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Xiaomi 15 Ultra sabotages itself on the global stage, is there a reason for it?

By Abdullah Asim

Published: Mar 04, 2025, 4:35 AM

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Xiaomi

The global version of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is out and it is a spectacular phone with some really great hardware. Our Xiaomi 15 Ultra review points out that it's basically just a super high end camera with a phone attached to it. And it’s a very good phone.

But the version that has launched outside China continues the trend of its predecessor and comes with an inferior battery compared to its domestic counterpart. Xiaomi 15 Ultra in China comes with a 6,000 mAh battery and the global variant comes with 5,410 mAh. The phone still has really excellent battery life but why give us a smaller battery in the first place?

Xiaomi needs every advantage it can get to combat the dominance of Samsung and Apple. So why does it — alongside other Chinese manufacturers — keep sabotaging itself?

Cost cutting for the global audience?

Image credit — PhoneArena

One reason that comes to mind is that Xiaomi is simply cutting costs where it can. The Chinese smartphone industry has become extremely competitive over the last few years. It’s gotten to the point where consumers in China are beginning to switch from the iPhone to domestic offerings instead.

Meanwhile Samsung and Apple’s offerings aren’t nearly as innovative as of yet. The Galaxy and iPhone flagships continue to offer the same resolutions, the same amount of RAM (AI is finally changing that) and the same battery capacities. Why would Xiaomi spend extra money to provide bigger batteries in a market that suffers from a severe lack of them?

But then again bigger batteries are barely more expensive to manufacture. Costs add up but would Xiaomi really risk its global image for a little bit of profit?

Supply and demand

Image credit — PhoneArena

There is likely another reason that the global variant of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra shipped with a smaller battery: supply and demand. Simply put, Xiaomi probably doesn’t have enough resources to manufacture bigger batteries for every 15 Ultra in the world.

If that is the case then the Chinese market back home takes priority because of the aforementioned competitiveness. International consumers are already used to smaller batteries on their phones so they wouldn’t really complain, right?

Well…maybe.

Does it really matter?

Does it actually matter that we got a smaller battery? I’d say yes. True: the Xiaomi 15 Ultra scores impressive hours but it never came first in our comparison. It was always beat by either the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Furthermore, as a massive proponent of improved battery life for phones, I am just bummed overall to see the global version’s downgrade. Some people argue that current battery time on most smartphones is good enough unless you’re glued to your phone. Well…I’m glued to my phone then. Give me a phone that actually lasts a day without needing a recharge.

And it doesn’t help that despite the bigger wattage the Xiaomi 15 Ultra still charges slower than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It only really picks up the pace for the last few percentage points of charging and completes it just six minutes faster than Samsung’s flagship. The OnePlus 13 on the other hand is blazing fast and leaves all its rivals in the dust.

Stop undervaluing the global market!

Image comment. | Image credit — PhoneArena

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is hardly the first time a Chinese manufacturer has given less priority to the global market. Take the Vivo X200 Ultra for example: a brilliant phone that will not be seeing an international launch like its predecessor.

Chinese phone manufacturers also keep refusing to adopt some U.S. bands which turns off American consumers. Though an argument can be made that U.S. carriers are preventing them from doing so. At least the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has finally taken some steps to address this but the base model should have done so as well in my opinion.

Not releasing the best variants internationally, not adopting U.S. bands and not providing the same specifications is really hurting these companies. It’s bad for business and it’s bad for the consumer. Samsung and Apple need competition in the U.S. but this isn’t how you go about it, lower pricing or not.

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Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.