Xiaomi 15 Review: Is this mid-priced handset still a great buy for photographers?

Xiaomi has been producing some excellent smartphones in recent years, particularly the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which both deserve a top-spot in our best smartphones for photographers list.

However, if you haven’t got an enormous budget – or perhaps you don’t want such a big screen in your pocket – there is an alternative available out there, in the shape of the Xiaomi 15.

Still packing Leica partnership lenses, along with a host of enticing features, does a phone like this prove you don’t necessarily need to go to the top of the line to get a well-performing model? Well, that’s what we’ll hope to discover by the end of this.

If you’re not already too familiar with Xiaomi, you’d be forgiven. It’s not that well-known in many markets, especially behind huge behemoth brands like Samsung or Apple, but across the globe it’s actually the third-biggest smartphone manufacturer. That said, Xiaomi doesn’t sell its wares in the US, so if you’re American, you might find it a struggle to get hold of one of these impressive devices.

At a starting price of £899, the Xiaomi 15 is a significant cost-saving when compared to its stablemate, which starts at £1299. But let’s see how much you compromise…

Xiaomi 15: At A Glance

• 50MP f/1.63 23mm equivalent camera with 1/1.3” Light Fusion 900 sensor
• 50MP f/2.2 14mm equivalent ultrawide camera
• 50MP f/2.0 60mm equivalent 2.6x floating telephoto camera
• 32MP f/2.0 selfie camera, 21mm equivalent
• 8K video at up to 30fps
• 4K video at up to 60fps
• 6.36-inch, 2670x1200pixel, 3200 nits peak brightness, 120Hz AMOLED screen
• 5240mAh battery with fast and wireless charging
• Xiaomi Hyper OS 2 operating system, based on Android 15
• Snapdragon 8 Elite processor

How we test camera phones

We review smartphones from the perspective of choosing one for its photography and camera performance. We look at what the Xiaomi offers, and the features included for photography and video, paying particularly attention to the cameras on the phone, photo editing capabilities, as well as the output from each different lens. We consider other aspects too, such as the screen quality and battery life.

Xiaomi 15: Features

One of the biggest differences between the Xiaomi 15 and its flagship bigger sibling is the main sensor.

While both offer a 23mm equivalent f/1.6 lens, the Xiaomi 15 uses a more conventionally smartphone sized 1/1.31” sensor, while the Xiaomi 15 Ultra houses a much bigger one-inch type sensor. That’s not to say it won’t still perform well – we’ll find out more on that later – but it’s not the best of the best, and that’s reflected in the price.

There’s also only three lenses found on the Xiaomi 15, compared with four for the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. Bearing in mind that a lot of top-end flagships from other brands also “only” feature three lenses, this isn’t exactly a huge criticism. You get a 14mm f/2.2 ultrawide and a “telephoto” – albeit a fairly limited 2.6x zoom (60mm f/2.0 equivalent). The 15 Ultra offers a 3x (70mm) *and* a 200MP 4.3x (100mm) zoom lens, so you can see where the cost savings are being made. That said though, that’s still three very high-resolution sensors, so you’re still getting a very good setup for your cash. The main and ultrawide cameras/lenses appear to be the same as the Xiaomi 14, but the telephoto is now slightly shorter, but, promises to deliver better results.

Video users benefit from up to 8K video recording – something that is still relatively rare across smartphones, but especially in the mid-range part of the market. For most people, 4K will be more than enough, with up to 60fps available as well as a host of other options including Dolby Vision and Log recording.

Elsewhere, other specs to take note of include an impressively sized 5240mAh battery which offers both wireless fast charging, plus the latest and best Snapdragon 8 Elite processor – combine those two features together and you should get a pretty long-lasting device for most users.

In terms of differences between the Xiaomi 15 and its predecessor, the Xiaomi 14, well, there’s not a huge amount going on here. As well as the differences to the camera already noted, the battery is bigger, the processor is better, and the screen/design have been improved.

On the whole, this seems to be more of a “refresh” of the Xiaomi 14, rather than a complete overhaul – but considering the phone was starting from a good place, that’s not too much of a surprise.

Xiaomi 15: Handling and Design

I’m someone who much prefers a smaller smartphone. They’re more pocket-friendly, and they’re easier to use as well, a phone. For that reason, I think it’s great that some flagships on the market give you a choice of sizes (iPhone 16 Pro/Max and Google Pixel 9 Pro/XL) without forcing you to compromise on specs (albeit with a cost saving.)

It’s therefore a little on the disappointing side that the only way to get a smaller Xiaomi is to go for the Xiaomi 15, and miss out on the exciting photography specs of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. It’s the same approach that Samsung has for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which is a shame.

But, leaving that gripe aside, I find the Xiaomi 15 to be a very likeable size, weight and design. It’s fairly straightforward in appearance, but it’s nicely done, with curved corners and a sleek appearance available in some reasonably appealing colours and not just black or white – I’ve been using the green option. The screen itself is 6.3-inches, and boasts a maximum brightness of 3200 nits, which for the price point is nicely bright – it certainly displays pictures and videos well.

The Xiaomi 15 uses a high-strength aluminium frame, has Xiaomi Shield Glass on the front and includes IP68 water and dust resistance. This may be a mid-range phone, but it’s good to see it still include all the tough credentials of those that sit much higher in company line-ups. Admittedly, I haven’t bashed it about too much, but it’s happily survived being chucked in a bag a number of times.

Xiaomi 15: Native Camera App

There’s plenty to get to grips with when using the Xiaomi 15’s native camera app, with lots of different shooting modes depending on what you want to do.

The default, which will cover a variety of situations, is Photo, which launches when opening the app. Here you’ll be able to access the three different lenses, as well as digital zoom or cropping options. A nice touch here for example is the ability to move between 23mm (native) and 28mm and 35mm options with the 1x lens simply by tapping on the 1x icon. It gives the feel of a ”proper” camera, without the need for slightly awkward pinching on the screen too.

You can of course pinch to zoom if you want to as well, with a maximum digital zoom option of 60x available, but with a quick jump to 5x and 10x displayed on  screen.

In this standard mode, you can add digital filters, choose between “Leica Authentic” and “Leica Vibrant” colours, change the aspect ratio, add flash and so on. If you shoot in low light, the Night mode will be automatically activated, but you can also manually switch it on via the “More” tab if you need to.

If you want to shoot close-up images, choose “Super macro” from the drop-down menu. Unlike many other smartphones, simply bringing your phone closer to a subject won’t activate macro shooting. This means that you can’t use the ultrawide lens for macro shooting, but, as the telephoto option generally produces better results anyway, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

For those that would like to take greater control, there’s a Pro mode with options such as shutter speed, white balance, ISO and so on. Here’s where you’ll also be able to shoot in raw format too if you wish, too. A mode called “Fastshot” recreates using a rangefinder camera and is quite fun to experiment with – it can also be useful for street photography situations, as it’s designed to be super-speedy to use.

Elsewhere, other shooting modes include options such as Panorama, Supermoon, Time-lapse and so on.

For people-shots, the Portrait mode can be used. Here, you’ll find a range of different focal length recreations, such as 23mm, 35mm, 60mm and 75mm, plus the option to choose different bokeh options such as “swirly” and “soft focus”.

The video mode is fairly easy to figure out. The standard mode gives you access to different resolutions and frame rates, as well as the option to switch on things like “ShootSteady” for image stabilisation – note you’ll be reduced to shooting at Full HD if you enable this option.

Xiaomi 15: Image Quality and Performance

We’ve been seeing great things from Xiaomi of late, and the Xiaomi 15 is no different. Despite it not having the same high-end credentials as the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, it still puts in an excellent performance – especially at the price point and place in the market in which it sits.

On the whole, images are well-detailed, vibrant, display a good dynamic range and you get some good results across a variety of different shooting situations. Colours between the different lenses seem to be reasonably well matched too, which is always a bonus.

As we’d expect, we see the best results from the 1x lens, but the ultrawide also puts in a great performance too. The 2.6x zoom lens does well, although there is a notable drop in quality if you zoom in and look closely at images – how often you’re likely to do that is questionable though, and they all look great on a smartphone screen. I’d be very happy to use the 5x digital crop in good light, but by 10x, there’s a much more obvious drop in quality so I’d probably only use that if really desperate. Beyond that, the digital zoom really is just a bit of a gimmick – the 60x option for example is practically unusable.

You can get some lovely results from the portrait mode. The outlines look pretty natural, even around fairly fussy hair, with some excellent detail around the eyes and so on. Backgrounds are nicely blurred, and being able to experiment with different bokeh options is always fun.

The selfie camera doesn’t have AF – not much of a surprise at this price point – but it still produces good results. The default “Beauty” mode is best avoided, unless you like plastic-looking results, however.

Macro images produced by the telephoto macro option are great – particularly in good light. It’s perhaps a bit of a shame not to have this automatically activated, but for considered close-ups it’s a great performer. It’s also notably better than many other mid-range smartphone options, which tend to use the ultrawide lens and crop in.

In low light, the results are very good, with lots of detail and good colours shown by the main sensor. There’s an obvious drop in quality when using the ultrawide lens in very low light, but that’s not wholly unexpected at this price point. The telephoto lens does an OK job, but I’d probably reserve this for record shots only if light is very low – if you shoot with the 2x option (rather than 2.6x), the phone will use the 1x lens and crop in – and you get slightly better results this way.

Xiaomi 15: Value for Money

At £899 for the 256GB option, or £999 for the 512GB option, the Xiaomi 15 sits squarely in competition with other mid-range, small flagships – most notably perhaps the Samsung S25 and the iPhone 16.

It’s slightly more expensive than the 256GB Samsung S25, but is the same price as the 256GB iPhone 16.

However, you could easily argue that the Xiaomi 15 represents better value for money, particularly against the iPhone 16 which only has two lenses. The Samsung S25 has three, but only of the lenses has a high-resolution sensor behind it.

On the other hand, there are other factors to consider here. Perhaps most strikingly is how well – or not – a Xiaomi is likely to hold its value in the resale market. You’ll likely have absolutely no trouble offloading an equivalent iPhone or Samsung in a couple of years time, you might not be so lucky with a Xiaomi – so consider that too.

There’s also the fact that the Xiaomi 15 isn’t too much of an upgrade compared to its predecessor – so if you’ve already got a Xiaomi 14, I’d probably hold on to my cash for a bit longer and see what next year’s upgrade cycle brings.

Xiaomi 15: Verdict

There’s a lot of great options available in the “mid-range” sector of the smartphone market, proving you don’t necessarily need to fork out huge sums of cash to get hold of devices which can take great pictures.

The Xiaomi 15 here is a great case in point. Yes, it’s not on a par with the much more expensive Xiaomi 15 Ultra, but for most people, it’s likely to be more than good enough, producing excellent results across a range of situations.

Personally, I also like the fact that it fits more neatly in my hand and my pocket – so if I had to choose between the two models, all things considered, I might in the end plump for this one and save the cash for something else.

At its price point, it competes well with the likes of the Samsungs and iPhones of this world, offering generally better shooting specifications at a similar price. Bear in mind however, it probably won’t hold its value quite so well as those other brands.

Further bad news comes from the fact that this is a device which you won’t be able to buy in every market. US readers, I’m sorry. But, if you can get hold of it – it’s a great option.

It’s also true to say that the Xiaomi 15 isn’t a huge refresh compared to its predecessor. You get some good upgrades, but if you’ve got a 14, I’d recommend holding onto it for a bit longer.

Overall, the Xiaomi 15 is an impressive little smartphone, capable of some great things – I’d almost certainly buy it over a Samsung or an iPhone, especially if I was mostly concerned with the camera capability.

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