Xiaomi 15 Ultra test: a treat for photographers

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is something special, just like the previous two editions of this phone. It easily overshadows its smaller sibling, the Xiaomi 15, although I think many will like its compactness and no-compromise design. Since the base model is already so good, you really need a good reason to pay an extra €400 for the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. The chip, the choice of materials, the system... all of this is the same as the Xiaomi 15, so the cameras really have to be something special to make you dig deeper into your pocket.

Are they true?

Xiaomi 15 Ultra price?

• Xiaomi 15 Ultra 12GB/512GB: €1499

Xiaomi 15 Ultra: nicer than the Xiaomi 15, but again not by much

It hasn't changed much since last year's Ultra. The camera bump is still the main graphic highlight of this phone, at least in this version. There's also a leather-wrapped model, which I haven't seen in our market yet, but in person it was much nicer to the touch and look at than the classic black version. The huge bump, just like last year, is reminiscent of a classic camera, especially when you immediately notice the Leica name. I like that they added a red frame around the bump, so it's not too boring.

The phone is huge, and that bump doesn't do it any favors. When you hold it in your hand, you immediately feel that most of the weight is at the top, where the cameras are located. Because the bump is so large, it gets in the way even during normal use, but especially when you're using the phone in landscape mode, like when playing games. Fingers tend to get stuck on the camera lens, so you'll need to clean them frequently.

The curved body around the screen is made of aluminum, and the screen is protected by Xiaomi Glass. Like all premium phones, it also has an IP68 water resistance rating. There is still a responsive ultrasonic fingerprint reader under the screen.

Screen equal to or better than the competition

We can rely on a 6.73-inch AMOLED panel with excellent image display and even better dynamic range. It refreshes between 1 and 120 Hz, depending on what we do with it. The maximum resolution is 3200 x 1440, which can be reduced if necessary to save energy. The brightness is very high (3200 nits), which is more than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, but less than the HONOR Magic7 Pro.

For dimming, it uses a hybrid system that alternates between PWM dimming with a relatively high frequency of 1920 Hz and DC dimming, depending on the brightness level. More about both technologies in the Xiaomi 15 review.

The elite chip from Qualcomm shines with all its might here too

After four tests of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, I am even more convinced that this year's implementation is a huge leap in performance and efficiency. As I already pointed out with the Xiaomi 15, this chip is capable of everything: playing classic mobile games, playing Windows and console games using emulators, graphic rendering, designing... All the tasks we do on phones and even those we usually prefer to do on a computer are feasible on the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.

The heating is not excessive or completely within normal limits for such a phone. It never reached a critical point where I would notice a significant slowdown in the phone's performance, for example, like with the HONOR Magic7 Pro.

The 5410 mAh battery is slightly larger than the Xiaomi 15, but the screen is also more voracious due to its size. Fortunately, this does not affect the autonomy too much. With moderate use, you will easily get to the end of the day. On average, you will have between 30 and 40 mAh of battery left for the next day, which can be charged in a few minutes with a power of up to 90 W or 80 W if you charge the phone wirelessly. In both cases, you will first have to buy a compatible charger, as it is no longer included in the package.

The default system memory capacity is 16 GB (LPDDR5X), and the drive (up to 1 TB) is supported by the latest UFS 4.1 standard, which means that the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has the fastest drive on the market. In practice, however, the differences are very minimal and you will not notice them in everyday data transfers.

Read about HyperOS 2, HyperAI, and a deeper look at which games you can run with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip in our Xiaomi 15 phone review.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra: you'll buy it for the camera

The culprits behind the huge bulge on the back of the phone are the cameras, especially the 1-inch lens of the main camera. All cameras are stamped with Leica, which means we can expect the same results that photographers are used to from their analog cameras.

For the entire photographic arsenal that the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has, I can say that it performs very well. The differences between the different lenses are only noticeable in daylight in the different shades of how different sensors perceive the scene. The focus is at a high level everywhere, as is the level of detail and color dynamics.

Together they cover a very wide focal range, from 23mm to 420mm, which can be accessed by double-clicking on the zoom symbols. The periscope camera and telephoto camera provide us with 3x and 4.3x optical zoom, respectively, although the digital zoom also works well up to 10x or, in some cases, up to 20x. Although the Xiaomi 15 Ultra boasts the highest zoom (up to 120x) among all premium phones, that doesn't mean you won't get a Renaissance touch at these zooms.

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In low light conditions, all cameras mostly maintain their sharpness and color accuracy. The ultra-wide camera does the worst, but its shots are still usable, as long as they don't involve scenes with completely no light sources. At night, as with all phones, I would rather avoid digital zoom and rely on optics. Otherwise, the focus is very good, and the artificial softening of textures only starts to appear at higher zooms.

Video (up to 8K 30 fps or 4K 120 fps) is good, but no better than the competition. There's almost no noise, and you can notice some minor shake when you're walking around with the phone while recording, but nothing alarming.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra is deservedly among the best

You'll buy it primarily for its photographic excellence, but you'll also get the most powerful chip, the fastest drive, and a very good and bright AMOLED screen. The price is expectedly high, but it's the same as other rivals, so it shouldn't play a role in your choice.