Xiaomi 15 Review: Premium Compact Phone with Leica Optics
Smartphone manufacturers today are often engaged in a continuous competition to include larger screens, more powerful batteries, and additional camera features. The Xiaomi 15, however, stands out from the crowd with its sleek design, powerful internals, and advanced Leica optics, all contained in a compact package. But with only minor advancements over the Xiaomi 14, does the Xiaomi 15 justify its ₹64,999 price tag, or is it merely an evolutionary update instead of a significant upgrade?
Design: Compact Refinement, Familiar Feel
Grasping the Xiaomi 15 instantly brings back memories of its predecessor, characterized by its compact, premium, and streamlined design. The aluminium chassis, weighing in at 191 grams, strikes an ideal balance between a robust build and lightweight functionality. While Samsung’s Galaxy S25 at 162 grams is noticeably lighter, the Xiaomi 15’s matte finish effectively reduces fingerprints and enhances grip, contrasting with the slippery Xiaomi 14.
The square camera bump is both stylish and minimalist, although Xiaomi has made the choice to place the flash on the rear casing separately, which slightly disrupts its clean design. Fortunately, the device maintains an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, ensuring durability without compromising its portability.
Display: Brighter, Smoother, but Not Revolutionary
The Xiaomi 15 features an impressive 6.36-inch AMOLED display, now brighter by a margin of 200 nits from its predecessor. With peak brightness reaching over 2000 nits, it’s particularly effective for outdoor use. The vibrant colours and adaptive refresh rate of 1-120Hz provide a noticeably smooth experience. While it holds its own compared to the Google Pixel 9’s OLED display, it falls short next to the Samsung Galaxy S25’s exceptionally bright screen of 2600 nits.
Touch response is swift at 300Hz, ensuring a lag-free experience that is ideal for gaming or resource-intensive browsing sessions. Despite the improvements, the Xiaomi 15’s display lacks the groundbreaking features that would set it apart decisively from its closest competitors.
Performance: Snapdragon 8 Elite, but Tempered
Equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, the Xiaomi 15 handles multitasking and gaming with impressive ease, showing no signs of lag. With 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage, it competes closely with the Galaxy S25.
In practical use, the Xiaomi 15 displays remarkable stability with minimal heating, even under heavy usage. However, the Galaxy S25 has a slight edge as it utilises an overclocked version of the same chipset, granting it a marginally quicker performance. Nevertheless, this difference is minor enough to be overlooked unless one is focused on benchmarking.
Operating on HyperOS 2.0 based on Android 15, Xiaomi has committed to providing four years of OS updates and six years of security updates, aligning with the standards set by industry leaders. HyperOS offers significant flexibility in customisation but includes several pre-installed apps, particularly those by Google, which cannot be removed. AI features like AI Writing and AI Interpreter are cloud-based, and while usable, they do not match the seamlessness and effectiveness of Samsung’s local AI capabilities.
Camera: Leica-Powered Consistency
Featuring triple 50 MP Leica-supported cameras—primary, ultrawide, and telephoto—the Xiaomi 15 delivers strong image quality across a variety of settings. Highlighted by the telephoto lens with its 2.6x optical zoom, Leica’s influence is evident, producing vibrant yet realistic colours, superb dynamic range, and noteworthy contrast. The telephoto lens is particularly successful in capturing striking portraits with appealing depth, often outperforming the Samsung Galaxy S25.
However, the ultrawide lens of the Xiaomi 15 demonstrates slight inconsistencies, occasionally sacrificing detail in wider shots. In low-light conditions, the results are commendable thanks to an effective Night mode, although images can sometimes appear soft. While Google’s Pixel 9 excels in post-processing, the Xiaomi 15 performs admirably in terms of raw optics and versatility.
The front-facing 32 MP camera captures satisfactory selfies in daylight, maintaining detail effectively. However, images taken in the evening tend to exhibit some graininess and a loss of clarity, an area where Samsung continues to lead.
Battery: Significant Boost, Decent Charging
The leap to a 5,240 mAh battery (up from the Xiaomi 14’s 4,610 mAh) is a welcome enhancement, comfortably lasting a day and a half during moderate to heavy usage. Xiaomi continues to impress with its 90W fast charging capability, enabling a full recharge from 0 to 100% in approximately 55 minutes, a significant advantage compared to competitors like the Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25, both of which do not include bundled chargers.
Verdict: Compact Charm, Incremental Gains
At a price of ₹64,999, the Xiaomi 15 is undoubtedly an impressive premium compact smartphone. With its sleek design, powerful performance, and camera system geared towards photography enthusiasts seeking Leica optics in a convenient size, it holds its own in the market. Yet, Xiaomi has opted for a cautious approach. With merely incremental enhancements, particularly in performance and display, existing Xiaomi 14 users may not find enough reasons to switch, unless they are in search of slightly enhanced battery life and better ergonomics.
Nevertheless, as the market becomes increasingly saturated with oversized devices, the Xiaomi 15 clearly establishes its niche. For those prioritising compactness and camera flexibility, the Xiaomi 15 remains one of the top contenders available. Conversely, alternatives from Samsung’s Galaxy S25 or Google’s Pixel 9 may entice users seeking brighter displays or superior software capabilities.
