Xiaomi 15, the premium smartphone developed in association with the German lens maker Leica was launched with the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, fitted in a compact form factor which is lightweight and easy to use. The Xiaomi 15 succeeds Xiaomi 14 with few improvements and competes with other compact phones like Samsung Galaxy S25 and Google Pixel 9. The Xiaomi 15 sells at ₹64,999 in India.

Design

Xiaomi 15 does not deviate too much from its predecessor and has the same compact form factor and minimal approach. The squarish camera housed in Xiaomi 15 does not hold the flash rather it has been shifted separately in the body. Xiaomi has used a matte finish which is a welcome move from the slippery design for 14. It remains clean and gives the phone a sober feel.

The phone weighs around 191 grams using an aluminium chassis which is good to handle and can be easily operated with one hand. However, Galaxy S25 is just 162 grams heavy while Pixel 9 is 198 grams. The flat punch hole display offers a wide screen to body ratio with narrow bezels. The phone is IP68 rated just like Galaxy S25 to resist water and dust. Xiaomi 15 maintains similar buttons and port placements. The power button and volume rockers are on the right, while the SIM tray, USB-C port, and speaker grille are beneath.

Display

Xiaomi 15 gets 200 nits brighter than its predecessor Xiaomi 14. The 6.36-inch AMOLED display offers 1-120 Hz refresh rate, maintaining the same resolution of 2670x1200. However, the touch sampling rate has gone up to 300 Hz from 240 Hz in 14. In contrast, Galaxy S25 has a 6.2-inch AMOLED display with 1080x2300 resolution, and a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. Pixel 9 features a 6.3-inch OLED display, 1080x2424 resolution, refresh rate between 60 Hz and 120 Hz, and 2,700 nits of peak brightness. The compact display is among the brightest in its segment which produces good colour vibrancy. The variable refresh rate makes it fluid offering a deep immersive experience.

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Performance

Equipped with the most advanced Qualcomm processor for mobile phones, the Xiaomi 15 runs smoothly across the board. The Snapdragon 8 Elite gives it an edge over Pixel 9’s Tensor G4. However, Galaxy S25 offers a more realistic performance using the same processor due to its slightly overclocked 4.47 GHz prime cores. Xiaomi 15 comes with 12 GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage, equalling Galaxy S25. The performance has been stable throughout the testing period with no frame drop and efficient thermal output.

Running HyperOS 2.0 based on Android 15, the Xiaomi 15 offers customisation where you can remove many pre-installed apps, but not the Google ones. It will get four OS and six years of security patches. Xiaomi 15 has on-cloud gen AI features AI Writing, AI Speech Recognition, AI Interpreter, Circle to Search using Google’s Gemini. For them you need a Xiaomi account. They do not feel as natural as compared to Galaxy S25 where data processes natively too.

Camera

Xiaomi 15 continues with the same triple-camera system using a 50 MP main sensor, a 50 MP ultrawide camera, and a 50 MP telephoto lens with 2.6x optical zoom, from the 3.2x on 14. However, it gets a similar 32 MP front camera as Xiaomi 14.

The phone camera captures a good amount of detail in every picture. The colour, contrast, shadows, dynamic range come out quite brilliantly on it, especially during the day.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan

The 50 MP Light Fusion 900 sensor clicks vibrant and punchy images. You can choose between the Leica styles you want.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan

The 50 MP floating telephoto lens has been the most used due to its ability to far fetch objects and zoom in closer as well. It preserves tonality in images with better colour retention.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan

Portraits have come out quite good with different focal lengths the telephoto offers. It reminds you of Vivo’s X200 Pro but isn’t as bright and impressive as it was. However, it scores better than Galaxy S25’s image capabilities while the Pixel 9 wins on post processing and AI-enhanced features.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan

The 50 MP ultrawide manages between the main and telephoto lenses. However, I found it to be a bit inconsistent with the results where it wasn’t able to get enough details in a larger frame.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan

Low light is yet another good area where Xiaomi 15 did well. The softness is there but overall, the night shots will also impress you. The Night mode assists you to get much clearer pictures when the sun sets in.

Xiaomi 15 camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan

The 32 MP selfie camera compliments the trio rear lenses with its approachable image quality. The day shots have been particularly good with decent edge detection. During the evening, some shallowness can be occasional.

Battery

Xiaomi 15 is powered by a 5,240 mAh battery which is much higher than Xiaomi 14’s 4,610 mAh cell. However, charging speed remains the same with a 90 W brick charger included in the box. The battery capacity is even higher than Galaxy S25 (4,000 mAh) and Pixel 9 (4,700 mAh) and both of them do not even include a power adapter. The battery life on Xiaomi 15 has been impressive with over a day of backup while the charging takes around 50-55 minutes.

Verdict

Xiaomi 15 is being refined with a top-notch processor, improved battery capacity and tweaked telephoto performance. Being a camera-centric phone, it clicks good images no matter the conditions, especially telephoto and portraits. The subtle design change with a matte back gives it a better hand feel, while being compact increases its usability.

For that above 60K price, Galaxy S25 presents itself as an AI-infused phone with a cleaner user interface, and the OnePlus 13 as an all-rounder. Xiaomi 15 can be a choice for those who prefer compact design along with better camera capabilities. However, those who had Xiaomi 14 can skip it if they’re only looking at the camera.