I reviewed the Xiaomi 15 and its blazing speed made me wonder why more people don’t consider this flagship

Xiaomi 15 review: Two-minute review

The Xiaomi 15 is an impressive piece of technology in most every category. It’s powered by the class-leading Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, evident in everything from day-to-day scrolling to hardcore gaming sessions.

I’m not totally convinced by the phone’s design, which seems to involve slapping a massive black square camera module on the back of a bubbly rounded chassis, but the Xiaomi 15 at least feels premium. The weight balance is on point, the materials are sturdy, and it feels good in the hand, a quality which phone makers seem to be ignoring more and more.

However, like every Xiaomi phone that came before it, the Xiaomi 15 is not available in the US. As is standard for this brand, the Xiaomi 15 is ambitious with its specs and pricing alike, which makes its lack of global availability all the more maddening. This could easily be a contender for one of the best phones you can buy, alongside the iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S25, and Google Pixel 9, given its fantastic value proposition.

For now, the Xiaomi 15 remains a tempting choice for those willing to go step outside the mainstream.

Xiaomi 15 review: Price and availability

• £899 for the model with 256GB of storage
• £999 for the model with 512GB of storage
• Not available in the US or Australia

The Xiaomi 15 starts at £899 for 256GB of storage and £999 for 512GB. Equipped with a minimum of 12GB of RAM, there’s plenty of headroom for multitasking, and with storage options up to 1TB, there’s no lack of space for apps, games, and photos taken with the three 50MP cameras.

In terms of colors, the choices are pretty concise. The Xiaomi 15 comes in white, black or green. The unit I tested was the green finish, which is just a shade too dark to be called pastel. There’s also a special Liquid Silver edition, which sports a reflective design and is only available with 512GB of storage for £999.

Though the Xiaomi 15 does come in at a slightly higher starting price than its competitors, it’s worth keeping in mind that it actually matches the iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S25, and Google Pixel 9 when adjusted for storage – the Xiaomi 15 lacks the £799 128GB storage tier that its three counterparts offer.

Regrettably, the Xiaomi 15 is not widely available. It’s available from Xiaomi directly in the UK, but not in the US or Australia – which means it’ll miss out on a chance at joining our lists of the best phones or best Android phones.

Value score: 4 / 5

Xiaomi 15 review: Specs

Xiaomi 15 review: Design

• A strange mix of bold and bubbly
• Very comfortable to hold
• Feels well made for the price

The Xiaomi 15 is well built, but I’m not sure what to make of its overall aesthetic. Its smooth, curved rails are made of matte aluminum, the rear panel is colored frosted glass, and the square camera housing forms an obstinate black patch on said panel. The screen is also flat, which clashes with the curved edges of the frame.

The phone is built like a luxurious tank. It’s satisfyingly heavy, clearly made of solid materials, and the construction feels both durable and well considered. It’s much smoother in the hand than the Galaxy S25, but not as pebbly as the iPhone 16, and I think it feels nicer than both.

The phone comes with a silicon case, which is a thoughtful addition. However, the pre-attached plastic screen protector is a swerve – it scuffs easily and the phone feels more premium without it.

At a diagonal screen size of 6.36 inches, the Xiaomi 15 is easily pocketable, with all areas of the screen reachable one-handed. Buttons and connectivity are the standard issue – a volume rocker, power button, and USB-C port are all you get.

Overall, while I’m not convinced by the Xiaomi 15’s style, I can’t deny it’s a very well made smartphone. It’s as large as a phone can be while still feeling compact, and as with many other aspects of this phone Xiaomi walks the line well.

Design score: 4 / 5

Xiaomi 15 review: Display

• 1200 x 2670 resolution
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Peak brightness of 3200 nits

The Xiaomi 15 sports a 6.36-inch display that just looks fantastic. I’ve been impressed with Xiaomi phone displays in the past, but this is truly an excellent panel that shows you can have the best of both worlds – it’s compact, immersive, sharp, and colorful.

With a resolution of 1200 x 2670, 120Hz refresh rate, and pixel density of 460ppi, all kinds of media look great on the Xiaomi 15. Text is razor sharp, photos and videos are detailed, and games are vibrant. Despite the phone’s mid-sized frame, the display feels remarkably spacious, thanks in part to that super high pixel density.

I was particularly impressed by the contrast and saturation on offer here – there’s little to no bloom going on, and colors feel consistently accurate across the entire brightness range. There are three color profiles to choose from – two adaptive modes that prioritise realism or vividity, and a permanently saturated mode. Furthermore, Xiaomi says the Xiaomi 15 reaches a peak brightness of 3200 nits, which is overkill in all but the brightest environs.

Display score: 5 / 5

Xiaomi 15 review: Software

• Android 15 with HyperOS 2
• Snappy and responsive with fantastic customization
• Some bloatware, but mostly unobtrusive

I remain a fan of HyperOS, Xiaomi’s proprietary Android wrapper. HyperOS 2 is a fast and fluid implementation of Android 15 that I never managed to slow down. It’s one of my preferred Android flavors at this point, and the UI is both rapid to navigate through and full of character.

Additionally, Xiaomi continues to offer best-in-class customization. I’m a huge fan of the live and adaptive wallpapers available on the Xiaomi 15 – I find myself marveling at the way Mars spins towards me with the space theme, and a suite of fun UI animations gives the overall experience a lot of character. In a time of boring phone design, this is how you keep things feeling fresh.

Bloatware is an issue – the phone is preloaded with a wide array of social and booking apps as well as a suite of Xiaomi branded stores and apps. It’s not too difficult to sweep away this stuff, still the Xiaomi 15 experience is undermined by the presence of adverts and suggested downloads. If the phone was at least cheaper than a typical flagship, this might be excusable, but at this price I’m seriously unimpressed.

As for AI, Google Gemini is the default assistant, and it works fine. HyperOS 2 also comes with a handful of proprietary Xiaomi AI features, like image expansion and note summaries.

Overall, the software experience on the Xiaomi 15 is all about speed. This is one of the fastest phones I’ve used, and, bloatware aside, HyperOS 2 earns its title by never failing to keep up.

Software score: 4 / 5

Xiaomi 15 review: Cameras

• 50MP wide camera
• 50MP ultra-wide camera
• 50MP 2.6x telephoto camera

Xiaomi tends to pitch its flagship phones as camera phones first and foremost, and the Xiaomi 15 is no different. I’m pleased to report that the Xiaomi 15 sports a triple-camera system that prioritizes balance and takes excellent photos. You get a 50MP main camera, 50MP ultra-wide, and 50MP 2.6x telephoto camera, which come together as more than the sum of their parts thanks to Xiaomi’s focus on providing a consistent photography experience.

I was pleasantly surprised by just how natural switching between the main, ultra-wide, and 2.6x telephoto lenses felt, as there was little difference between the images produced other than the level of zoom, and colors, exposure, and brightness felt remarkably consistent too. I rarely felt like I was using a different camera when toggling between zoom levels, and whether this is due to hardware or software trickery, the resulting experience is very enjoyable.

The main camera sports a 0.76-inch sensor, while the ultra-wide and telephoto cameras both use a 0.36-inch sensor – all three take in plenty of light, and I was impressed by how much detail the image processing pipeline could recover in less optimal conditions. In low light, I was impressed by just how much light the cameras took in, though some detail is naturally lost in wider scenes. Even the ultra-wide camera takes great photos – which is a statement I don’t make lightly.

As with previous handsets like the Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14T, Xiaomi has collaborated with Leica to produce the camera system on the Xiaomi 15. There are two shooting modes that broadly favor realism or vibrancy – Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant. Though I preferred the Vibrant mode in the past, the Xiaomi 15’s HDR processing puts in so much work that the Authentic mode is often plenty colorful, while retaining some subtlety.. Overall, this camera system is a knockout. All I can think to ask for is a little more optical zoom range.

Camera score: 5 / 5

Xiaomi 15: Camera Samples

Xiaomi 15 review: Performance

• Snapdragon 8 Elite
• GPU: Adreno 830
• 12GB or 16GB of RAM, depending on model

The Xiaomi 15 boasts an impressive spec sheet, and you’ll feel every bit of that power in day-to-day use. I wasn’t able to get the Xiaomi 15 to stutter during my time with it – I recorded no slowdown whatsoever.

That wasn’t for a lack of trying – I opened dozens of apps at the same time, played intensive games, and kept the phone running for hours at a time, and… nothing. The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and 12GB of RAM sitting under the screen just ate everything I threw at it and left no crumbs.

I was routinely impressed by how fluid using the Xiaomi 15 felt. Flying around the UI feels totally effortless, and opening and closing apps feels momentary. The Snapdragon 8 Elite really does live up to the hype, and Xiaomi is clearly making the most of its power and efficiency. I didn’t notice the battery tanking during more demanding sessions either.

Even in intensive games like Call of Duty Mobile I was hitting maximum framerates on maximum graphics settings. It might be compact, but don’t underestimate the Xiaomi 15 when it comes to how much it can handle.

Performance score: 5 / 5

Xiaomi 15 review: Battery

• 5,400mAh silicon-carbon battery
• 90W wired charging
• Impressive 50W wireless charging

The Xiaomi 15 sports confident all-day battery life and incredible standby times thanks to its 5,240mAh battery. With an impressive 90W wired charging speed and 50W wireless charging capability, topping up is no issue either. There’s also 10W reverse wireless charging, should you ever need to top up another phone on the go.

The Xiaomi 15 is part of a growing list of phones that use silicon-carbon batteries, which offer much greater energy density than the outgoing lithium-ion technology can achieve, and this has obvious benefits in day-to-day use.

For example, I was confident leaving the house without a portable charger on me as long as the Xiaomi 15 had more than 40% charge remaining. I knew I’d be covered for an evening or shorter daytime outing. However, I did find the phone charged more slowly than I’d expect it to: with a third party 80W charger, a full top up took more than 90 minutes, though this could be the fault of the charger, so we’ll keep testing to be sure.

A reliable day’s use is good for a phone of this size – it wasn’t so long ago that a smaller phone necessarily meant a substandard battery, but the Xiaomi 15 performs well above what its midsized frame would suggest.

Battery score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the Xiaomi 15

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Xiaomi 15 review: Also consider

How I tested the Xiaomi 15

I used the Xiaomi 15 intermittently over the course of several weeks to test its capabilities as a daily driver, while setting time aside for more deliberate tests such as extended gaming sessions or camera testing.

I used the Xiaomi 15 for all the things we use our phones for every day: making phone calls, sending texts, scrolling through social media, taking photos and videos, playing games, reading articles, and watching videos.

Once I had a solid idea of how the Xiaomi 15 handles in daily use, I applied my journalistic training and wider knowledge of the smartphone market to assess its performance and value.