Xiaomi 15 Extremely evaluation: Pictures king

Final yr’s Xiaomi 14 Extremely set a brand new normal for smartphone images, providing gorgeous picture high quality, an enormous vary of camera-based options, and extra. And, that was all whereas nonetheless delivering on the fundamentals of what you’d need from a high-end cellphone, like good efficiency and a shocking display. Powerful act to comply with up on, proper? The Xiaomi 15 Extremely makes an attempt to do exactly that, retaining the Leica digital camera tuning, however upgrading on issues like efficiency, show, and sure, digital camera.

The Xiaomi 15 Extremely, nevertheless, has an entire new technology of opponents to beat. The brand new Galaxy S25 Ultra gives an amazing digital camera expertise, and each the iPhone 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max boast top-tier cameras too. Can the Xiaomi 15 Extremely do sufficient to take over as arguably the very best smartphone digital camera on the market?

Xiaomi 15 Extremely specs

Xiaomi 15 Extremely evaluation: Design

The general design of the Xiaomi 15 Extremely is similar to the Xiaomi 14 Extremely from final yr, for higher or for worse. It has a usually premium construct high quality and feels good within the, however it additionally has a big digital camera module on the again that may make it really feel somewhat unbalanced and clearly appears somewhat unusual even in at the moment’s fashionable period of huge digital camera bumps. You’ll get used to the appear and feel, although.

The cellphone is protected with Xiaomi’s personal so-called Protect Glass 2.0 and has an aluminum body across the edges, which is a matte silver colour. The cellphone has IP68 water resistance, which is fairly helpful and signifies that it ought to be capable of stand up to full immersion in as much as 1.5 meters of water for as much as half-hour.

The Xiaomi 15 Extremely is on the market in three colorways, together with black, white, and a silver chrome, which emulates traditional digital camera appears. I feel the silver chrome is the best-looking colour choice, however my evaluation mannequin is the white one. On the underside of the cellphone will be discovered a USB-C port, whereas the facility button and quantity rocker are discovered on the fitting edge.

Once more, the cellphone is usually premium, however if you happen to’re in search of a redesign for the Xiaomi 15 collection, you received’t get one.

Xiaomi 15 Extremely Pictures Equipment

Optionally, you should purchase the Xiaomi 15 Extremely with the images package accent, which I had lots of enjoyable taking part in round with. The package features a case and a digital camera grip that to the USB-C port on the underside of the cellphone and has a two-stage seize button, a dial for publicity, and a devoted video recording button. The package additionally comes with a 67mm filter adapter ring.

Picture supply: Christian de Looper for BGR

The grip additionally has a battery constructed proper into it. It’s a 2,000mAh battery that may juice up your cellphone as wanted — and it’s a neat solution to take full benefit of the scale of the grip.

Once more, it’s a neat accent, and if you wish to make your cellphone really feel as very similar to a digital camera as doable, it’s value shopping for.

Xiaomi 15 Extremely evaluation: Show

Whereas the principle focus of the Xiaomi 15 Extremely is clearly images, that doesn’t imply that the cellphone skimps out on different issues. The show on the cellphone, for instance, is totally gorgeous. It’s a 6.73-inch show with a 3200 x 1440 decision, making for an extremely crisp and detailed picture. It’s an LTPO AMOLED show, which signifies that it may well vary from 1Hz to 120Hz relying on what’s on the display. It has a peak brightness of 3200 nits, which could be very vivid. Frankly, even in vivid out of doors environments, you shouldn’t anticipate to not be capable of see what’s on the display.

Picture supply: Christian de Looper for BGR

Significantly, this is among the greatest shows within the cellphone world proper now. It helps HDR10+ and Dolby Imaginative and prescient too, so HDR motion pictures look gorgeous, and HDR images and movies that you just seize will look lifelike, with loads of distinction.

Underneath the show will be discovered an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. I discovered that it labored rapidly and precisely. It virtually by no means failed in my utilization, and it felt very responsive.

Xiaomi 15 Extremely evaluation: Efficiency

The Xiaomi 15 Extremely makes use of Qualcomm’s newest and best smartphone chip, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite. That’s coupled with 16GB of RAM, and albeit, these two issues come collectively to provide a cellphone that can simply deal with something you may throw at it in 2025. In fact, at this level, there are a variety of Snapdragon 8 Elite-equipped telephones available on the market, together with the brand new Galaxy S25 collection. The Xiaomi 15 Extremely doesn’t essentially carry out higher than these telephones, however it’s about on par, which is superb information.

All of because of this video games will load rapidly, the cellphone will simply deal with even heavy multitasking, and so forth. Frankly, today a excessive stage of efficiency comes into play extra in direction of the tip of a cellphone’s life cycle than originally. Regardless, it’s good to see Xiaomi giving the cellphone the very best efficiency it may well proper now.

The Xiaomi 15 Extremely can also be one of many first smartphones to function Bluetooth 6.0. The brand new normal guarantees higher energy effectivity, decrease latency, and improved vary for wi-fi equipment. In principle, this could lead to a extra secure connection for Bluetooth headphones and different peripherals. Bluetooth 6.0 additionally introduces the brand new so-called Channel Sounding function, which permits gadgets that assist the function to higher choose distance primarily based on their Bluetooth connection. Nevertheless, it’s unclear what particular new Bluetooth options Xiaomi has applied right here, so customers might not discover a dramatic distinction in day-to-day use simply but.

Xiaomi 15 Extremely evaluation: Battery and charging

Picture supply: Christian de Looper for BGR

The Xiaomi 15 Extremely is full of a large 5,410mAh battery, making certain wonderful longevity. Battery life is among the cellphone’s strongest options, simply lasting via a full day and nicely into the second. Reasonable customers can comfortably stretch utilization to 2 days, whereas heavier customers should wish to prime up in a single day simply to be secure.

Charging is equally spectacular. The cellphone helps blazing-fast 90W wired charging, able to absolutely charging the battery in underneath 40 minutes. Wi-fi charging isn’t any slouch both, with assist for 80W speeds—supplied you may have a suitable charger. Xiaomi has additionally included 10W reverse wi-fi charging, which is nice for topping up equipment like wi-fi earbuds. The one draw back? No Qi2 assist, which suggests some third-party wi-fi charging equipment won’t work as effectively.

Xiaomi 15 Extremely evaluation: Digital camera

Xiaomi has made notable enhancements to its digital camera modes, making this one of the succesful smartphone images programs but. Portrait mode now makes use of bigger apertures throughout all focal lengths, delivering natural-looking bokeh with out the necessity for synthetic software program enhancements. Grasp Portrait and Leica Portrait modes, specifically, supply a putting stage of realism, making topic separation really feel refined {and professional}.

Picture supply: Christian de Looper for BGR

The digital camera is the star of the present, and Xiaomi has partnered with Leica as soon as once more to ship a shocking images expertise. The quad-camera setup is flexible and highly effective, led by a 50-megapixel 1-inch principal sensor that helps a number of focal size equivalents, together with 23mm, 28mm, and 35mm, giving customers extra inventive flexibility.

The cellphone additionally contains a 50-megapixel ultrawide digital camera contains a 115-degree discipline of view. For zoom, Xiaomi has gone all out too. The 50-megapixel telephoto digital camera has a 70mm focal size equal, translating to roughly 3x optical zoom. In the meantime, the 200-megapixel periscope telephoto digital camera gives 100mm and 200mm focal size equivalents, offering 5x and 10x optical zoom, respectively.

Picture high quality is superb throughout the board. AI enhancing options are current, permitting customers to take away objects, improve particulars, and apply computerized changes. Whereas these instruments work nicely, they don’t essentially break new floor in comparison with what opponents supply. Nonetheless, it’s good that they’re there.

In well-lit environments, images are extremely sharp, with pure colours and robust dynamic vary. Low-light efficiency can also be spectacular, with minimal noise and nice element retention. In well-lit environments, images are extremely sharp, with pure colours and robust dynamic vary. Low-light efficiency can also be spectacular, with minimal noise and nice element retention. The one notable flaw is a few inconsistency in colour tones between lenses. At instances, highlights can seem barely blown out, notably when switching between completely different focal lengths. This situation isn’t at all times current, however it occurs extra typically than I’d have appreciated. It actually wasn’t a deal-breaker, however it does imply that customers might have to tweak pictures in post-processing to realize a extra uniform look. Nonetheless, regardless of this minor disadvantage, the general picture high quality stays distinctive. All it actually means is that whereas at instances, the images received’t end up very nicely, the remainder of the time, images can be pretty much as good as or higher than the very best smartphone cameras on the market.

Xiaomi 15 Extremely evaluation: Software program

If there’s one weak level of the Xiaomi 15 Extremely, it’s the software program. Xiaomi’s HyperOS 2.0 is practical, however its total design appears somewhat dated in comparison with different Android skins. The interface isn’t troublesome to navigate, however it lacks the refined polish seen in opponents like Google’s Pixel UI.

Picture supply: Christian de Looper for BGR

HyperOS 2.0 introduces some AI-powered options, comparable to writing help and real-time translation. Whereas helpful in sure eventualities, these options aren’t something groundbreaking and may already be discovered on different gadgets. They appeared to work completely nice whereas I used to be utilizing them, however whether or not right here or on different telephones I haven’t essentially discovered them to be probably the most helpful options. You will have a special view although.

That stated, there are some positives. The management middle takes clear inspiration from iOS, and on this case, that’s a superb factor—it’s clear, organized, and simple to make use of. Whereas HyperOS 2.0 isn’t probably the most minimalistic Android pores and skin, it features as anticipated and received’t require a lot of a studying curve for Android customers.

Conclusions

The Xiaomi 15 Extremely is an bold flagship that delivers on virtually each entrance. It boasts top-tier efficiency, a shocking show, and an amazing battery life — coupled with top-of-the-line digital camera programs on the market proper now. Whereas the software program expertise nonetheless feels a bit dated, and the digital camera consistency might use some refinement, these are minor complaints within the grand scheme of issues. In case you’re in search of a powerhouse Android cellphone that pushes boundaries, the Xiaomi 15 Extremely is a wonderful alternative. In fact, if you would like it, you’ll need to dwell in a location the place it’s obtainable, and it’s not coming to the U.S. However, if you happen to dwell in a kind of areas, it’s simply value contemplating.

The competitors

The Xiaomi 15 Extremely competes instantly with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Honor Magic 7 Professional, amongst others.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely stays a powerhouse, with its S Pen integration and refined One UI expertise. Whereas Samsung’s digital camera system is superb, Xiaomi’s bigger 1-inch sensor and Leica tuning give it a slight edge in images. That stated, Samsung’s software program and long-term replace assist are stronger, making it a extra future-proof choice for some customers, plus the digital camera continues to be much more constant. 

The Honor Magic 7 Professional is one other sturdy competitor, providing a smooth design and a deal with AI-driven images enhancements. Whereas its digital camera system is spectacular, it doesn’t fairly match the flexibility of the Xiaomi 15 Extremely’s quad-camera setup.

In the end, the Xiaomi 15 Extremely stands out with its superior {hardware} and photography-focused options. In case you worth uncooked digital camera energy and quick charging, it’s a superb alternative—supplied you may get your arms on one in a supported area.

Ought to I purchase the Xiaomi 15 Extremely?

Sure, if it’s obtainable in your area.