Black Friday deals spotlight: Xiaomi 15 Ultra is £140 cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Black Friday brings a flurry of discounts, which can make it difficult to make sense of all the offers. While our post from yesterday featured some of the best deals we found in the UK, here we just wanted to highlight a few flagship phones.

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is one of the best 2025 camera flagships we’ve tested. And while the next generation of phones is already hitting the market, it’s priced at a premium this time around – well below its £1,300 MSRP.

We have to compare it with Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Both phones have 1440p+ OLED displays (6.73″ on Xiaomi and 6.9″ on Samsung), both run on Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. The S25 Ultra has better productivity features (especially DeX) and AI features. It will get longer support with 7 OS updates compared to only 4 updates for Xiaomi.

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra mainly has a huge 1”-type 50MP sensor, while the Galaxy S25 Ultra bets on resolution with a 200MP sensor (which is not small at 1/1.3”). Both phones have 50MP ultra-wide modules and both have two telephoto lenses – a 50MP 3x/70mm plus 200MP 4.3x/100mm for the Xiaomi and a 10MP 3x/67mm plus 50MP 5x/111mm for the Samsung. And as you’ll read in our head-to-head article, Xiaomi produces better photos.

The phone’s battery life is also good, with a 16:13h active usage score from its 5,410mAh battery. Samsung managed 14:49 hours of battery backup from the small 5,000mAh battery. Xiaomi’s 90W charging system isn’t twice as fast as Samsung’s 45W system – in fact the two are surprisingly close. In our tests, the phones were at 42% and 41% at the 15-minute mark and as high as 72% at the 30-minute mark. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra managed to reach 100% slightly faster (51 minutes) than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (59 minutes), but overall the difference is negligible.

Let’s throw another Ultra into the mix – it’s not as capable as the other two, but at half the price (or even less), it’s great value for money. We are talking about Poco F7 Ultra.

This phone has the same Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset as the other two – and it also has a higher quality 1440p+ OLED display, although it’s a little smaller at 6.67″. The 5,300mAh battery isn’t small, but the low efficiency results in only a 13:32h active usage score. The 120W charger is top notch, though, reaching 60% in just 15 minutes. 100% in just 30 minutes Remember, the two more expensive phones were only at 72% at this time.

Okay, the camera isn’t that good – but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad camera. It’s got a 50MP 1/1.55″ main, a 50MP 2.5x/60mm tele and a 32MP ultra-wide that deliver solid results. Then again, we’re considering it’s less than half the price of the other two Ultras.