Today is the day Xiaomi unveils its new flagships – and to our surprise, it unveiled three new models. It turned out that the third module is just a special edition of the small one Xiaomi-15allowing you to choose from no fewer than 20 color options. The regular 15 is also available in a wide range of colors, but you’re not interested in that, right?
Xiaomi-15
You probably want to hear how the Xiaomi 15 is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite and it is. The chipset is paired with 12GB or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of fast UFS 4.0 storage. Unlike its predecessor, there is no configuration with only 8 GB of RAM.
Snapdragon 8 Elite with a large vapor chamber for cooling
Xiaomi has managed to equip a huge 5,400 mAh battery with the Silicon-Carbon technology that has been gaining popularity lately. For reference, the Xiaomi 14 had a 4,610mAh battery.
Does this mean the Xiaomi 15 is bigger? No, it’s actually a fraction of a millimeter smaller. It measures 152.3 x 71.2 x 8.08mm (this is for the glass-backed model), compared to 152.8 x 71.5 x 8.2mm for the previous model. It’s a few grams heavier at 191 grams (vs. 188 grams), but you probably won’t notice that.
The display remains at 6.36 inches. It’s not small, but the 15 is smaller than most Androids. This is a flat OLED panel with a resolution of 1,200 x 2,670 px and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. Peak brightness has been increased slightly to 3,200 nits (from 3,000 nits) with DC dimming to turn it down. And we know some of you have been waiting for this – the new model uses an ultrasonic fingerprint reader.
The display is protected for the first time by Xiaomi Dragon Crystal glass, which is 10x stronger than the Gorilla Glass Victus used by the Xiaomi 14 (according to Xiaomi’s internal laboratory). The phone’s frame is made of high-strength aluminum alloy with 33% higher bending resistance. Naturally, the phone has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
The camera system has a few changes, but few actual upgrades. It’s again a triple 50 MP setup. The main camera uses OmniVision’s Light Fusion 900 sensor (sometimes mistranslated as Light Hunter), a 1/1.31” sensor with 1.2 µm pixels. The 23mm lens has a bright f/1.62 aperture and OIS. Xiaomi promises that 5x lossless zoom (120 mm) is possible with this camera.
The telephoto lens now has a focal length of 60mm (up from 75mm), but can still shoot macro at just 10cm (4in). The ultra-wide-angle camera has a 115° (14 mm) f/2.2 lens. There is one upgrade: the Xiaomi 15 can now record 8K video at 30fps, not just 24fps. Still, you might find more use in the 4K 30/60fps mode. All cameras can capture Dolby Vision HDR images.
Connectivity is the same as before: a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) port that also supports 90W fast charging. There is also 50W fast wireless charging. The Xiaomi G1 battery management chip allows the battery to retain at least 80% of its capacity after 1,600 cycles. On the wireless side, there’s 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 and NFC. There’s no headphone jack, but there are stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos and both Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Audio Wireless certifications.
The phone runs HyperOS 2.0 as standard, more about that in a separate article.
The Xiaomi 15 is now available for pre-order in China through the company online storeThe real sale starts on October 31st. The base 12/256GB model costs CNY 4,500 (which works out to $630/€585/₹53,000). There are a few more versions up to 16 GB/1 TB, see the table below.
| Xiaomi-15 | |
|---|---|
| 12GB/256GB | CNY 4,500 |
| 12GB/512GB | CNY 4,800 |
| 16GB/512GB | CNY 5,000 |
| 16GB/1TB | CNY 5,500 |
| Diamond edition | CNY 6,000 |
| Custom Edition (16GB/512GB) | CNY 5,000 |
Wait, Diamond Edition? And that’s not even including the special edition we mentioned at the beginning. The vanilla Xiaomi 15 has a glass back and is available in Lilac, Green, Black and White versions. There is also the silver edition.
Xiaomi 15 in lilac, green, black, white and bright silver edition
The Diamond Edition switches to crocodile leather for the back and has a real diamond with 57 facets embedded on the side. The camera island also gets a sparkling texture. This edition is available in Elephant Grey, Orange and Glacier White. This is a limited edition so it won’t be around forever and we don’t know if it will be available outside of China.
Xiaomi 15 Diamond Edition
This brings us to the Xiaomi 15 Custom Edition. The back panel offers an impressive palette of 20 colors to choose from. They are combined with two paint jobs for the aluminum frame (high-gloss PVD). The Custom Edition is only available in a 16/512 GB configuration.
Xiaomi 15 Custom Edition