Xiaomi 15 and 15 Ultra Review: Photography Focus

I'm a fan of Xiaomi’s caller 15 and 15 Ultra flagship phones—even if they lone bring incremental improvements implicit their predecessors. The Xiaomi 15 is simply a classy, compact rival to the iPhone 16 oregon Pixel 9, but the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is simply a photographer’s dream. Both are highly well-rounded smartphones with exceptional hardware, and Xiaomi has polished its HyperOS bundle and infused it with AI—just similar everyone other successful the market.

But there’s inactive country for improvement. Unwelcome bloatware feels cheeky connected smartphones this expensive, the plan of the 15 is downright dull and identical to past year’s Xiaomi 14, and there’s nary Qi2 support, which is bittersweet due to the fact that we’re craving magnetic accessories for our Android phones. Neither telephone is officially sold successful the US.

Classy and Capable

It’s by nary means antithetic for the latest mentation of a telephone to beryllium indistinguishable from the 1 before. (Samsung and Apple, I’m looking astatine you.) But the Xiaomi 15 is identical. Even the colors are the same; I got a achromatic reappraisal unit, but it besides comes successful achromatic oregon green. That said, I bash similar the design. It’s a compact telephone that’s casual to negociate one-handed, the matte decorativeness is fingerprint-resistant, and everything is mildly rounded, making it precise comfy to hold.

The 15 Ultra is an wholly antithetic beast, dominated by that colossal camera connected the back. It’s top-heavy, and, arsenic I recovered with the 14 Ultra, you request a lawsuit to debar harm and scratches connected that large module. It sometimes catches erstwhile you gaffe it into your pocket, and the bump makes utilizing immoderate wireless chargers tricky due to the fact that the telephone cannot prevarication flat. Thankfully, this is each justified for photography fans (more connected that later).

Pleasingly, Xiaomi has jazzed up the 15 Ultra finishes, leaning into its camera prowess and Leica concern with a beauteous two-tone metallic chrome and fake achromatic leather overgarment job. It besides comes successful achromatic with a reddish item astir the camera module. Sadly, I got the achromatic model, which has a subtle marbled effect but is the dullest of the bunch. The 15 and 15 Ultra people an IP68 rating for h2o absorption and are protected by Xiaomi’s Shield Glass, though the Ultra gets the enhanced mentation 2.0.

The Xiaomi 15 has a 6.36-inch level AMOLED surface astatine 3670 X 1200 pixels, and the 15 Ultra jumps up to a 6.73-inch astatine 3200 X 1440 pixels, with a precise flimsy bevel astatine the edges. Both person a adaptable 1 to 120-Hz refresh rate for creaseless scrolling and powerfulness efficiency, tin deed 3,200 nits highest brightness, and enactment Dolby Vision and HDR10+. That’s a flimsy brightness summation implicit past year’s phones, and these are top-notch, sharp, affluent displays, arsenic bully arsenic immoderate I’ve seen. The dependable prime from the stereo speakers is supra average.