Xiaomi 15 review

Introduction

Xiaomi introduced the 15 and 15 Pro in China back in October, and as per recent reports, the pair has been doing really well on domestic markets. Now, now, the smaller one of the two phones is making its way to international markets. The Xiaomi 15 Pro will likely not be released outside of China. At least we get to enjoy the just announced the Xiaomi 15 Ultra.

Despite being the smallest and cheapest of the lineup, the Xiaomi 15 is still a full-featured modern flagship. This includes features like the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and a pretty big 5,240 mAh battery for the phone's size.

Xiaomi 15 specs at a glance:

• Body: 152.3x71.2x8.1mm, 189g; Glass front, aluminum alloy frame (6M42); IP68 dust tight and water resistant (immersible up to 1.5m for 30 min).
• Display: 6.36" LTPO OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, 3200 nits (peak), 1200x2670px resolution, 20.03:9 aspect ratio, 460ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8750-AB Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm): Octa-core (2x4.32 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix L + 6x3.53 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix M); Adreno 830.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• OS/Software: Android 15, HyperOS 2.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 23mm, 1/1.31", 1.2µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/2.0, 60mm, PDAF (10cm - ∞), OIS, 2.6x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.2, 14mm, 115-degree.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.0, 22mm (wide), 0.7µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@24/30fps (HDR), 4K@24/30/60fps (HDR10+, 10-bit Dolby Vision HDR, 10-bit LOG), 1080p@30/60/120/240/960fps, 720p@1920fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS.
• Battery: 5,240mAh; 90W wired, PD3.0, QC3+, 50W wireless, 10W reverse wireless.
• Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.4, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, LHDC 5; NFC; Infrared port.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); stereo speakers.

With a 6.36-inch diagonal, the Xiaomi 15 is on the smaller end of modern smartphones, though it can't exactly be considered a "compact". Despite its fairly diminutive size, the Xiaomi 15 still packs a rather large battery and a full-fat eight-core Snapdragon 8 Elite flagship chipset. It also doesn't skimp in the camera department with a versatile triple-camera system, including a 50MP selfie, 50MP 3x telephoto and 50MP ultrawide. Sure, unlike the Xiaomi 15 Pro, there is no periscope tech on the telephoto and no autofocus on the ultrawide, but these are fairly small tradeoffs to get to this reduced footprint.

The 6.36-inch OLED display uses LTPO tech and can refresh at up to 120Hz. There is also a stereo speaker system. All of this is crammed inside a premium body with an aluminum alloy frame, shatterproof glass on both sides and an IP68 ingress protection rating.

Unboxing

The Xiaomi 15 ships in a pretty inconspicuous two-piece white cardboard box. It is quite sturdy and protects the phone well enough during shipping.

The retail package for the Xiaomi 15 is pretty rich. Our unit came with a 90W Xiaomi HyperCharge charger. It is a USB Type-A brick, which is a bit unfortunate. We wish Xiaomi had moved past the USB Type-A port already. Making matters worse, the USB Type-A port in use here is proprietary and has an extra 5-th pin. That means you need to keep track of the charger and the provided USB Type-A to Type-C cable since it is also proprietary. Also, it should be noted that the charger won't be bundled in every market. Make sure to check with your local retailer.

What is present in the box, however, is a nice thick, soft TPU case for the phone, so you can start using it right away without worrying about scratches. Though it kinda hides the phone's beautiful design.