The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is here, and it's hinting at some serious camera prowess at first sight. This new flagship boasts everything but the kitchen sink and a stylus, acting as Xiaomi's most advanced phone to date.
If the question is, "What would happen if we put everything but the kitchen sink on a phone?", then the answer is the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. This new Android champ comes with the latest hardware on board and features everything an ultra flagship should, starting with a superb quad-camera, a cool new design, a lovely display, top performance, and good battery life.
However, you might not be able to get this one in the US officially, as it simply won't be available here, which has been true for all Xiaomi devices in the past. Sure, you can get the phone in the US, but might have to hop over some hurdles and international shipping.
Is it worth it, though? Well, it kind of is, especially if you're into phones with impressive cameras, but it comes with a hefty price tag of EUR1,500, which isn't very easy to stomach.
Let's explore the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, its strengths and weaknesses!
Xiaomi 15 Ultra
What we like
Superb feature-rich camera with lots of features
Great photo and video quality
Lovely display with super-high peak brightness
What we don't like
Design isn't very premium
Audio leaves a lot to be desired
Only four years of software updates
7.4
PhoneArena Rating
7.3
Price Class Average
Battery Life
7.5
7.2
Photo Quality
8.2
7.4
Video Quality
7.1
6.3
Charging
7.3
6.8
Performance Peak
8.8
7
Performance Daily
8.3
7.1
Display Quality
8
8
Design
7
7.6
Wireless Charging
7.3
7.7
Biometrics
8
7.6
Audio
6
7.3
Software
4
7.5
Why the score?
This device scores 1.4% better than the average for this price class, which includes devices like the Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra, Xiaomi 15 and vivo X200
With a review score of 7.4, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra definitely ranks among the better devices we've reviewed recently. It fares best in camera and performance, but loses some points due to Xiaomi's shorter support period as well as the battery life, which could have been slightly better.
A lovely device aside from the overly large camera bump
Smile for the camera! (Image by PhoneArena)
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra comes with a design rather reminiscent of the previous Xiaomi 14 Ultra, but turned up to eleven
We get a relatively light but somewhat top-heavy device with a flat aluminum frame and a display that's quad-curved on all sides. The latter certainly helps with the ergonomics and provides a silky smooth gesture navigation, unhindered by sharp edges and such.
The previous Xiaomi flagship had a full faux leather back, but the Xiaomi 15 Ultra shakes things up a little. The Silver Chrome variant that we had in for review comes with a two-tone design that combines faux leather and plastic composite, aiming to remind us of Leica's retro cameras.
With its sleek titanium design, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is definitely a stunner (Image by PhoneArena)
One area in which the Xiaomi 15 Ultra slightly messes up the ergonomics is the "volcano-shaped" camera island, as Xiaomi puts it. It's simply too large and expansive, and takes up too large a portion of the rear of the device. A necessary tradeoff given the bevy of camera goodness underneath.
Normally, I'd rest a finger exactly where the camera volcano is, which forces an awkward repositioning of the fingers. Having a case on the phone definitely helps, and with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, you get one in the box and another one if you get the optional Photography Kit.
Size-wise, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is a large device, but there are absolutely larger ones around, like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The overall width and height are more compact than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, for example, but the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is slightly thicker and heavier. Nothing too drastic, though.
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is an IP68-rated phone, well-protected against water and dust. There's no IP69 here, which is an even more impressive protection standard, but a Xiaomi staple––the IR blaster––is tucked neatly inside the camera "volcano".
In terms of colors, the phone is available in Black, White, and the mentioned here Silver Chrome.
Dual-tone looks that remind of a classic Leica camera (Image by PhoneArena)
One cool feature of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, however, is the optional Photography Kit:
Xiaomi 15 Ultra Photography Kit
The gateway to the ultimate cameraphone (Image by PhoneArena)
This is where the Xiaomi 15 Ultra truly turns things up to eleven. This kit essentially turns the phone into a point-and-shoot camera that not only looks the part, but is also super functional. The Xiaomi Photography Kit consists of the following:
Xiaomi 15 Ultra official protective case
Camera grip with 2,000mAh reserve battery
Detachable shutter button with rubber bushings
Detachable thumb support
Hand strap
Adapter ring for 67mm camera filters
Decorative adapter ring
Now that's where things become interesting (Image by PhoneArena)
So, you put on the case, then snap on the camera grip, and you get a large setup that's very comfortable to hold and use. The grip comes with a few useful buttons: a camera shutter button, a stepless zoom lever, as well as a customizable dial and a dedicated video recording key. The grip itself has a 2,000mAh battery inside, which kicks in if the phone's battery level falls below a certain percentage.
What's even more intriguing here are the extra accessories. There's a thumb rest that you can attach to the camera grip via an included screw, and it makes everything way more comfortable to hold. Resting your thumb there provides a lot of extra grip and reassurance when handling this large phone.
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A formidable setup (Image by PhoneArena)
Xiaomi has also included a few rings that screw onto the case and surround the camera island. Two of them are decorative, but there's a functional 67mm adapter ring that lets you attach a real camera filter to the back of your phone. You can attach any 67mm polarizing, UV, or ND filter at the back of the phone, which is definitely capable of boosting your photography results.
Another cool addition to the Photography Kit are the two extra screw-in shutter buttons, which make it easier to press and add some extra flair.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra Display
One of the best displays right now, super-bright and color accurate ((Image by PhoneArena)
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra comes with a 6.73-inch QHD+ OLED display, which is protected by Xiaomi Shield Glass 2.0, which reportedly offers up to 16X better drop and scratch resistance, but the screen has a pre-applied screen protector anyway.
The display itself is quad-curved, so swiping around to navigate the display is silky smooth and very rewarding, especially when compared to other flagships. Adding to the proverbial smoothness is the LTPO tech, allowing for 1-120Hz refresh rates.
There are tons of display-related settings, allowing you to choose between different color modes, like Vivid, Saturated, and our favorite, the default one called Original color PRO, which is very well calibrated. If none of that strikes your fancy, you can go with sRGB or P3 color modes, or fine tune the contrast, gamma, hue, and saturation of the screen via sliders. Truly a next-level experience for display geeks.
Lots of customization in the display area (Image by PhoneArena)
There's also a True Tone-like feature, which tunes the display color temperature in accordance to the ambient lighting, just like an iPhone or a Galaxy. Sadly, there's now anti-reflective coating, like on the Samsung flagship.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
According to our benchmarks, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra delivers exceptional peak brightness, reaching 3,200 nits of brightness. That's among the highest we've ever measured! This makes the display super-legible when under the bright sunlight. Other than that, the screen is perfectly well-calibrated and with excellent contrast, gamma, and colors. The fact that you can fine-tune its properties is also great.
In terms of biometrics, the phone comes with the now standard ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner, which is fast and accurate. A face unlock feature is also present, but it's not very secure, so you shouldn't rely on it too much.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra Camera
The phone's biggest trump card
Quad-camera goodness neatly tucked inside the imposing camera volcano (Image by PhoneArena)
Xiaomi 15 Ultra
PhoneArena Camera Score
BEST 158
158
PhoneArena Photo Score
BEST 165
165
Main (wide)
BEST 87
85
Zoom
BEST 29
29
Ultra-wide
BEST 26
26
Selfie
BEST 30
26
PhoneArena Video Score
BEST 153
150
Main (wide)
BEST 80
78
Zoom
BEST 27
26
Ultra-wide
BEST 24
21
Selfie
BEST 28
25
With a score of 158 points, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is currently tied with the Galaxy S25 Ultra for the first spot in the PhoneArena Camera score benchmark. We tested each phone in a set of predefined scenes that aim to objectively gauge each phone's photography capabilities in different scenarios, and so far, Xiaomi's and Samsung's top flagships have performed the best among the pool of smartphones on the market.
And that's not surprising at all. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra employs an impressive quad-camera setup, helmed by a pretty decent 50MP camera with a massive 1-inch Sony LYT-900 sensor.
Even more impressive is the 200MP periscope camera, which has a native optical zoom equivalent to 100mm (4.3x zoom), but thanks to sensor-cropping, this one can deliver stunning and optically excellent results at much higher zoom levels.
There's also a 50MP short-throw telephoto with 3x zoom (70mm equivalent), best used for portraits and telemacro photography. Finally, the setup is completed by a 50MP ultrawide camera, a 14mm equivalent.
… And with the Camera Kit, this one is an imposing head-turner (Image by PhoneArena)
I'd like to also mention just how impressive the camera app is. It's full of features, modes, and options, with almost everything being customizable. Sure, you can use it as a standard point-and-shoot camera app, but if you are a shutterbug, this phone's camera app will definitely scratch the itch. There's a compelling pro camera mode for both video and still photography, which matches perfectly with the phone's camera-centric nature.
In terms of image quality, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra performs admirably. Almost every picture you take has exceptional detail and great dynamics, exposure that's seemingly always on-point and is neither too dark nor too bright, as well as colors that pop while still staying mostly true to real life. The phone also inserts some dramatic character into just about any photo, with slightly increased contrast without overdoing it.
The phone can capture 8K videos at 30fps, but more impressive here is the 4K120fps video recording, supported on the main and periscope cameras. The Galaxy S25 Ultra can also capture 4K120fps footage that can be used for cinematic slo-mos, but only in Video Pro mode, and only with the main and ultrawide cameras, so the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has a slight advantage here.
Videos taken with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra look great, with exceptional detail, great dynamic range, and lovely colors. The phone is on par with the Galaxy S25 Ultra in most areas, but Samsung's flagship exposes the scene slightly better. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is way more detailed, though.
There are tons of features that aspiring videographers can make use of.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra Performance & Benchmarks
Excellent performance
Specs galore (Image by PhoneArena)
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, one of the few 3nm chipset available to Android manufacturers. It's the standard flavor of Qualcomm's finest, and not a tuned-up version like the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy.
Then again, do we really need any extra power? Combining two prime cores at 4.32GHz and six performance cores humming at 3.53GHz, with an Adreno GPU and a Hexagon NPU topping 80TOPS, the phone is more than ready to tackle any obstacle you might throw in its way.
One of the bigger ones is thermal management, which is crucial with 3nm chips, this Snapdragon included. Xiaomi has employed a dual-channel vapor chamber dubbed IceLoop, which aims to dissipate as much heat as possible.
And in real life, the phone truly is a beast, juggling through apps and tasks like there's no tomorrow, and you only feel it get warmer when you fire up a heavy game. In all other scenarios, however, it's a cool powerhouse.
In our synthetic benchmark tests, it performs in the same ballpark as most of its rivals, like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and the OnePlus 13. One area in which the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is the 3DMark Extreme stress test, where it delivers a superb "low" result, which indicates it's extremely stable during prolonged gaming sessions, surpassing its rivals.
The phone comes with 16GB of fast LPDDR5X RAM, but you can double that with Xiaomi's Memory Extension feature, which can allocate up to 16GB of on-board storage to act as memory. Speaking of storage, the phone comes with either 512GB or 1TB of storage.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra Software
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra comes with Android 15 and MIUI Xiaomi HyperOS 2.0.2.0, which is the company's latest interface.
It's a very feature-rich interface, as usual with Xiaomi's software, with lots of stuff to tinker with and customize. Some crucial stuff is hidden away in some more cryptic menus, but I wouldn't necessarily call this unintuitive, it's simply the philosophy behind Xiaomi's software principles.
I particularly love the new and revamped lock screen customization, which allows you to personalize the looks and functionality of the lock screen. The quick toggle panel is somewhat customizable, but nowhere near iOS 18 and One UI 7. Still, there's a lot to love here, and it doesn't take too long for you to feel right at home.
And AI? Of course, there are tons of AI features on deck! It's pretty much on par with variety and functionality with the rest of the industry, and for the most part, matches Apple Intelligence and Galaxy AI.
The phone comes with an AI Writing assistant, which does a fairly good job at copywriting from a prompt, polishing your text, and summarizing lists. Inside the Gallery app, you can use Xiaomi's new AI-powered photo editor, which lets you expand an image, enhance it, erase objects or people, and create film based on a prompt with your photos and videos.
There's also an AI interpreter features, both during phone and video calls and face-to-face conversations where you have a speaker of a foreign language next to you. The AI on board can also transcribe audio and distinguish speakers, as well as summarize and translate the content.
However, the software is simultaneously one of the weaker aspects of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. HyperOS is pretty buggy, with little aggravating bugs and issues sprinkled everywhere throughout the interface. For example, sometimes capturing a video in landscape mode and immediately opening it afterward will flip its orientation upside down, so you're forced to weirdly twist and turn your phone to resolve the issue.
Another bug is almost legendary: pressing a button to control a paired appliance with Mi Remote still counts as two button presses, largely rendering the app unusable for most use cases. This bug has been around for years: I remember encountering it years ago with a previous Xiaomi phone.
So, all in all, while the interface is useful, it also has some issues.
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra comes along with a 5,410mAh battery, which isn't small, but isn't too large either. We're already seeing phones hailing from China with massive 6,000mAh batteries, but Xiaomi has obviously chosen form over function here. Given the large camera volcano, a 1-2mm extra wouldn't have hurt too much if this increase meant a larger battery could be fitted inside the phone. But maybe next time!
In our tests, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra achieves a total battery score of 7 hours and 32 minutes, which is a very good result! This puts it on par with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra performs slightly better than both.
The phone achieves 16 hours and 38 minutes in our web browsing test, which is conducted at 200 nits and aims to gauge the phone's battery life in everyday browsing scenarios. In our video playback test, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra achieves a little over ten hours, which is a great result. Finally, in our custom 3D gaming test, the phone achieves 13 hours and a half, which is superb as well.
Super-fast charging on board (Image by PhoneArena)
The phone comes with 90W wired charging, which fully tops up the battery in around an hour. There's also 80W wireless charging on board, which takes slightly longer to fully charge the device.
The Haptics on the Xiaomi 15 Ultra are a bit too weak for my liking. They simply lack the strength and potency that iPhones and Galaxies deliver. At least the vibration is accurate and precise, which is great; only if they were slightly stronger.
In terms of audio quality, the phone has dual stereo speakers, but the audio quality has some issues. Last year's Xiaomi 14 Ultra had a speaker grille at the top of the frame, which evened out the sound coming from both of its speakers, but the Xiaomi 15 Ultra lacks that.
As a result, the sound emanates from the tiny earpiece slit between the display and the frame, which isn't nearly as powerful as the bottom loudspeaker. The audio is decidedly bottom-heavy, with a slightly unpleasant boominess and a tiny soundstage, so definitely nowhere near the iPhone 16 Pro Max or the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Should you buy it?
That's one great phone (Image by PhoneArena)
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is a great Android phone. It has very few shortcomings, namely a slightly buggy interface and battery life that could have been slightly better.
However, that's where most of the criticism ends, as the rest of the package is quite intriguing and boasts plenty of strengths.
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra has a really capable camera package, which excels in both still photography and video-recording, but it also has excellent performance, an interesting design with intriguing accessories, and finally, a lovely screen that's one of the brightest we've measured so far.
However, with a starting price of EUR1,500, it doesn't come cheap, and it might be argued that you might find better value with a Galaxy S25 Ultra.
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Peter, an experienced tech enthusiast at PhoneArena, is captivated by all things mobile. His impartial reviews and proficiency in Android systems offer readers valuable insights. Off-duty, he delves into the latest cryptocurrency trends and enjoys sci-fi and video games.
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