recording.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample.

It takes pretty amazing portrait photos worthy to be used as a Display Picture (DP) for social media platforms.

Xiaomi 15's camera sample.

Final thoughts

Xiaomi 15 is an excellent premium Android phone. It has top-class build quality, robust design, great display and a very powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which can run any apps and games without breaking a sweat. And, delivers great with long battery life.

And, the icing on the cake is the impressive Leica camera system. It takes stunning photos in all light conditions. Given how fantastic the standard Xiaomi 15 variant is, the 15 Ultra will be even better in the photography department.

Xiaomi 15.

The latest Xiaomi 15 (12GB RAM + 512GB storage) costs Rs 64,999 and the 15 Ultra (16GB RAM + 512GB storage) is priced at Rs 1,09,999. For a limited time, they can be purchased for Rs 59,999 and Rs 99,999, respectively via special launch offers.

Also, the company is offering photography kit for Xiaomi 15 Ultra and is sold separately for Rs 11,999 in India.

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