Xiaomi 15 Ultra review

02 March 2025


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  • 02 Mar 2025

Wesker, 02 Mar 2025LOL. The OS is never “a worthy sacrifice” smh. The softw... moreDo you own GSMArena? Why do your comments always have the highest likes?

Just asking. :⁠-⁠)

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    • Anonymous
    • xjH
    • 02 Mar 2025

    According to google photos, the nominal focal length of the telephoto is 25.10mm. The sensor has a 11.44mm diagonal, so the calculations point to a 3.78x crop factor (compared to a full frame). This gives us 94.878mm focal length, which Xiaomi is upscaling (or interpolating, because of how quality it is) to 100mm.

    And I must say, it's an excellent job! I have viewed these images, and I see zero trace of upscaling, both at the 100mm and 200mm focal length images!

    Good job, Xiaomi! I wrote this off because of the upscale, but I'm taking back my words. This is the best I've seen so far!

      jiyen235, 02 Mar 2025well agree to disagree then, most of the products i've... moreI understand

        PepperPot, 02 Mar 2025As a car enthusiasts you should know Xiaomi taking design c... moreIndeed and yes I’ve seen the car. It reeks of a lawsuit from Stuttgart lol.

          OneBraincelledWunkus, 02 Mar 2025Wow that battery life improvement is substantial even with ... morei'd suggest you to wait for proper battery tests to pass your judgement as gsmarena's test has been highly unreliable imo.

          Additionally, try to look for tests WITH a sim, for example Lover Of Tech's 5g drain tests as sometimes the equations shift completely with sims, which is something that i think nearly everyone uses on their phones lmao

            Wesker, 02 Mar 2025I wonder if my fellow car enthusiasts noticed that they use... moreAs a car enthusiasts you should know Xiaomi taking design cues from Porsche goes faaaaaaaaaaaaaar deeper than a font on a phone.

              Wesker, 02 Mar 2025LOL. The OS is never “a worthy sacrifice” smh. The softw... morewell agree to disagree then, most of the products i've used in my life have been ones that lacked pizazz/presentation yet either provided me absolute value or an absolutely splendid performance/was perfectly fit for purpose.

              I'm still using Windows 10 for example and using old versions of lots of stuff which might not look good/nice but are perfect for me. My vehicle is not the best looking but i have loads of fun with it and it's exactly what i wanted. I still use wired headphones too for example. Yeah for 90% of people wireless quality is just as good and the lack of wireless audio is never a "worthy sacrifice" for them but it is for me, for audio quality and most importantly no battery anxiety.

              I'm never going to say Xiaomi's OS is perfect but it's not as bad as you're saying, even after trying Redmi Note phones i wasn't sorely disappointed so i don't really get the hate. Mind you i use an s22 ultra, and am constantly surrounded by pixels, latest model samsung ultras and iPhone Pros/Pro Maxes and have tried em all. Don't really see anything special about anything of them. All of them are buggy, have lag and all of them copy from each other with Xiaomi and Honor being the biggest culprit. Even then, at least their phones are fast and not like the days of old where Samsung was super sluggish.

              Maybe I'm more of an enthusiast than an average consumer in terms of my use cases but yeah there's that. You do you bud but i was just talking about my own use case that's all. Again, im not saying anything bad about what you want, your use case is completely valid and i understand that completely, it's just that i think these are completely worthy cons for pros that are basically just not available anywhere else.

                Inline 4, 02 Mar 2025Now compare it with the sony rx100v (1" sensor pocket ... morebro even in xiaomi's press conference, leica's ceo said phones will never match dedicated cameras. How exactly are they fooling people in this instance? They're always talking about being the best camera PHONE and how it's LIKE a real camera/how they're replicating a real camera. They never say it's exactly like that or better.

                  jiyen235, 02 Mar 2025Even if it's the same basic OS. Xiaomi's gonna ha... moreLOL. The OS is never “a worthy sacrifice” smh.

                  The software is literally what you’re gonna see, hear and touch. And above all else, it has to match the hardware for the device to make sense as a whole.

                  In this case, you have a top of the line, highly specialized terminal that has to deal with a generic, soul-less OS usually found in the cheapest devices on the market. Doesn’t match and that’s just facts.

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                    • Inedian
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                    • 02 Mar 2025

                    jiyen235, 02 Mar 2025between these two, and if you're more into RAW photogr... moreThanks for answer 👍. Yes, i am more point and shoot, so thanks for that.

                    I remember i said to myself a year and a half ago that i won't buy any phone until a significant upgrade of UW cam (the reason i was hesitant to buy X100 Ultra or now this Xiaomi) and as i know X200 Ultra will have such UW, so actually i must wait for X200 Ultra to see the result... hope it delivers, i just don't find satisfying to have UW with such small sensors anymore on a flagship.

                      jiyen235, 02 Mar 2025Honor is nice but they're shady. Best go for Vivo or N... moreYeah, I must say that now with the Magic 7 series, I was not too impressed. The only reason left that would make me still try Honor is purely curiosity. I just like trying out different brands and seeing what I like from each. I'm not the kind of guy to remain loyal to a certain brand.

                        xslvrxslwt, 02 Mar 2025im not reading alldat, there are 3 more similar scenarios w... moresure lil bro, where'd you get the pic from tho? which video?

                          fro0st, 02 Mar 2025With FX6 Pro i do agree, i sold my Fx8 Pro in January, and ... moreCrazy that a Pro from 2 years ago is still technically superior in camera hardware, an additional 6x doesn't matter if the other 3 lenses are significantly worse.

                            Now compare it with the sony rx100v (1" sensor pocket camera). Let people know how this smartphone brands are fooling in the name of camera phone. Image quality difference will make everything clear.

                              [deleted post]Honor is nice but they're shady. Best go for Vivo or Nothing. I can't ever support shady companies who like duping their customers. Xiaomi just got added to the list.

                                David 040882, 02 Mar 2025Call me biased or whatever, I'm far from a fan of Hype... moreI’ve owned the Mi8 “Explorer” and the Mi13 Ultra “color”, the yellow one. In both cases world class hardware ruined by the iOS wannabe software.

                                And no, I wasn’t aware they dropped the Mi moniker some years ago but I’ll continue to use it since they didn’t replaced it with anything (which is probably why I wasn’t aware that they scrapped it).

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • CbE
                                  • 02 Mar 2025

                                  Now compare it with sony rx100( an 1" sensor pocket camera). Let people know how this smartphone brands are fooling in the name of "camera phone". Image quality difference will make everything clear

                                    A proper monster this one!

                                    Immense battery life, charging on par with the S25 Ultra despite being better in terms of battery life without resorting to cheap tricks like Samsung's dimming/throttling as this phone throttles less than the S25 Ultra despite having higher scores in the CPU test that GSMarena uses. So i don't see that overheating as a con at all, ofc it has worse cooling than other phones like the X200 Pro but that's a given, pretty sure the X200 Ultra is gonna have similar cooling to this, if not slightly better. In real life gaming scenarios, the 15 Ultra has good cooling, if the X200 Pro has great cooling that is. It's going to be better than the S25 Ultra and 16 Pro Max for sure despite having vastly superior camera hardware and battery. Ofc, if you're going to game at max settings you're going to have to turn down the settings due to the massive camera bump but that's a given and a known con of every cameraphone.

                                    Speakers are proper epic as well, slightly more distorted/compressed than the 14 Ultra but since it's louder i don't think anyone will care. Again the best speakers available on a non gaming/non tablet mobile device.

                                    Cameras are proper good and i have no complaints, the portraits have actually improved too, NICE!! Finally competitive portrait mode. Now, im just kinda annoyed the review doesn't look at both the Leica Vibrant AND Authentic profiles.

                                    All that's nice and all but im just NOT gonna buy a Xiaomi phone ever again. This company has been deceiving people for years now. The 3x in their flagships was not a 3x/the 3.2x they were advertised as. At least Oppo had the decency of putting 2.8x/the native focal length in gsmarena. But Xiaomi doesn't do that. The Xiaomi 14 for example had a 60 mm cam but was advertised as a 75 mm one, the 14 ultra was the only one properly equipped with the native focal length cam and thus looked really good. The Xiaomi 13 Pro was a 2.9x 66/67mm shooter instead of the 75 mm one and now the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is marketed as a 100 mm shooter but in reality is a 95mm one.

                                    This is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING and even tho i was about to get one i WILL NOT. This sort of practice should NOT be supported and brands should be CALLED OUT. I call out Samsung and Apple for nuking batteries all the time and i'm gonna do the same for Xiaomi. Shame on you. I'm never getting a Xiaomi phone again, being duped by the company despite paying premium price is pathetic and disgusting. Not only are they putting a smaller battery cus they're too cheap but they're also duping us like this? Just why? Who'd go up in arms over a 4.1x/95mm cam instead of a 4.3x/100mm one?

                                    If you're thinking of getting this phone, I urge you to think twice. The phone itself has no issues, but the company behind it has.

                                      jiyen235, 02 Mar 2025The king of the year* The X8 Ultra is gonna be more of ... moreWith FX6 Pro i do agree, i sold my Fx8 Pro in January, and bought the Fx6 Pro later that month lol, i just wanted to try that MariSilicon, and Iam not disappointed at all, great phone overall.

                                        David 040882, 02 Mar 2025Call me biased or whatever, I'm far from a fan of Hype... morehonestly bro, if you didn't tell me you used a xiaomi phone i'd have assumed you're just an Honor/Samsung user 😂😂

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