Hands-on: Xiaomi 15 Ultra uplifts its Leica-powered photography

Note: This feature was first published on 2 March 2025.

At MWC 2025, Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi 15 series, which includes the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra, for the international market. 

Xiaomi's new flagship phones combine its Leica imaging hardware and software, while offering best-in-class specs and components to satisfy its premium-loving crowd. The Xiaomi 15 (12GB RAM) is priced from S$1,099, while its big brother Xiaomi 15 Ultra (16GB RAM) is available from S$1,699. You can get the full rundown of offers from our pricing and availability story, but first, check out our first impressions below.

Xiaomi 15

The Xiaomi 15 is the brand’s all-around compact flagship handset, combining portability with powerful, top-end components and features.

Its 6.36-inch CrystalRes display achieves a 94% screen-to-body ratio, and Xiaomi credits it to the 1.38mm bezels (the brand said this is also the first time where all four sides of bezels are equally thin).

Despite its size, the AMOLED display still has a resolution of 2,670 x 1,200 pixels, a refresh rate of 1 to 120Hz, and support for HDR profiles like Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HDR10. The panel is also TÜV Rheinland-certified for Low Blue Light (hardware solution), Flicker-Free, and Circadian-Friendly. 

Staying true to its compactness, the phone weighs a mere 191g. It doesn’t cut many corners despite its tiny profile. Xiaomi 15 still has a full 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and offers UFS 4.0 storage.

This is in addition to its Leica-tuned cameras—the three shooters on its back all use Leica Vario-Summilux 1:1.62-2.2/14-60 Aspherical lenses.

The 50MP main (Light Fusion 900 sensor, f/1.62 aperture, OIS) is accompanied by a 50MP telephoto (Samsung ISOCELL JN5 sensor, f/2.0, OIS) and a 50MP ultrawide (Samsung ISOCELL JN1 sensor, //f2.2).

Together, these cameras cover a broad gamut of popular focal lengths: 14mm (ultrawide), 23mm, 28mm, 35mm (these are on the main camera), and 60mm (telephoto, about 3x optical zoom).

A new shooting feature is Fastshot mode, which is designed to snap a shot in just 0.6 seconds across all focal lengths. The main camera can record 8K30FPS video, while the other focal lengths are capped at Dolby Vision-capable 4K60FPS.

Another crucial addition to the Xiaomi 15 series is HyperOS 2’s upgraded suite of AI features called Xiaomi HyperAI. Besides tools like AI Writing, AI Speech Recognition, AI Subtitles, and many AI-powered photo editing perks, Google’s Gemini has also been built into its power button (press and hold to summon).

Like most modern Chinese Android handsets, it uses a silicon carbide battery (with 10% silicon content), packing 5,240mAh inside such a small frame. The battery also supports 90W wired HyperCharge and 50W wireless charging.

Other notable perks are its dual-SIM acceptance (nano/eSIM + nano/eSIM), IP68 water-and-dust resistance rating, and quad-microphone array.

There are four colourways: Black, White, and Green, alongside a limited-in-stock Liquid Silver variant that’s both unique and an absolute fingerprint magnet.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra

Naturally, the Ultra variant would carry everything seen on the regular Xiaomi 15, but with a few tweaks to eke out even more features. 

It uses a bigger 6.73-inch display (3,200 x 1,440 pixels resolution)  that goes up to 3,200 nits brightness (peak). It uses Xiaomi Shield Glass 2.0 for added protection against drops and scratches.

It also uses a newer UFS 4.1 storage, while its RAM starts at a higher 16GB. The battery technology is still the same, but it packs more juice at 5,410mAh and supports the same wired charging speeds. Ultra's wireless charging speed is much higher, at 80W.

The biggest differences are in their cameras. Xiaomi 15 Ultra is the model with 10-bit Log video recording at 4K60FPS across all focal lengths, and it’s partnered with the open-source ACES for colour encoding.

Also, while the Xiaomi 15 Ultra also uses Leica lenses, its version covers a greater 14-100mm range for its aspherical properties. You will see why below.

The quad rear camera housing contains a 50MP main (Sony LYT-900 sensor, f/1.63, OIS, 23mm), a 50MP floating telephoto (Sony IMX858 sensor, f/1.8, OIS, 70mm, telemacro), a 200MP periscope telephoto (ISOCELL HP9 sensor, f/2.6, OIS, 100mm), and a 50MP ultrawide (JN5 sensor, f/2.2, 14mm).

Crucially, the 200MP telephoto received the most upgrades, with 136% better light intake than its predecessor. Also, this same shooter has in-sensor zoom, which means its 100mm focal length can be extended to 200mm by cropping to the centre portion of its sensor.

(For reference, 100mm is denoted as 4.3x optical zoom in the Camera app, while its 200mm focal length is 8.6x zoom).

Like the previous Ultra models, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra Photography Kit Legend Edition is optional and includes accessories for greater shooting comfort. It contains tools like detachable thumb support, shutter buttons, a 67mm filter adapter ring, and a 2,000mAh battery.

Like Xiaomi 15, the Ultra also offers Bluetooth 6.0 and Wi-Fi 7 compatibility. 

Three colourways are available: the Leica-like Silver Chrome, Black, and White.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra camera samples

Would it be a Xiaomi phone launch if you don’t get to push its Leica cameras to their limits? Below are some sample shots taken with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra prior to MWC 2025 in Barcelona, Spain.

Note: we mostly shot in Leica Authentic.

The main camera of Xiaomi 15 Ultra is delightful, with excellent control over colour, details, and sharpness, despite having non-optional Leica colour science.

Similarly, photos taken at the camera's recommended focal lengths still turn out sharp and crisp. The ultrawide is also not worse than other cameras, which is nice considering ultrawide cameras are usually the weakest shooters in modern high-end phones.

Note that the 2x zoom recommendation is really just an in-sensor crop of its main camera, at 46mm equivalent focal length.

In low-light shooting conditions, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra would ask the user to hold their framing for a while. As seen here, the elements out in the wild may not necessarily cooperate while Xiaomi 15 Ultra takes its shot, so this is something you need to pay attention to while doing low-light captures in higher zoom ranges.

That said, the main camera's low-light captures are still quite stunning. Another note is that Leica Authentic comes with stronger contrast handling, so you might want to consider Leica Vibrant for scenes with hugely contrasting highlights and shadows like the ones shown above.

Pricing and availability

Between 3 and 23 March 2025, customers who buy Xiaomi 15 series phones can receive perks worth up to S$1,149. For the full rundown of perks, launch offers, models, and platforms from which you can buy the new phones, check out our pricing and availability story.

The Xiaomi 15 (12GB RAM) is priced from S$1,099, while its big brother Xiaomi 15 Ultra (16GB RAM) is available from S$1,699 on Xiaomi Store SG, Shopee and Lazada.