Xiaomi 15 Ultra review

02 March 2025


Sort by:

Without doubt, the Xiaomi 15 ultra is one of the very best cameracentric phones in 2025.
That being said, after reading several other sources, I came across another review (notebookcheck) that found that the 15 Ultra is using PWM-dimming at an extremely low frequency of 120 Hz which supposedly causes headache and eye-strain, especially in susceptible people.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • JB5
    • 16 Mar 2025

    Anonymous, 09 Mar 2025xiaomi 15 ultra never got top 20th on the dxomark smartphon... moreBecause DXOMark a bribed piece of crap that you have to pay for the phone to be at least in 250th place, so DxoMark unfairly compares phones camera

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • JB5
      • 16 Mar 2025

      Anonymous, 12 Mar 2025Yes, in my previous comment I have uploaded a comparison of... moreSo you want to say that it is bad? Bro, there are no updates for it, only when 2-3 updates are released for it, then we can compare, since in the new updates they will fix its AI and problems with its camera and bugs, it was the same with other phones at first there was a bad camera and when new updates came, those phones fixed the camera and it became better. So now is not the time to call this phone names as it is still being fixed with system updates

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • LfV
        • 13 Mar 2025

        NewBreed, 13 Mar 2025as far as I know its TCLYes https://www.mi.com/global/support/faq/details/KA-536389 . "The Xiaomi 15 Ultra adopts a 6.73-inch OLED screen, full laminating and capacitive multi-touch screen technology, and the screen supplier is CSOT."

          Ryan47, 09 Mar 2025Who makes the screen on this 15 ultra??as far as I know its TCL

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • JH0
            • 12 Mar 2025

            SirArtur, 11 Mar 2025Damn, took Xiaomi 15 Ultra for testing and the same thing t... moreYes, in my previous comment I have uploaded a comparison of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra's periscope camera (in auto mode and in pro mode) with the Pixel 7 Pro. One can see that pro mode delivers noticeably less detail than auto mode at 18x. Probably, pro mode uses 16-1 or 4-1 analog binning for the periscope camera jpgs. The periscope dng files always use 16-1 analog binning. That's a huge issue.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • JH0
              • 11 Mar 2025

              SirArtur, 11 Mar 2025Damn, took Xiaomi 15 Ultra for testing and the same thing t... moreI already mentioned this in a previous comment.
              I tried the periscope camera. The maximum resolution of the periscope camera is only 12.5 megapixel when you shoot in raw (16-1 analog binning) and you can't zoom beyond 100mm, when you shoot in raw.
              And even the pro mode periscope jpgs (for example at 18x) have less detail than the auto mode jpgs (my guess is that even the pro mode jpgs use 16-1 or 4-1 analog binning), though the pro mode results are less artificial.
              In a previous comment I have uploaded a tele comparison (auto mode as well as pro mode) with the Pixel 7 Pro.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • KZK
                • 11 Mar 2025

                David 040882, 03 Mar 2025Xiaomi's flagships don't have nearly as much bloa... moreAnd I still think seven OS update is far too much, especially since there is no guarantee the chipset can keep up with the ever-evolving software.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • KZK
                  • 11 Mar 2025

                  Anonymous, 03 Mar 20251400€ for a phone with 4 years of OS updates, and filled wi... more4 years of OS update is still more than enough, especially when most people replace their phone every three to five years anyway.

                    Damn, took Xiaomi 15 Ultra for testing and the same thing that annoyed me in the photos in X14U is still there.
                    So when I am on vacation, I like to shoot in DNG as well. JPGs are for quick send to friends or family, and DNGs are for processing later and putting in the album or display in the frame on the shelf. And here is my problem. In PRO mode processing of small details is so much worse than in regular mode. Seems like I cannot have good JPG and DNG at the same time. :( And I am not talking about HDR, just processing small details, like grass.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • nET
                      • 10 Mar 2025

                      Anonymous, 09 Mar 2025No $ 200 phone = no buyeven my $200 phone that I use for work doesn't have audio jack or sd card... so you're just a troll living in the past

                        Ryan47, 09 Mar 2025Who makes the screen on this 15 ultra??Tcl

                          Who makes the screen on this 15 ultra??

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • mAW
                            • 09 Mar 2025

                            Anonymous, 08 Mar 2025No audio jack = no buyNo $ 200 phone = no buy

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • sxr
                              • 09 Mar 2025

                              xiaomi 15 ultra never got top 20th on the dxomark smartphones rankings

                                Anonymous, 08 Mar 2025Thank god 1 inch sensor will be thing of the past soon. Eve... moreLol, expect more of them, like ov50x

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • Sc$
                                  • 08 Mar 2025

                                  No audio jack = no buy

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • Sc$
                                    • 08 Mar 2025

                                    No SD card reader = no buy

                                      • P
                                      • Penguin
                                      • JHd
                                      • 08 Mar 2025

                                      Hi GSMArena-Team and everybody else.

                                      Thank you for years of many many diverse, beautyful, creative and informative pictures in the camera-section of your smartphone-reviews.

                                      Sadly, lately one of their great, but perhaps less obvious, characteristics starts missing.

                                      Among the many pictures, you consistently presented shots of 2 or 3 identical "standard-scenes" (same object, same distance to it, same perspective, comparable lighting etc.) for each camera of (nearly) every smartphone tested. This was true for daytime as well as nighttime shots, from the main(back)-cameras at least. Scenes were e.g. the view from the park to the corner of Vitosha Park Hotel, the snail near Vitosha Park Hotel's entrance, the mural with clock on the "golden castle's" front.

                                      Looking at these "standard- scenes", GSM-Arena's readers could easily compare not only the output of each camera of the same device for a particular scene, BUT ALSO THE OUTPUT OF WIDE(NORMAL)-, ULTRAWIDE- AND ZOOM-CAMERAS OF DIFFERENT DEVICES, NEW ONES AS WELL AS OLDER ONES, FOR THAT SCENE. That was a great feature unique to GSM-Arena's reviews. But... not any more.

                                      Since GSM-Arena moved to it's new location, the daytime-shots are nearly exclusively taken around this location and are incomparable with shots from the former locations of past reviews. That robs readers the possibility to compare the daytime picture-quality of newer devices with that of many others only some month old. This even applies to phones mentioned in the 'Competition, verdict, pros and cons'- section of newer reviews. Example: Xiaomi 15 ultra (shots at new location) and Xiaomi 14 ultra (shots at old location). And many others.

                                      Furthermore, GSM-Arena's choice of daytime-scenes at their new location is less diverse and more inconsistent than before: mostly buildings and hardly one scene is identical across all cameras and all devices.

                                      Luckily, nighttime-shots however are still from the same locations as before and preserve their comparability.

                                      So, GSM-Arena, please consider to continue shooting some "standard-scenes" again, as before. Either preferably continue with the 'old' standard-scenes or mix old and new ones (as in the Vivo X200 Pro Global's review), but at least develop new "standard-scenes" at your new location to revive that marvelous comparability across cameras and devices.

                                      For the reviewers, shooting "standard-scenes" again and again may be a bit boring over time, but ... wouldn't it be worth it?

                                      Kind Regards

                                      P.

                                        Anonymous, 08 Mar 2025What makes ColorOS and OriginOS stand out as the best Andro... morecustomisation + stability. Not even OneUI is stable, no matter how or what fanboys say, phone OSs suck and are mostly unstable and i've used an S22 Ultra for 2.5 years, i know exactly what im talking about. Apparently other UIs are even more unstable but i dont really see that. I try another Samsung phone for 2 mins and get the same mid experience as i did on mine.

                                        Anyways, Origin OS and Color OS seem to be more stable or at the very least as stable as OneUI. Additionally I think their customisation features are some of the best in the industry if not the best. For Samsung you need to download Goodlock for great customisation and if you're gonna have to install a separate app anyways you can just install any app for any android phone. So yeah.

                                        Finally, HyperOS is the buggiest/least stable top tier OS. Not to mention the lack of proper updates after 6-8 months. Overall it's the weakest I'd say. But by the weakest i mean it's a 6.5/10 experience. Not a bad experience at all. I've seen Chinese reviewers compare OSs and HyperOS has consistently come up with the most issues. For example Xiaobai's test on YT. Moreover, Xiaomi does lots of tricks for gaming and other stuff that leads to poorer experience than other OSs, like thermal throttling/specific scenario based chipset boosting (for example benchmarks).

                                        Just go look at any ColorOS animation test and just the general feature set, it's extremely good. Imo the best. OriginOS is a close second. Funtouch, OneUI, Pixel UI and HyperOS are third, fourth and joint fifth imo. I dont really see the specialness of the Pixel's UI, it's basic, does it's job but has no comprehensive customisation suite and isn't the most stable. (based on pixel 6/7 experiences at least). The only good thing is the animation and the general style which i'd say is nearly best in class, if not best in class and the niche features which some will be diehard fans of and others won't really care about.

                                          2 of 14