A Spanish adventure changed my mind about the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera

As I sat listening to Xiaomi and Leica talk about the Xiaomi 15 Ultra during its long, in-depth launch event at MWC 2025 I wondered, had I not given the camera a fair trial? It’s not that the phone or camera scored badly in my review, but the team went out of its way to talk about how hard it had worked on it, and I just hadn’t quite seen the magic they were going to great lengths to emphasize.

Over the next few days I went on a photographic adventure around Barcelona, Spain (the location for MWC 2025), exploring it with fresh eyes and the Xiaomi 15 Ultra in my hand, to see if I could find the magic I had initially thought was missing, that the company claimed was so deeply embedded in it.

Fresh location, fresh eyes

In my review of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra I took photos in locations I know well. I didn’t have the opportunity to visit new spots, and I wasn’t off doing anything special which would give me the chance to stretch the camera’s ability at the time. It’s an ideal situation for a straight review, as I know these places and how things should look in photos. I can quickly come to a conclusion, but it’s not a creatively exciting process, and not emotive to me personally at all.

I haven’t been to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain since 2019, and I was staying in an entirely new part of the city for my return visit in 2025. The weather was agreeable too, making it the ideal opportunity to do some exploration and see if the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera would fire up my creativity in a way it hadn’t during my review. There’s something special about walking around a city you thought you knew, but finding it very different to before. It’s a time when you want a great camera with you.

I’m not a professional photographer and need a fast, versatile, and capable camera to help me take the photos I imagine in my minds-eye. Xiaomi talked about the 15 Ultra’s cameras being designed to replicate the camera lenses a pro photographer would have in their camera bag, and sure enough, I never once felt it was missing a lens option. I mostly switched between the 23mm 1x main camera and the 4.3x zoom (the equivalent of a 100mm lens), plus I experimented with the different Leica shooting styles — Leica Vibrant and Leica Authentic — along with the fantastic Leica Black and White filter.

Firing up my creativity

What I found was a different camera to the one I had reviewed — more engaging, inspiring, and creative. The more I played around with the filters and lenses, the more photos I’d take, and the more I stretched myself to come up with new angles, framing, and subjects. The more I used the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the more I enjoyed it. I was beginning to see the magic Xiaomi assured me was there.

I also had the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Nothing Phone 3a Pro with me, but I never once felt the need to use either of those phones to capture the photo I wanted. I’ve used the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera a lot, but I don’t think it has quite the same appeal as the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera either. The Xiaomi’s features are fun yet still considered, in a way that Apple and Samsung phone’s are not, and a lot of that comes from Leica’s involvement.

There’s also no push to use AI. Xiaomi didn’t even really talk about AI during the launch event, and the 15 Ultra’s camera feels quite normal because of it. There are a few AI features in the editing app, but it’s not the focus of the camera or the phone. The editing app is decent, but I found the automatic enhancement option often made photos look worse rather than better. A few simple tweaks to the contrast, saturation, and brightness was usually sufficient to get the look I wanted.

Learning more about the camera

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera is capable enough to indulge my creativity, and I hadn’t really seen that until I spent time with it in Barcelona. What does that mean to you? If you’ve got an idea for a photo in your head, but aren’t quite sure how to take it in real life, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s ability will help you do it. Not every phone camera can do this, and if you’re at all interested in mobile photography, then you’re going to love experimenting and growing with it. It’s also really fast, and I could quickly take street-photography style pictures without having to stop and stare.

I did still encounter some problems though. It’s often reluctant to focus on specific areas when using the 4.3x zoom, even after repeatedly tapping on the screen to prompt it, and you can lose opportunities because of it. The camera isn’t always fond of backlighting, and can under expose to compensate, plus in low light there’s a haziness to photos shot at 4.3x which really shows up when you crop the image. That’s really all though. It’s a 9/10 camera on a technical level, and I loved having it with me on my mini Spanish adventure.

However, I noted in my review the camera didn’t quite have the same character as the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and I still think this is true. Switch between Leica Vibrant and Leica Authentic and the image processing definitely changes, but I don’t think one is necessarily more visually pleasing than the other. I love the black and white filter though, especially as it stays in place until you switch to another style even after closing the camera app, and appreciate how it’s usable in lowlight too, where it adds a lovely grain to the final image and detail remains consistent with photos taken without a filter. I used it a lot more than I expected.

Better than I first thought?

I have changed my mind about the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera. There’s so much depth and ability that it simply couldn’t be fully assessed after a week and a few hundred photos in my local area. It needs your attention and a willingness to make an effort to get the best from it. The magic Xiaomi promised is there, but you’ll only find it if you experiment with it, and I think it needs an adventure, no matter how small, to really bring it out.

I also think the Xiaomi 15 Ultra brought out the best of my own photographic ability too. I took photos that I felt went beyond simple vacation-style snaps, and captured the city that I personally saw and explored. I looked more, by which I mean I took notice of the streets and the people, as I tried to spot opportunities where the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera would shine. It was fun, and very few phone cameras make me feel that way.

This is ultimately what I look for when I use a phone camera. Sure, it needs to be technically competent, but it needs to have the versatility to engage and urge me to be creative. I didn’t feel much of that before I went to Barcelona and spent many extra hours taking photos with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. While I still don’t think it’s quite as good as the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s camera, I came away from Spain knowing I’d found the magic I first thought was lacking from the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera.