Xiaomi continues to push the envelope of a smartphone camera with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. Launched on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 in Barcelona, it has a quad-camera setup powered by Leica. While that’s just another casual day at the office, this time, it incorporates a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto camera for that extra finesse. With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite at its heart and close tie-ups with Google for its AI trickery, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra aims to sit tall among the ‘Ultras’. While there’s still time for the Indian pricing and my full review to be out, here are my first impressions of Xiaomi’s flagship for the year.
Cameras
It’s only ideal to dive straight into the cameras. With the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the focal lengths differ slightly from last year. You get 14mm (0.6x), 23mm (1x), 73mm (3x), and 100mm (4.3x). While it still retains the 1-inch sensor for the primary camera, Xiaomi has opted for a fixed f/1.6 aperture instead of a variable one from the Xiaomi 14 Ultra (Review). The Leica-powered quad-camera setup can still be found here, but this time, it also introduces a new periscope telephoto camera. It’s a 200-megapixel shooter that uses the same Samsung HP9 sensor also found on the Vivo X200 Pro.
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra clicks excellent photos with intricate details. It’s a quick snapper, so you won’t really miss out on fast-moving subjects. The post-processing keeps the colour accurate and manages the dynamic range well. Just like last year, you get to play around with the Leica presets to give the image an extra oomph. The same goes for Portrait Mode, wherein you also get to choose between Leica Portrait and Master Portrait.
Speaking of which, I absolutely love the portraits clicked with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. In the brief time that I’ve had it, I’ve managed to click Drew Barrymore up-close and under the spotlight, Lionel Messi’s 2015 Ballon D’Or, and also his classic 2008/09 Home jersey, safely kept behind a glass box at the Spotify Camp Nou. It perfectly replicates human skin tones and hair strands with picture-perfect edge detection. That said, it’s not without its flaws. The auto-focus sometimes has a mind of its own, almost neglecting my command and blurring the subject. Thankfully, it’s not a consistent problem, so make sure you check the capture before moving on.
On the video side of things, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra can now shoot 10-bit LOG and Dolby Vision videos at 4K 60fps from all its lenses. Moreover, you get 4K 120fps video recording support. What’s more impressive is that you can switch to the 100mm (4.3x) lens when shooting at this setting.
I’ll spend a few more days with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra to provide a more concrete assessment of the cameras, so make sure you visit back for the full review.
Design and Display
At first glance, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra seems to be pretty much like the outgoing model. But, upon closer inspection, the form factor is slightly wider. Having said that, the rounded edges and the quad-curved display still aid sane ergonomics. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra gets a new dual-tone finish with a quarter of the back panel painted in a silver trim, while the remaining portion retains the leather finish.
Both materials help elevate the phone’s premiumness, and the latter also helps with grip. To top it off, you also get an ‘Ultra’ branding on the top left near the camera module. With 229 grams on the scale, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra does not come light, but it’s not unwieldy to hold even when scrolling through Instagram reels for hours.
Speaking of which, the huge camera module just got bigger—well, slightly, but yes. This time around, the new periscope telephoto lens takes a separate column, shoving the rest of the cameras to the bottom side. The power button gets a textured finish, which also doubles up as a great fidget.
The quad-curved AMOLED display is pretty much the same, with a higher peak brightness of 3200 nits. It retains the same size and the fast refresh rate of 120Hz, so scrolling is buttery smooth. It also gets a layer of Xiaomi Shield Glass 2.0 for protection against accidental drops and scratches.
Hardware and Software
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite sits at the heart of the Xiaomi 15 series, so it’s well-suited to close competition. We’ll be putting it through the paces soon, so make sure you stay tuned for the review. It comes with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.1 storage. The battery gets an upgrade from last year, with a 5,410mAh silicon-carbon battery and 90W fast charging.
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra comes with Xiaomi HyperOS 2 based on Android 15 out of the box. It comes filled to the brim with AI features like AI Writing, AI Interpreter, AI Subtitles, and more. This also includes AI-generated lock screens and Xiaomi HyperCore which helps with dynamic depth effects and gradient blur effects.
Initial Thoughts
Xiaomi created a winning formula with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and with the 15 Ultra, it’s just bragging. The new 200-megapixel periscope telephoto lens will be the phone’s differentiating factor, along with a few other aspects. The camera battle between the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the Vivo X200 Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will be quite exciting.
The new and bigger battery inside the Xiaomi 15 Ultra should help run the phone for longer. It’ll be interesting to see how the Snapdragon 8 Elite performs on this. I’ll share more insights in my complete review, so stay tuned to MySmartPrice.
