Xiaomi 15 review: Compact excellence with Leica charm

Smartphone makers these days seem locked in a perpetual arms race to cram bigger screens, heavier batteries, and ever more cameras onto their devices. Xiaomi bucks this trend slightly with the Xiaomi 15, offering powerful internals and advanced Leica optics in a refreshingly compact package. But with incremental improvements over the Xiaomi 14, does the Xiaomi 15 justify its ₹64,999 asking price, or is it just a subtle evolution rather than a genuine leap forward?

Design: Compact Refinement, Familiar Feel

Holding the Xiaomi 15 immediately recalls its predecessor: compact, premium, and straightforward. The aluminium chassis, weighing in at just 191 grams, balances perfectly between sturdy build and lightweight usability. While Samsung’s Galaxy S25 (162 grams) feels noticeably lighter, Xiaomi’s subtle matte finish gives the 15 an advantage, reducing fingerprints and improving grip substantially compared to the slippery Xiaomi 14.

The square camera bump is elegant and minimalistic, though Xiaomi curiously moved the flash separately onto the rear casing, slightly disrupting its otherwise clean aesthetics. Thankfully, the phone retains IP68 water and dust resistance, adding durability without sacrificing portability.

Display: Brighter, Smoother, but Not Revolutionary

Xiaomi 15 packs a vivid 6.36-inch AMOLED display, now 200 nits brighter than its predecessor. With a peak brightness hovering above 2000 nits, it’s excellent for outdoor visibility. Colours pop impressively, and its adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate feels notably fluid. While the display comfortably holds its own against Google Pixel 9’s OLED panel, it falls slightly behind Samsung’s Galaxy S25’s jaw-dropping 2600-nit screen.

Touch response is crisp at 300Hz, ensuring a lag-free experience, ideal for gaming or intensive browsing sessions. However, aside from incremental enhancements, the Xiaomi 15’s display isn’t groundbreaking enough to dramatically distinguish it from its immediate rivals.

Performance: Snapdragon 8 Elite, but Tempered

Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, Xiaomi 15 easily manages demanding multitasking and intensive gaming sessions without noticeable hiccups. With 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage, it matches the Galaxy S25 stride for stride.

During real-world usage, the Xiaomi 15 showed excellent stability with negligible heating, even under stress. However, Galaxy S25 edges slightly ahead, leveraging an overclocked version of the same chipset to deliver marginally snappier performance. Still, the difference is minimal enough to overlook unless you’re chasing benchmarks.

Running on HyperOS 2.0 (Android 15-based), Xiaomi promises four years of OS updates and six years of security patches, matching industry leaders. HyperOS offers significant customisation but retains some annoying pre-installed apps, particularly Google’s, which can’t be removed. AI features such as AI Writing and AI Interpreter are cloud-based and, while functional, lack the smoothness and intuitiveness of Samsung’s more polished local AI processing.

Camera: Leica-Powered Consistency

The Xiaomi 15’s triple 50 MP Leica-backed cameras, primary, ultrawide, and telephoto deliver impressive image quality across various scenarios. Its standout remains the telephoto lens, now offering 2.6x optical zoom. Leica’s influence is noticeable, producing vivid yet natural colours, excellent dynamic range, and commendable contrast. The telephoto lens especially captures striking portraits with pleasing depth of field, often surpassing Samsung’s Galaxy S25.

However, Xiaomi 15’s ultrawide lens struggles slightly in consistency, occasionally sacrificing details at wider angles. In low light, results remain solid, thanks to an effective Night mode, though images occasionally lean soft. Google’s Pixel 9 remains ahead in post-processing, but Xiaomi comfortably outclasses it in raw optics and versatility.

The front-facing 32 MP camera produces good selfies in daylight, capturing details with precision. Yet, evening shots tend towards slight graininess and loss of detail, an area still dominated by Samsung.

Battery: Significant Boost, Decent Charging

The jump to a 5,240 mAh battery (from Xiaomi 14’s 4,610 mAh) is a welcome improvement. It comfortably powers through a day and a half of moderate-to-heavy usage. Xiaomi maintains its impressive 90W fast charging, juicing from 0 to 100% in about 55 minutes, a considerable advantage over competitors like Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25, both of which lack bundled chargers altogether.

Verdict: Compact Charm, Incremental Gains

Priced at ₹64,999, Xiaomi 15 is undoubtedly an excellent premium compact phone. Sleek, powerful, and camera-focused, especially appealing for photography enthusiasts craving Leica optics in a manageable form factor. However, Xiaomi played it safe. With incremental upgrades, especially in performance and display, current Xiaomi 14 users have little incentive to upgrade unless craving slightly improved battery life and better ergonomics.

Still, in a market increasingly filled with oversized phones, the Xiaomi 15 carves out its niche. If compact form and camera versatility matter to you, the Xiaomi 15 remains among the best available. Otherwise, Samsung’s Galaxy S25 or Google’s Pixel 9 offer tempting alternatives with brighter screens or smarter software respectively.