Xiaomi 15 Review: Compact, But is it Capable?

When it comes to high-end smartphones, Xiaomi is certainly no stranger to the category. The Chinese tech giant has pumped out some of the most technically-impressive handsets that we’ve seen in recent years, and its base-model Xiaomi 15 certainly falls within this range. No device is perfect however, so what can you expect with this phone? Let’s take a look.

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Xiaomi 15 Specs

• 6.36 inches, AMOLED, 1200 x 2670 pixels, 3,200 nits peak
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, up to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage
• Android 15 with HyperOS 2
• 5,240 mAh battery with 90W charging, 50W wireless charging
• 50MP main + 50MP telephoto + 50MP ultrawide, 32MP front camera
• Xiaomi Shield Glass, IP68 dust and water resistance

Design and Display

When I first got my hands on the Xiaomi 15, I was impressed by its build quality—the phone’s somewhat more pocket-friendly size and matte rear glass panel really felt comfortable to hold, and it sure felt like a crime to put a case on the phone. The phone uses Xiaomi’s own strengthened glass, although you do get a pre-installed screen film. There’s also IP68 dust and water protection onboard.

Moving onto the display, the Xiaomi 15 comes with a 6.36-inch AMOLED screen with a 1200 x 2670 pixel resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and an impressive peak brightness of up to 3,200 nits. As with most flagship phones these days, it’s ideal for content consumption including Netflix binges and gaming, social media and web browsing, and has little problem with outdoor visibility.

Performance and Internal Specs

The Xiaomi 15 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, which is paired with 12GB to 16GB of RAM, the latter of which we were able to test. The Xiaomi 15 can handle graphically-intensive games effortlessly, and should be an ideal choice especially if you were looking to get one for occasional gaming. As for battery, I was also able to get decent endurance with the Xiaomi 15—it’s pretty much an all-day device, but of course data usage and games will have you reaching for your charger more often.

The Xiaomi 15 can handle graphically-intensive games effortlessly, and should be an ideal choice especially if you were looking to get for occasional gaming.

For software, the phone comes with Android 15 layered below Xiaomi’s HyperOS 2, with a promise of up to four years of major Android upgrades. Xiaomi is known for heavily customising the look and feel of Android as a whole, and this one is no different. I wasn’t a fan of the several pre-installed apps that came with the phone, although a majority of these could be uninstalled, thankfully.

One shining aspect of HyperOS though is that it offers a wealth of customization and personalization options for users who tend to tweak their phone’s looks, something that you don’t really get on “leaner” versions of Android. Everything from fonts, wallpapers, icons and themes on the Xiaomi 15 are customizable.

Camera Features

The Xiaomi 15 comes with a trio of 50MP cameras with Leica tuning—this setup includes the main wide, ultrawide, and telephoto sensors, and a 32MP selfie camera in front. As someone who’s mostly used to Google’s approach to computational photography on its Pixel smartphones, I was pleasantly surprised by how the Xiaomi 15’s camera handled point-and-shoot situations, and while you could tweak your settings even further, most images looked good with a nice touch of contrast, and the phone doesn’t go overboard on the saturation either.

For videos, the phone can record a maximum of 8K resolution clips, albeit capped at 30 frames per second. Video stabilization is overall decent, and close-up autofocus. You can also record 4K-resolution footage on the front camera at up to 60fps.

Final Thoughts

One big consideration to make with the Xiaomi 15 is that it’s not officially available everywhere globally, as folks in North America will have to import one from overseas should they want to own one. It’s also a bit expensive, starting at around $1,200 (when converted) for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage.

That said though, the Xiaomi 15 is an ideal choice for Android fans who want a powerful-enough and relatively-small smartphone that comes with a large and vibrant display, all-day battery life, capable performance as well as good cameras. However its price, heavily-skinned software, as well as lack of availability in some regions are key points to keep in mind as well.

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