Xiaomi Mi 15 first review: It completely crushes the iPhone, is it the dream phone for Mi fans?

There are quite a few mobile phones that impressed me throughout 2024. Some are famous for their imaging, some have conquered me with their terrifying battery life, and of course there are also a few products with novel shapes that aroused my curiosity, but if you add a small-screen prefix, then the answer is quite clear: Xiaomi 14.

As one of the domestic flagship phones with both good sales and good reputation in 2024, Xiaomi Mi 14 meets the needs of most small-screen enthusiasts, so much so that when people mention small-screen flagships, they will think of Xiaomi first. But no matter what, Xiaomi Mi 14 is a product from a year ago, and now the brand new Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition has come to us, and it’s time for Xiaomi Mi 15 to come.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

The newly upgraded Xiaomi Mi 15 seems to tell us that small-screen flagships can actually always improve the upper limit of experience. Now let’s share the experience of this iPhone 15 in our hands with Lei Technology.

Small screen flagship, online design

The first point worth mentioning about Xiaomi 15 is its feel. When I first picked it up, I couldn't help but sigh that Xiaomi is increasingly understanding the needs of small-screen enthusiasts. Since Xiaomi 15 has improved the right-angle frame, the transition between the middle frame and the screen and the back panel is no longer so "straight", and there is no longer that kind of alternative feel. It feels "smooth" to the touch.

The front appearance of Xiaomi 15 may be the best mobile phone I have seen in the past one or two years. The ultra-narrow frame and the narrow design on all four sides make it hard to believe that this is a mobile phone priced in the four thousand yuan price range.

But when it comes to narrow bezels on all four sides, the iPhone will always be the object of study for Android. Although some manufacturers have stated that their bezels are narrower than the iPhone a long time ago, the different narrow panels still make its visual effect not as good as that of the iPhone.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

The appearance of Xiaomi Mi 15 has completely broken this traditional impression. It not only has a truly narrow design on all four sides, but also further reduces the narrowness of the frame to 1.38mm, which is a little smaller than the 1.41mm of iPhone 16 Pro. Because of this, Xiaomi Mi 15 can be said to be one of the mobile phones with the best front screen on the market, even compared with Samsung Galaxy S24 and iPhone 16 Pro at the same time.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

By the way, let me talk about the screen parameters of Xiaomi 15: 6.36 inches, 1.5K resolution, 1-120Hz LTPO variable refresh rate, support for professional primary colors, P3 color gamut and fully automatic color management, and 3200nit peak brightness.

There is one detail I must mention. In this era of per capita configuration reduction and price increase, Xiaomi 15 actually uses a single-point ultrasonic fingerprint. Although the single-point ultrasonic fingerprint module is not a new technology, this wave of increase instead of decrease has brought me great favor.

New Snapdragon, more powerful performance

As the world's first mobile phone equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, the performance and power consumption of Xiaomi 15 must be what readers are most interested in. Some readers may argue that the performance of the previous Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen3 is already sufficient, so why pursue a higher-performance processor? Isn't this a waste?

But objectively speaking, performance will never be excessive. When performance is improved, the phone will be more capable, the software experience will be better, and the game quality will be higher. It's just that everyone's needs are different. Friends who usually use their phones to make calls and surf the Internet naturally don't have much perception of performance, but friends who like to play games may never be satisfied with performance.

Take the most familiar "Genshin Impact" as an example. Even if you adjust the picture quality resolution in the game to the highest, the rendering resolution of different mobile phones is different. The resolution of most Android phones is only 640P, and a few can reach 864P. The Xiaomi 15 equipped with Snapdragon 8 Elite can increase the resolution to 1200P.

The rendering resolution is different from the "super-resolution" we usually know. It uses the original high-definition materials in the game decompression package. Naturally, there will be no over-sharpening phenomenon, and it will not cause any impact on the eyes even if you play for a long time.

In the theoretical performance test, the Xiaomi 15 actually scored 3011 points in single-core and 9262 points in multi-core in GeekBench 6. The average frame rate in GFXBench 1080P Aztec Ruins Vulkan also reached 288Fps. It seems that the Xiaomi 15 equipped with Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition has crushed the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 and Apple A18 processors in terms of CPU and GPU.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

When the frame rate boost was turned on in Genshin Impact 720P, the game was almost in full frame state throughout the whole process. There was no lag during the game, and there was no need for the intervention of the heat dissipation back clip. While playing Zone Zero and Star Tracks, the Xiaomi Mi 15 also performed at the flagship level, with full frame throughout the whole process. More importantly, the maximum body temperature was only 42°C (room temperature 26°C), and the temperature was basically concentrated in the upper half, and there was almost no obvious heat in the lower half. With regard to this performance release and power consumption control, I believe no one will not be satisfied.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

In another mobile game that requires a lot of performance, Zone Zero, the Xiaomi Mi 15’s gaming performance still reached the flagship level, with the frame rate chart almost reaching a straight line. It can be said that in terms of performance, the Xiaomi Mi 15 will definitely not let you down.

(Image source: Lei Technology Map)

The ultra-low power consumption combined with the Xiaomi 15’s 5400mAh large battery also gives it a battery life performance that far exceeds expectations. When used as the main phone and under heavy usage, such as card insertion, 5G, WeChat and QQ remaining in the background, 120Hz refresh rate, performance mode, one-hour gaming, etc., the daily battery life is basically around 9 hours, which is enough to last a whole day.

The standard version also has Pro-level imaging

The imaging of Xiaomi 15 is the part I want to talk about the most. As an "Ultra" user who bought Xiaomi 10 Ultra, Xiaomi 11 Ultra, Xiaomi 12S Ultra, Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Xiaomi 14 Ultra, I have relatively high requirements for the imaging of mobile phones. Although I particularly like Xiaomi 14, I am not particularly satisfied with its imaging performance. In the end, I gave up such a small-screen flagship with top-notch feel.

As for the imaging performance of Xiaomi 15, after using it for a week, my evaluation is that among small-sized mobile phones of 6.36 inches, the imaging capabilities of Xiaomi 15 can be said to be the best of the same size. Not to mention the iPhone 16 Pro, I estimate that the Samsung S25 to be launched next year will find it difficult to compete with it.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

Regarding the camera specifications of Xiaomi 15, here is a brief list:

Main camera: OV50H, 23mm focal length, 50MP, f/1.6, OIS, ALD coating, 7P aspherical lens;

Ultra wide angle: Samsung JN1, 14mm focal length, 115° viewing angle, 50 million pixels, f/2.2;

Telephoto: Samsung JN5 60mm (native 2.6x, default 3.2x), 50MP, f/2.0, OIS, minimum focus 10cm.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

At first glance, the image configuration of Xiaomi 15 is basically the same as that of Xiaomi 14, but when taking pictures, the experience is completely different, which should be attributed to Xiaomi's more mature camera algorithm. For example, in cloudy scenes, the sky is not mindlessly saturated, and a balance is achieved between pleasing and real as much as possible.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

Even in a backlit environment, the main camera of Xiaomi 15 can accurately reflect the true color and shape of the photographed object without blindly suppressing highlights.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

By the way, Xiaomi 15 seems to have restrained its Leica style. In brighter or more vivid scenes, it pays more attention to the original true colors.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

Of course, if you want Xiaomi 15 to have a Leica flavor, I would recommend that you use street photography and professional modes, especially when facing high-contrast scenes, slightly reducing the exposure and brightness of the entire picture, coupled with Leica's classic color tone, which is very suitable for shooting some humanities subjects.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

In telephoto shots with complex lighting conditions, this main camera with a small bottom can also provide a good picture experience thanks to the new algorithm, with excellent detail restoration and picture purity.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

However, my favorite is the 60mm telephoto lens. This focal length can be used to take half-length portraits, and it can also provide a good sense of spatial compression when taking landscapes. It is very suitable for photography enthusiasts who like street photography. Compared with the 120mm telephoto lens on the iPhone 16 Pro, the telephoto of Xiaomi 15 is obviously more in line with daily usage habits, not to mention that the 5x telephoto performance of the iPhone 16 Pro can only be described as average.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

Xiaomi's telephoto macro camera has always been at the forefront of the industry, with a very high success rate, and is very suitable for shooting small objects with rich details.

(Photo credit: Lei Technology)

This may be a bit hurtful, but I personally think that the imaging performance of Xiaomi 15 is not inferior to Xiaomi 14 Pro. If you, like me, have "abandoned" Xiaomi 14 because of its imaging capabilities, then this time I hope you will not miss the Xiaomi 15 which has a significant upgrade in imaging.

Is it completely better than the iPhone?

Friends who are familiar with me know that I have always been using a combination of an iPhone and an Android phone since I started working. It’s not that I like using the iPhone so much, but the ecological products such as MacBook, iPad, and Apple Watch have tied me tightly to Apple.

I have also tried several times to replace my iPhone with other Android phones, but failed without exception. The reason is very simple. Whenever I want to transfer photos, videos, and files from my phone to my MacBook, I can basically only use the most primitive method of transferring via WeChat.

The Xiaomi 15 equipped with HyperOS2 finally solved my troubles.

Before officially starting, I need to download a software called Xiaomi Internet Service on the Mac. When I log in to my Xiaomi account on the software and put the two devices on the same WiFi, I can see the Xiaomi 15 in the software. This moment made me a little dazed. After all, seeing the screen of an Android phone on a MacBook really gives me the illusion of ecological integration.

As for the subsequent operations, they are very simple. We just need to drag and drop the pictures or files we want to send directly to the software interface. As for the detailed operations, I will show them in another experience article about HyperOS 2 later.

Of course, this is just a small feature of HyperOS2. HyperOS2 has many other small features that impressed me. You may as well look forward to it.

Conclusion: A small-screen flagship that completely outshines the iPhone

Finally, according to the usual practice, I will use Lei Technology's review template to make a simple summary of the advantages and disadvantages of Xiaomi 15:

advantage:

The feel is beyond words, very impressive;

Excellent performance release and reasonable temperature control;

The camera performance has been greatly improved, reaching the Pro level;

HyperOS2 is smooth and easy to use;

shortcoming:

The camera module is still a little large, and users with large hands may have their fingers easily hit by it.

Regarding the price of the Xiaomi Mi 15 series, here is some additional information:

Xiaomi Mi 15:

12+256G version: 4499 yuan

12+512G version: 4799 yuan

16+512G version: 4999 yuan

16+1T version: 5499 yuan

Xiaomi Mi 15 Pro:

12+256G version: 5299 yuan

16+512G version: 5799 yuan

16+1T version: 6499 yuan

Lei Technology believes that the answer given by Xiaomi 15 is satisfactory. While ensuring basic experiences such as stronger performance, lower power consumption, higher screen quality and faster charging speed, it also has a new understanding of the flagship experience: ultra-narrow bezels that take into account the feel and enhance the overall look of the machine, large-aperture Leica SUMMILUX lenses, and more practical and interesting HyperOS2. The addition of these innovative technologies is icing on the cake.

As Xiaomi's fifth-generation small-screen flagship, Xiaomi Mi 15 is a very mature product. After listening to the suggestions of consumers and learning from the advantages of the flagships of other companies, Xiaomi has brought us such a sincere product. In the past, my expectation for "Dream Phone" was "you can find almost all the configurations you want on it", and this time it can be perfectly applied to Xiaomi Mi 15. It is currently the best small-screen flagship phone.

It can be said that the Xiaomi Mi 15 series has set the tone for the battle for new flagship phones in 2025, and Xiaomi has always been a competent flagship goalkeeper.