Today is the day for Xiaomi to unveil its new flagships – and to our surprise, it unveiled three new models. It turned out that the third module is a special edition of the smaller Xiaomi 15, which brings no less than 20 color options to choose from. The regular 15 is also available in a good number of colors, but that’s not what you’re interested in, right?
Xiaomi 15
You might 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 8GB of RAM.
Snapdragon 8 Elite with larger vapor chamber for cooling
Xiaomi managed to fit a massive 5,400mAh battery with the silicon-carbon technology that has been gaining popularity recently. For reference, the Xiaomi 14 had a 4,610mAh battery.
Does this mean that the Xiaomi 15 is bigger? No, actually it’s a fraction of a millimeter smaller. It measures 152.3 x 71.2 x 8.08 mm (this is for the model with a glass back), while the size of the previous model was 152.8 x 71.5 x 8.2 mm. It’s a few grams heavier at 191 grams (vs. 188 grams), but you’re unlikely to notice.
The display remains at 6.36″. It’s not tiny, but 15 is smaller than most Androids. It is a flat OLED panel with a 1,200 x 2,670px resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. To mitigate this, peak brightness has been increased slightly to 3,200 nits (up from 3,000 nits) with DC dimming. And we know some of you have been waiting for it – the new model uses an ultrasonic fingerprint reader.
The display is protected for the first time by Xiaomi Dragon Crystal Glass, which is 10 times stronger than the Gorilla Glass Victus used by the Xiaomi 14 (says Xiaomi’s internal lab). The frame of the phone is made of high-strength aluminum alloy with 33% greater bending resistance. Naturally, the phone is rated IP68 for dust and water resistance.
There are few changes to the camera system, but few real upgrades. This is once again a triple 50MP setup. The main camera uses OmniVision’s Light Fusion 900 sensor (sometimes mistranslated as Light Hunter), a 1/1.31” sensor with 1.2μm pixels. The 23mm lens has a bright f/1.62 aperture and OIS. Xiaomi promises that 5x lossless zoom (120mm) is possible with this camera.
The focal length of the telephoto lens is now 60 mm (down from 75 mm), but its ability to take macro shots remains at only 10 cm (4 inches). The ultra-wide camera has a 115° (14mm) f/2.2 lens. There is one upgrade – the Xiaomi 15 can now record 8K video at 30fps, not just 24fps. Still, you might get more use out of the 4K 30/60fps mode. All cameras are capable of capturing Dolby Vision HDR footage.
Connectivity remains the same as before – a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) port that also supports 90W fast charging. It also has 50W fast wireless charging. With the Xiaomi G1 battery management chip, the battery is rated to retain at least 80% of its capacity after 1,600 cycles. On the wireless side, there is 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and NFC. There’s no headphone jack, but there are stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification.
The phone is running HyperOS 2.0 out of the box, more details on this in a separate article.
The Xiaomi 15 is now available for pre-order in China via the company’s online store, with sales proper starting on October 31. The base 12/256GB model is priced at CNY 4,500 (which converts to $630/€585/₹53,000). There are some more versions up to 16GB/1TB, see 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 version | CNY 6,000 |
| Custom Edition (16GB/512GB) | CNY 5,000 |
Wait, Diamond Edition? And this isn’t even the special edition we mentioned at the beginning. The vanilla Xiaomi 15 has a glass back and comes in Lilac, Green, Black and White editions. There is also a silver edition.
Xiaomi 15 in lilac, green, black, white and shiny silver editions
The Diamond Edition uses crocodile-grain leather on the back and a genuine 57-facet diamond set on the side. The camera island has also been given a glossy texture. This variant is available in Elephant Grey, Orange and Glacier White. This is a limited edition, so it won’t be available forever and we don’t know if it will be available outside 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 paired with two paint jobs for the aluminum frame (high gloss PVD). The Custom Edition is only available in 16/512GB configuration.
Xiaomi 15 Custom Edition
