Excellent camera performance
Powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite
Excellent nostalgic design
Long battery life
Gorgeous display
Not available in U.S. Theres very little that this phone actually does badly.
On paper, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra offers a lot of great specs.
As youll read in my full Xiaomi 15 Ultra review below, this is a fantastic phone to have.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
That said the phone will be coming to Europe, and presumably the U.K. as well.
All to make the phone seem more robust, without being too heavy.
It feels pretty hefty in my hands, but not obnoxiously so.
It almost looks like an old-school Leica camera, complete with the faux leather coating.
I could do without the curved screen, though.
Just slightly thicker than the already-chunky bezels on myPixel 9 Pro especially around the corners.
The screen does look very nice during use, and that is immediately apparent.
Even if youre just scrolling through apps and Google Play, the on-screen experience is surprisingly enjoyable.
Naturally watching movies on Disney Plus is an experience I have no complaints about.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
The picture and colors are great, though the usual pitfall of excessive black space does irritate me.
Sadly thats just the downside of watching movies on your phone.
You do have to ensure you have the right viewing angle, though.
Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Future)
Looking at the screen more or less head-on is usually OK though.
Take the cameras indoors and the opposite is true.
Sadly Google cant say the same.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
The quality is also nowhere near as good as the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, though that isnt saying much.
Up the magnification to 2x and things havent really changed.
The Xiaomis photo remains quite dark, and lacks a lot of details that Id have liked to see.
Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Future)
Boosting the magnification to 5x and the overall quality photo looks significantly better on both devices.
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is still quite dark, but not as much as it was at lower magnifications.
As for quality, its much harder to say.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
It even captured my pasty complexion in a more true-to-life way.
In terms of Portrait mode, both phones came out more or less equal.
That said the image itself is still plenty bright, and the automatic nighttime mode kicked in wonderfully.
Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Future)
Especially considering it’s running on a 200MP sensor.
But, overall, I wouldnt be disappointed to have the Xiaomi 15 Ultra as my main camera phone.
So how will things play out on Xiaomi 15 Ultra?
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
Its also quite a bit lower than the 3,386 score recorded by the iPhone 16 Pro Maxs A18 Pro.
Once again the iPhone 16 Pro Maxs 8,306 multi-core score falls significantly behind all three models.
The video transcoding test did work out fairly well in Xiaomis favor comparatively speaking.
Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Future)
The 15 Ultra was able to convert a 4K video into 1080p in 48 seconds.
Gameplay was seamless and smooth, without any major choppiness from the player character and their surroundings.
I also didnt notice any residual heat as I played.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
Clearly the big battery and the more power-efficient Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset are working together quite nicely.
That figure jumped up to 81% after half an hour.
According to my USB-C multimeter the charging speed topped out at around 61.9W.
Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Future)
But for the majority of testing those speeds fluctuated between 25W and 40W.
Which is impressive, considering how speedy the 67W brick is.
Sadly the charging brick was not included in the box, so youll have to source one by yourself.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
The OS is very reminiscent of Apples iOS.
Down to the split pull-down menus for notifications of Xiaomis Control Center clone.
But its definitely very different from the likes of Googles own Pixel Launcher or Samsung’s One UI.
Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Future)
More familiar Google AI features are also on offer, including the Gemini AI assistant and Circle to Search.
Xiaomi is also offering a 3-month free trial for Gemini Advanced with every 15 Ultra.
Like AI subtitles, for instance, which was an optional extra for the Control Center menu.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
AI Subtitles were somewhat inconsistent in my experience.
Sometimes the subtitling would work really well, like translating French to English.
While this could prove particularly useful, temper your expectations a little bit.
Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Future)
And be prepared to read fast, because the window isnt very big.
Generally, these features are quite good.
Image expansion isnt perfect, but it created a pretty strong recreation of my current desk setup.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
Which is far from ideal.
When youre offering an object erasure feature, the least it can do is actually erase the objects.
The AI Writing tools function more or less the way youd expect.
Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Future)
So if you plan on using AI on a Xiaomi 15 Ultra, be sure to temper your expectations.
But if all else fails at least you have Gemini and Circle to Search to fall back on.
The thing I like the most about the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is the design of the SIlver Chrome edition.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra(Image credit: Future)
I hope thats a trend that continues, especially if Xiaomi continues its partnership with Leica in the future.
There are some issues I have with the 15 Ultra, though.
AI features are, at best, basic without any real unique selling points.
Google Pixel 9 Pro(Image credit: Future)
Assuming youre able to buy one, that is.
AI edited and expanded(Image credit: Future)
Original(Image credit: Future)
