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Xiaomi 15
Xiaomi 15 tested: a compact top smartphone
The Xiaomi 15 is not the smallest, but still a compact top smartphone. Despite its small dimensions, you only have to do without very long focal lengths.
The Xiaomi 15 measures a few millimetres more than the Galaxy S25 from Samsung, but is still one of the more compact models among the top smartphones. I can't feel the difference of 0.7 to 2.4 millimetres in my hands. Xiaomi presented the smartphone for Europe at the Mobile World Congress. I was able to try it out in advance.
Small and fine
I've got used to large touchscreens, but it's still nice to be able to use a comparatively handy smartphone again with the Xiaomi 15 for testing. It is not too small with its 6.36-inch AMOLED display. The resolution of 2670 × 1400 pixels (460 ppi) is very high. The refresh rate automatically adjusts between 1 and 120 hertz. The brightness is very high at up to 3200 nits.
Source: Jan Johannsen
The thin edges help to keep the Xiaomi 15 small. However, if the dimensions are the most important thing, it will hardly stand a chance against the Galaxy S25. It is 2.4 millimetres longer, 0.7 millimetres wider and 0.9 millimetres thicker than the Samsung smartphone.
The design of the Xiaomi 15 is discreet with its glass back. I like the straight aluminium frame. It makes the smartphone easy to hold and gives it a high quality feel.
Source: Jan Johannsen
The very good cameras lack focal length at most
The Xiaomi 15 has three cameras on the back, each with a resolution of 50 megapixels. However, each uses a different image sensor:
- Main camera: 50 megapixels, Light Fusion 900 sensor, 23 mm
- Ultra wide-angle camera: 50 megapixel, JN1 sensor, 15 mm
- telephoto camera: 50 megapixel, JN5 sensor, 60 mm
Source: Jan Johannsen
All three cameras impressed me with their good image quality. The main difference to the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which I highly praised, is the lack of a periscope telephoto camera. With the Xiaomi 15, I have to reckon with a loss of quality at focal lengths beyond 60 millimetres, which only occurs later on the more expensive smartphone.
The main camera of the Xiaomi 15 leaves nothing to be desired in terms of colour reproduction and detail accuracy.
Source: Jan Johannsen
The ultra-wide-angle camera is in no way inferior to the main camera. The focal length is the main difference between the cameras
The telephoto camera brings me even closer to the subject without losing detail
Source: Jan Johannsen
Ultra wide-angle camera shows weaknesses in the dark
The night mode is automatically activated when it gets dark. Although I can deactivate it, I cannot actively select it as a recording mode. Unfortunately, it is not as good on the ultra-wide-angle camera as on the other two cameras
Source: Jan Johannsen
The main camera delivers an image with clearly balanced lighting and a higher level of detail in night mode.
Source: Jan Johannsen
The telephoto camera can't quite keep up, but still delivers clearly better images in night mode than the ultra-wide-angle camera.
Source: Jan Johannsen
Good selfies
The 32-megapixel front camera has a focal length of 21 millimetres. Despite the same resolution, I like the image quality of the Xiaomi 15 better than the 15 Ultra. The images look more detailed.
Source: Jan Johannsen
Overall, all cameras on the Xiaomi 15 offer very good image quality. Only the ultra-wide-angle camera is not convincing in night mode. More expensive top smartphones stand out from the 15 at best due to their longer focal lengths in the telephoto range. However, I have learnt to appreciate this selection.
Lots of power and good battery life
The Xiaomi 15 may be small, but it doesn't compromise on performance compared to larger smartphones. This is thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the latest top chipset from Qualcomm.
In terms of CPU performance, it is only beaten by the Galaxy S25 Ultra on average in several benchmarks. And its Snapdragon 8 Elite has a higher clock rate with two cores. It is on a par with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and the Xiaomi 14T Pro leaves it clearly behind.
In terms of graphics performance, however, it lags somewhat behind the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and the Oppo Find X8 Pro. However, this cannot be due to its size, as it is on a par with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Xiaomi has increased the battery capacity of the 15 by 630 mAh to 5240 mAh compared to the previous smartphone. With the Hypercharge fast charging technology, it is charged quickly - 90 watts via cable and up to 50 watts wirelessly.
The PCMark Work 3.0 battery test measures the best battery life of all Xiaomi smartphones that I tested last year. 11:02 hours is one and a half hours more than the 14T Pro, the manufacturer's previous leader.
Xiaomi Hyper AI: Gemini and even more AI
Xiaomi equips the 15 with HyperOS 2 ex works. The software with its own interface is based on Android 15 and the manufacturer promises to update the operating system for four years. Security updates will be available for six years, which is one year longer than the previous model.
Xiaomi bundles the AI functions on the 15 under the term "Xiaomi Hyper AI". This includes the integration of Google's Gemini as an AI assistant in the operating system. The manufacturer offers further functions under "AI App Boost":
- AI writing: Helps to correct, expand, refine and summarise texts.
- KI speech recognition: Transcribes audio to text, distinguishes between voices, translates or summarises.
- AI interpreter: Offline for conversations as well as for phone calls.
- AI subtitles: Adds subtitles to videos or video calls and can translate them.
The translations and transcription in particular are already working very well. I am not yet satisfied with the summaries and the text editing beyond simple corrections does not convince me either.
Xiaomi offers four AI tools for image editing. These are designed to simply improve photos, generatively enhance images, remove distracting objects without leaving a trace and automatically create films from photos and videos.
The AI eraser is not afraid of large areas. On other smartphones, the function has sometimes refused to remove areas as large as the following example.
The AI works well with everything it can continue - buildings, railings and water. When it comes to guessing what is really behind me, however, it hardly stands a chance. Nevertheless, it solves the task surprisingly well here too.
The photo enhancements are helpful if I don't want to worry about post-processing myself. The AI tool for editing the sky is a nice gimmick. It makes the grey Hamburg winter sky appear bright blue or the sun setting in the east. The AI even adjusts the colour of the rest of the shot.
The generative expansion works well if the AI has something to orientate itself by. The following image was expanded to 125 per cent of the original size - without a prompt. If I increase the factor to 170 per cent, the AI has to guess more and fills in areas with something. This is not completely inappropriate, but no longer has anything to do with the original. The correct large image section can be found in the upper examples of the cameras.
Source: Jan Johannsen
In a nutshell
Compact, practical, very good
The Xiaomi 15 is a compact smartphone that I don't have to compromise on. It sits comfortably in the hand and offers plenty of computing power. The battery life is very good for a Xiaomi device and the display is easy to look at even in the sunshine.
The cameras all deliver very good image quality - with the exception of the ultra-wide-angle camera in night mode. Compared to even more expensive smartphones, however, I miss the longer focal lengths.
However, only the smartphone is compact, not its price. Experience has shown that the price of Xiaomi devices drops quickly, so it might be worth being patient when purchasing the 15.
Pro
- Compact design without compromises
- Good battery life
- Very good cameras
Contra
- Focal length of the telephoto camera only 60 millimetres
- Ultra wide-angle camera in night mode
Header image: Jan Johannsen
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As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
