Xiaomi 15 review: A compact beast

 If you look at the market right now, it is flooded with a ton of big phones, the “Ultras”, and the “Pro Maxs” and to get a good compact phone that ticks a lot of boxes is a daunting task.  I mean there are the S24, the iPhone 16, but those are merely downgraded versions of their flagship siblings, nothing exciting.  But this year, Xiaomi might be onto something with this guy because the Xiaomi 15 improves upon a lot of things over last year’s Xiaomi 14 that I complained about in my review, which revolves around 2 things mainly, the thermals and the battery life. 

Xiaomi 15 Specifications

• Design: Flat design with glass or leather back, IP68-rated
• Dimensions: 152.30 mm x 71.20 mm x 8.08 or 8.48 or 8.36 mm
• Weight: 189–192 grams
• Display: 6.36” 8T LTPO OLED Panel, 1–120Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch sampling rate, 3,200 nits peak brightness, DC dimming, DCI-P3 colour gamut, 460PPI pixel density, TÜV Rheinland hardware-level low blue light/rhythm friendly/flicker-free certifications, Xiaomi Dragon Crystal Glass protection
• Resolution: 1.5K (1,200 x 2,670)
• Chipset: Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (3nm)
• RAM: 12GB or 16GB, LPDDR5X
• ROM: 256GB or 512GB or 1TB, UFS 4.0
• OS: HyperOS 2.0
• Rear Camera: Triple Camera (50MP Primary with Light Hunter 900 sensor + 50MP Telephoto/Macro + 50MP Ultrawide)
• Front Camera: 32MP Camera (Centre-aligned hole-punch cutout)
• Security: In-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, Face Unlock
• Battery: 5,400 mAh silicon carbon cell with 90W wired/50W wireless charging, Wireless reverse charging
• Connectivity: Dual SIM, 5G, WiFi 7, Hotspot, Bluetooth v5.4, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C
• Colour Options: Lilac, Light Green, Black, White, Bright Silver, Glacier White (Limited Edition), Elephant Grey (Limited Edition), Orange (Limited Edition)

Xiaomi 15 Review

Battery and Charging

• 5,400 mAh silicon carbon cell
• 90W wired/50W wireless charging

 Starting with the battery, this time we get a large 5,400 mAh battery, which not only is larger than the 4,600 mAh on its predecessor, but also it’s a Silicon Carbon Battery, which means Xiaomi has been able to fit in a larger size in a smaller form factor.  This means, no 1. The dimensions of the Xiaomi 15 have barely increased than the Xiaomi 14 and No.2 the battery life has become much much better. Previously, I used to get around 5.5 hours of SOT from the Xiaomi 14 but with this one, I am easily getting around 6.5 to 7 hours, which is just great for a phone of this size.  The Xiaomi 15 charges quite fast too. With the 90 watt charger that's included inside the box, the phone goes from 0-100% in exactly 43 minutes (0-20% in 5 minutes, 1-50% in 17 minutes, 1-100% in 43 minutes).  And as I mentioned, Xioami has also worked on the thermals this time around. Last year, with the Xiaomi 14, I would get such overheating messages while doing demanding tasks, but now, the Xiaomi 15 is able to handle the heat quite well.  Xiaomi says they have used a wing- shaped vapor chamber cooling solution that dissipates heat quite effectively hence maintaining the inner and surface temperatures and I can definitely see that on my gaming tests. 

Performance

• Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (3nm)
• Adreno 830

By the way, the Xiaomi 15 comes with this year’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset paired with a fast DDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage and at first I was expecting that all the 8 Elite power in a small body would not fare well, but I was wrong.  Even playing something as demanding as Genshin impact at the highest graphics for more than 30 minutes, the Xiaomi 15’s back temperature hovered around 40 degrees only.  These are great results because both the Realme GT 7 pro and the IQOO 13 that I recently reviewed would get slightly hotter! Playing PUBG was an even more pleasant experience as I did not record more than 37 degrees temperature even after around 40 minutes, which is just great.  There is a catch though, the Xiaomi 15 does not allow more than 90 fps in PUBG, which I am guessing is to prevent the phone from overheating.  In any case, I know that being a compact phone, hard core gamers would not actually prefer something with a smaller form factor like this, but it’s great that Xiaomi has not held back with the specs and you have the option to game on this device as well.  And yes, I also did a 30 minute 4k video recording test to check if the phone shows any overheating signs, but no, the temperatures were well within reason. Fantastic! 

Design

• Glass front
• Aluminum alloy frame
• IP68

Moving on, one of my other favorite things about the Xiaomi 15 is this glass- aluminum sandwich design. I am a small person with small hands and this phone fits in my hands like a glove. It’s not too compact, but it’s not huge either, so it’s a perfect size for me that fits in my pocket and does not take up much space in my side- bag too.  Thankfully Xiaomi has a matte, anti- reflective back this time which has saved me the hassle of wiping the back panel clean every time I touch the phone. Trust me, that was a huge issue with the Xiaomi 14.  The only thing I would complain about with this design is that it’s a bit slippery, so it has slided down a couple of times from my hands.  Xiaomi has used their own shatter proof glass protection on the back as well as the front, but something like Gorilla glass Victus 2 would have been more re- assuring and robust in my opinion. By the way, here you don’t get the latest gen IP69 rating, rather Xiaomi has chosen to go with an older IP68. I am not complaining though, IP68 is good enough dust/ water protection. 

Display

• 6.36" LTPO OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz
• 1200 x 2670 pixels, 20:9 ratio
• Dolby Vision, HDR10+, 3200 nits (peak)

Over on the front, the first thing I noticed is how similar it looks to the Galaxy S24, the punch hole, the bezels, the resemblance is uncanny. The Xiaomi 15 is a little bigger in size though at 6.36 inches vs 6.2 inches on the S24.  And i must tell you, this is a great quality screen, Xioami has made it brighter this time (3000 nits on the xiaomi 14 vs 3200 peak on 15) and it’s got everything you would want from a flagship screen – a 1.5k resolution, LTPO 120 Hz refresh rate, a snappy 300 Hz touch sampling rate, Dolby vision and HDR 10+ certification on YT as well as streaming platforms, everything.  I have been using this phone for the better part of a week now and I have been so happy with the display quality and touch response. HDR playback works really well here. And this time, we also get an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor instead of an optical one, which means they don’t flash light while unlocking and they unlock with wet or sweaty hands as well. 

Speakers and Haptics

Xiaomi has also managed to make the speakers a little better this time. It’s loud and sounds quite balanced. The depth, the clarity, it’s right up there with the S24 and the iPhone 16.  The haptics on the other hand is nice too, but I found it to be a little less impactful than the iPhone 16 while ringing, but when you type, the vibration feels great!

Software and OS

• Android 15
• HyperOS 2.0

Xiaomi has worked on the software side of things as well. First of all, it has Android 15 out of the box with Xiaomi’s latest HyperOS 2.0. I am not a huge fan of Xaomi’s skin, but if you are someone who prefers it, you will be happy to know that it’s quite optimized and there are a couple of cool AI features. My personal favorite is this dynamic wallpaper that turns static images into videos for wallpapers and there are all the other AI speech recognition and all too.  Plus, you get 4 years of OS and 5 years of security updates with this phone, so up to Android 19  guaranteed. That paired with the powerful SD 8 Elite means the Xiaomi 15 will have a considerably long life. 

Camera

• 50 MP, f/1.6, 23mm (wide)
• 50 MP, f/2.0, 60mm (telephoto)
• 50 MP, f/2.2, 14mm,

 Moving on, I know all of you are excited about the camera aspect of this phone, but, disclaimer, if you were expecting huge improvements from last year, you will be slightly disappointed. First of all, I appreciate that Xiaomi has fixed the lens fogging issue that was there on the Xiaomi 14.   But in solving that, there is a different problem that has come forth, glares. During daytime, it;’s not as apparent but during the night, 70% of my samples have been ruined. To be fair the glare is there on the iPhone 16 too, but it’s not as excessive. 

Anyway, during day time, the primary camera here produces nice colors and there are good details to look for too. For colors, you get two options in the settings – Leica Natural and Leica Vibrant. The Natural mode is a little too flat for my taste, so I mostly took pictures in the vibrant mode.  And I love the punchy and contrasty color output I got from the Xiaomi 15. The good thing is that it handles dynamic range really well, in fact better than the iPhone 16. There have been some instances when the Xiaomi 15 has messed up the exposure a little, but 95% of the time it will give you fairly good results.  The only ick I have with the Xiaomi 15’s primary camera is that I didn’t find that big of an improvement here from the Xiaomi 14. It’s a great camera, I was just expecting a little more considering the Xiaomi 14 Ultra was such an amazing camera phone.  The 60mm Telephoto lens is my personal favorite, it can click some nice macros and portraits. I have to tell you, with the Leica optimization, the skin tone and colors in portraits are not the most natural, but they look appealing nonetheless.  If you want a more natural output, I would suggest you check out the iPhone 16, but I kind of like the colors and the 60mm equivalent field of view here. And of course, you get a ton of Leica filters for a more pleasing look. The B/W filter is my favorite! The selfies are nice too, they have a bit more contrast, but the skin tone is not over-processed or smoothened, it’s just the right amount.  The ultra wide images, however, are quite average if i am being honest. I suspect they have used the same sensor as before and although the details are better than the iPhone 16, there is a lot of color shift from the primary to ultra wide images and you also get a slightly poor dynamic range than the primary camera.  Finally, the videography side of things is also one of the aspects that didn’t receive much updates. You still cannot switch lenses while shooting in 4k 60 fps and still the videos miss out on a smooth output, and by smooth, I mean iPhone level smoothness is missing.  Normally its primary and ultra wide videos come out good enough, so if you are a casual user, it should not be a problem. Plus Xiaomi provides options to shoot in log format too and its tele-macro videos are also quite pleasing.  Even from the front camera you can shoot at 4k 60 fps and surprisingly the output is not bad. It’s not as smooth as the iPhone 16 again, but it is able to handle exposure and highlights better. 

Xiaomi 15 Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Great battery life
• Fast charging
• Compact design
• Solid performance

Cons:

• Camera glare issue
• Slippery design
• Average ultra-wide
• No significant camera upgrade

Xiaomi 15 Review Conclusion:

Alright with this, I think I have covered most parts of my experience with the Xiaomi 15 and I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see compact phones being such all round packages. The Xiaomi 15 has everything you would expect from a good phone, a nice display, handy, comfortable design, good battery life, fast charging, reliable performance, everything.  My only gripe with this phone is, I was expecting the cameras to be better, they are good, but I think I just had higher expectations. And considering all that the xiaomi 15 offers, it definitely deserves to be called the best compact flagship phone right now.