Important Notice: The following content is translated by ChatGPT, so any inaccuracy is possible, but you can report it in the comment area. It also only reflects the situation in China Mainland, and availability may vary in other regions.

The previously overwhelming product launches that used to thrash competitors have gradually shifted direction. At a glance, compiling a parameter table no longer guarantees an advantage; claims of system optimizations sound like the cry of “wolf” again and again, and even Jin Fan’s earnest speeches no longer move netizens. As the parameter “wrestling” that once directly stimulated our nerves falls out of favor, what kind of answer sheet will Xiaomi’s even more “rounded” new generation of high-end devices deliver?

Though many remained skeptical before the official retail release, it’s hard to resist the temptation of the screen protection insurance. Everyone says you shouldn’t rush to buy Xiaomi flagships at launch, but this time I insisted on fully paying up front. After all, even if I don’t go for the first batch, I’d still have to purchase the screen protection—How could it possibly go wrong?

Configuration: Xiaomi 15 in Light Grass Green, 16GB RAM, 512GB ROM. Unless otherwise mentioned, all experiences are based on the system version around the initial release.

CMF (Color, Material, Finish)

First off, let’s acknowledge that the build quality still retains some of Xiaomi’s “fine traditions.” On my green unit, the volume buttons have quite large tolerances, while a friend’s unit from the same batch is much better. Some display units have speaker holes not perfectly parallel to the bottom edge, and there’s a bit of a gap between the plastic border around the camera module and the glass cover that could accumulate dust. Putting aside these small issues, even though the Xiaomi 15’s appearance is just a minor refinement based on the previous generation (reportedly compatible with Xiaomi 14 phone cases), the improvement in hand feel is significant.

On the back, the frame curves inward, creating a certain arc that eliminates the “edge-cutting” feel common in straight-edged phones like the iPhone 13 mini. There’s no noticeable height difference or gap between the back glass and the frame, maintaining a good build quality level. Around the camera module, they’ve removed that circle of meaningless “Paris studs” decoration—turns out it’s better not to follow Huawei’s steps blindly.

The ultra-thin, evenly narrow black bezels on the front significantly enhance the visual impression. As for whether they affect signal reception, we’ll discuss that later. However, I believe it’s already impacted durability. Before I even finished writing this article, my friend’s launch-day unit broke its inner screen in a drop, while the outer screen remained intact. Also, to achieve visually narrower black borders, the frame doesn’t curve inward as noticeably as on the back. The charging port still lacks injection molding, so if you frequently plug in a cable, it might show wear over time.

The thickness of the phone is still acceptable. The camera module protrudes much more than on the 12S. The weight distribution is fine, without a heavy top or bottom feel. But if you’re used to holding the bottom in a single-handed grip, you might still notice a forward tilt.

Of course, hand feel is subjective. If you’re interested, I recommend going to a store to try it out yourself. I believe it’s one of the best-feeling flat-screen phones with straight-edged frames.

Performance

Legend has it that there was once a person named Nuvia, who captured the soul of Apple’s silicon and descended to earth. Qualcomm, seeing this, entrusted them with a great mission, resulting in Oryon… well, I can’t keep up the literary flourish. As early as the release of the Snapdragon X Elite, the first product from the Nuvia team at Qualcomm featuring the Oryon core, many media outlets noted similarities in microarchitecture with Apple’s M series. But because Snapdragon X series laptops can’t come down in price, and Windows has the ancestral performance bottleneck, Oryon’s brilliance was overshadowed. This time, I can say with confidence: the 8 Elite didn’t flop.

Geekbench 6 CPU scores under normal room temperature: 2902/8982 (link), and at 6°C in the fridge: 3068/9527 (link). In 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, stability is 73.4%, Wild Life Extreme score is 5719 (about 23% of an RTX 4060 Ti).

HyperOS 2

It’s often said that Jin Fan retreats for a year, and once he emerges after a year, something noticeable happens. To be honest, last year’s “retreat” did bring some obvious improvements in experience, but then it fizzled out. It looks like the storyline is repeating this year: it’s not bad, but whether it will fizzle out again after half a year remains to be seen.

Traditional Experience

Unlike a couple of years ago, when the first batch felt half-baked, this time after the first-day update, I didn’t encounter major issues. There are still some typical “Xiaomi flavor” bugs, but calling it “smooth” is acceptable.

The biggest improvement in the new system optimization lies in responsiveness, including scrolling friction and tap response speed. They’ve put a lot of effort into the home screen, making it basically respond instantly to your touch—so much so that it’s a bit unsettling. This responsiveness likely stems from the system-level optimizations because it’s a responsiveness I never experienced on previous high-performance Xiaomi models. The home screen also adds a lot of blur effects, and according to some media sources, it might be using the same blur method as the notification shade, so the performance overhead isn’t huge. App loading speeds have also improved. I’ve observed very aggressive preloading. Good thing the awful 8GB RAM variant was scrapped, or else they’d have to treat it differently and cause more commotion.

How to measure “responsiveness”? For example, launching an app from the home screen, you can record slow motion on another phone and measure the time from tapping the icon to the start of the animation. With the camera app, traditionally a heavy “backstage killer,” the Xiaomi 12S took 0.15s for the tap effect to appear and another 0.21s for the zoom animation, while the Xiaomi 15 took only 0.06s for the entire process. For Taobao, that big national-level 3A app, Xiaomi 12S took 0.25s, Xiaomi 15 took 0.05s. Of course, different platforms and different camera app versions make this just a fun comparison, but the stutter you used to feel is indeed gone.

As for app fluidity, heavy apps like Gaode Maps, Taobao, Meituan occasionally drop frames but are generally smooth. Still, every high-performance device at launch gives a good first impression, and time will tell if it holds up. On Taobao and similar apps, there seems to be a sneaky strategy: increase friction so content scrolls more slowly, making it appear smoother. This isn’t quantified—it’s just for fun.

Last year, to achieve the “minimum system footprint” goal, Xiaomi stripped out a series of features, including iCloud login in the calendar app that I really needed. This year, they’ve restored some functionality more judiciously. However, many system apps remain unchanged. The fragmented feeling remains, as if all the focus was on the foundational UI. By the way, the full OTA package for Xiaomi 15 exceeds 7GB, possibly due to integrated models like speech transcription.

For instance, the “App Info” page merges several previously scattered pages. Earlier, battery usage and power-saving strategies, data usage and network controls were separated, and even “Permission Management” and “App Management Measures” were split into two. This time, they’ve combined them, making it much simpler.

The “Screen Time Management” is upgraded to “Healthy Use of Phone,” not just a renaming—it adds features like eye-health detection, possibly relying on gaze-detection-like tech. It recognizes actions like being too close to the screen, using the phone for a long time without a break, and lying down while using the phone. It then gives prompts and statistics on unhealthy usage time. Since I usually stare directly at the phone, this feature is more sensitive than gaze-based AOD. However, the Zen mode Focus mode’s entry point is hidden somewhere; you can only find it via search.

A small hiccup occurred: While waiting for the 72 hours needed to unlock the bootloader, I logged into my Google account and installed some apps. After unlocking and a factory reset, I found I couldn’t set a lock screen password. After some investigation, I discovered that on Android 15, after a factory reset, you must re-login to your Google account before setting a lock screen password. On the Chinese ROM, due to certain reasons, this step isn’t clearly indicated.

AI

Many AI features are now implemented (or renamed) in the new system, and they’re not all gimmicks. But a major issue is understanding which features are fully offline, which use cloud-based models, and which use on-device models but still require a network connection. Due to domestic regulatory constraints, the third scenario might be more common than expected.

Previously, one Xiaomi phone had three different speech transcription methods: Xiao Ai subtitles, Xiaomi Listening, and the recorder’s built-in transcription. Aside from iFlytek Tingjian, the rest were offline. In the new system, Xiaomi Listening is removed, and real-time transcription is added to the recorder. Transcription now requires a network connection, but I’m not sure if it’s online transcription or online content review. As for transcription quality, I tested by recording a snippet of a Hunan-accented Putonghua lesson and tried real-time transcription, post-processing transcription in the recorder, and the Belle-whisper-large-v3-punct model. Results:

• Real-time transcription: Such opportunities are few, one eight. A year not even, you went to this thing. We generally mostly do is come to design this database. So-called design a database is done, which means you need to put this. Self-stock price. That is your table structure set price. Then this table structure price, my thing probably at any time brought an example…
• Post-processing transcription: Of course, such opportunities are rare. In less than one eight year, you went to this thing. Generally, we mostly just design a database. So-called designing a database is done, which means you need to get this. Self-stock price. That is your table structure’s price. Once the table structure is set, I can roughly bring an example…
• Belle model transcription: Of course, such opportunities are rare, you shift it to building that thing. We should mostly design a database, once we design a database and finish it. It means you need to build the database. That’s your table structure built. Once your table structure is built, I can anytime bring an example…
• Manual transcription: Of course, such opportunities are rare, generally you don’t need to build that thing. We usually just design a database. So-called designing a database, in plain terms, means you need to build the database, i.e., set up the table structures. Once the table structure is set, I can easily bring up an example…

They’re all just for fun, not perfect. Even the 1.55B-parameter large model isn’t flawless. After all, it needs gigabytes of VRAM to run ideally. But it’s surprising that Xiaomi’s transcription can recognize some special pronunciations of “MySQL” (pronounced like “my-sequel”).

The Gallery’s AI features have also been expanded. On top of local Magic Eraser, it adds image restoration, outpainting, and stronger repair capabilities. However, many of these new features use cloud-based models. Obviously, running models in the cloud costs the company money. Even now, before HyperOS 2’s widespread rollout, they’re claiming “overuse” limits. It’s predictable that future experiences may be restricted. The new system also offers content-based image search, including CLIP-like semantic recognition, face recognition, and OCR text extraction. All functions can be done locally, even without enabling Xiaomi Cloud services. The accuracy is barely passable but at least better in Chinese semantic search than many open-source CLIP models.

Compared to leading competitors, Xiaomi’s proactive suggestions are still behind. It’s barely AI by marketing terms. While iOS, years ago, supported reminders based on event location and travel time, Xiaomi still only supports manually set times. The travel assistant, unsurprisingly a HyperOS 1 feature, can’t handle multi-leg journeys well, failing to automatically identify them.

Other features, like AI-generated dynamic wallpapers, are very gimmicky—though you could consider them a form of custom “Super Wallpapers.” They also require calling online models.

Imaging

It needs to be noted that Xiaomi provides two Leica color style options: Leica Classic and Leica Vivid. Although Leica Classic isn’t as punchy as on the initial co-branded Xiaomi 12S (and shooting food is no longer disastrous), compared to Leica Vivid, it still has higher contrast and lower saturation. As a pioneer in providing a direct toggle in the camera interface, Xiaomi’s reliability in this aspect is commendable.

In the following, the camera comparison group is a Sony ZV-E10 with a Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 and a Sony 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 lens. The camera samples are processed from ARW format. Comparing the good or bad results between a phone and a camera is inherently unfair, but I’m including camera shots so readers know what to expect from the phone.

From an image output perspective, the Xiaomi 15 is still primarily strong in its main camera. Other focal lengths are just there to fill in functionality. In most scenarios, the main camera satisfies. In a few scenarios… let’s take a look at samples.

Xiaomi continues its tradition of handling foliage poorly. The leaves at the top are a smudged mess. The ground detail is acceptable if you’re not too picky—after all, if you really need detail, you wouldn’t be shooting at the main camera focal length.

In these samples, the phone’s exposure is somewhat excessive. The distant school buildings are washed out, which ironically highlights the shortcomings in the near scene (again, leaves). Both of these shots use Leica Classic mode. In such scenarios, Leica Vivid might produce a more pleasing result. Perhaps understanding user intent would be better than just leaving a toggle. For now, it doesn’t interpret the scene accurately.

The ultra-wide still lacks autofocus, so it just needs to fulfill the “wide” part of its job.

The telephoto is primarily functional, aimed at capturing something rather than delivering great quality. In poor light conditions, forget about a usable image.

Even in bright conditions, this telephoto isn’t a replacement for a proper zoom lens.

This model features a telephoto large model enhancement function. Due to the limited parameters of on-device models, it might improve sharpness and cleanliness in simpler scenes, but in complex scenes, it almost always fails. Even the gym’s brick lines, a relatively simple texture, get largely lost after the AI processing. For distant cars on the road, aside from distortion, the AIDS awareness red ribbon turned into a little red person dunking a ball.

This telephoto’s macro is also quite poor in less-than-ideal lighting. Although it has a minimum focus distance of around 10cm, it can’t replicate the macro miracles of dedicated macro telephotos from previous generations. Similar to the Xiaomi 12S, you need about 9cm on the Xiaomi 15’s JN5 telephoto. You can’t get close enough to unleash extraordinary macro detail. Online macro samples you see are often carefully staged. Note: All macro shots on Xiaomi 15 were taken using the Pro mode with manual focus peaking.

The front camera now has low-power gaze detection, enabling features like auto AOD and eye-health detection. But it’s not very reliable because the front camera’s field of view is limited. For instance, if the phone is lying flat on a desk and you glance at it, the AOD might not light up. The sampling interval is also high, so detection often takes a while.

Video capabilities have seen standard upgrades. All three rear cameras support 4K 60FPS Dolby Vision, and at least 720p at 480FPS slow motion. After an update, it now supports seamless switching between lenses while recording in 4K 60FPS Dolby Vision. I find it quite smooth.

In a less-known corner, Adobe Camera Raw added support for Xiaomi 15/Pro in its October update.

Display

The display quality isn’t as poor as some media claim. Perhaps domestic panels have all improved so much in the last two years that this one just seems average.

The main viewing angle issue is brightness loss rather than severe color shift. This time, auto-brightness is surprisingly aggressive and bright. This makes the display appear more transparent and shows the company’s extreme confidence in power consumption (or maybe it’s just a launch-day marketing trick). The colors look cooler. Some media attribute this to using the CIE 2015 white point.

A new feature on this generation is a familiar-sounding function: full-screen AOD. In essence, the entire screen displays content, not just time, notification icons, etc., on a black screen. One might ask: Isn’t the inability of LCD screens to do AOD due to high power consumption from lighting up the entire screen? Let’s see how others do full-screen AOD: Microsoft’s Windows 10 Mobile Glance Screen only lights up the pixels needed for the displayed pattern, leaving others off. Apple uses LTPO to lower refresh rate to 1Hz, minimizing power consumption. Both approaches remain impossible on LCD.

Xiaomi likely chose the latter route. When the screen is off, the refresh rate drops to 1Hz (and the phone also aggressively changes refresh rates in other scenarios), but the entire screen remains lit. Combined with the default “Smart Display” mode’s low gaze detection sensitivity, the average number of lit pixels might not increase after all. But note that Xiaomi’s current full-screen AOD doesn’t support breathing effects or notification icons. It can display full notifications, but the image is static. It’s a novelty that might wear off quickly.

Connectivity

Compared to my already satisfactory Xiaomi 12S, the Xiaomi 15’s signal performance is noticeably improved.

WiFi signal has improved slightly. In the same location, most of the time, the handshake rate is higher than on the Xiaomi 12S, by about 3dBm.

Mobile network band support is unexpectedly broad, breaking the tradition of non-top-tier Xiaomi flagships cutting bands. Although I don’t expect to go to North America (unless I win some top conference entry?), for me this doesn’t matter. But the mobile network signal is indeed improved. At the same indoor spot, it can show up to an 8dBm improvement. In a basement level -1 floor of another building, the Xiaomi 12S struggles to find a signal, while the Xiaomi 15 can reach 40 Mbps downstream.

Battery

Honestly, I think 4500mAh would have been enough. Usually, I don’t stare at my phone too long, or I can charge frequently. Going out for an evening, 4500 vs. 5400mAh doesn’t fundamentally matter. Yet Xiaomi 15 pushed it to 5400mAh, breaking the 20Wh threshold—a figure unimaginable three years ago.

The endurance seems inspired by Apple: increasing battery capacity not necessarily to extend usage time significantly, but to free performance constraints. At least in the launch version, the power consumption isn’t necessarily lower than the 12S. Estimated usage time doesn’t scale proportionally with the increased capacity. Nighttime drain remains about 7% per night. Update: After upgrading to 2.0.16.0, there’s some improvement in power consumption.

Rumors suggested that with the 50W wireless charging, using an older charger would drop it to 30W. But using the 80W windsurfing wireless charger still shows 50W on screen. The power strategy is conservative. It can’t solve heat well, so the temperature limit is around 41°C. Charging power hovers between 15 and 20W in practice, simple logic: if it’s not overheated yet, 20W; if it’s hot, 15W.

Wired charging is basically “enough” in a Zhong Wenze style. Using a Lenovo C135 charger (100W PD/PPS), it only reaches about 25W but can sustain that, roughly 2% per minute. At 25°C room temperature, using the included 90W charger (MDY-14-EC, not the sturdiest build) and cable, with Quick Charge Boost enabled, it can maintain around 60W for the first couple of minutes¹, fully charging in just over 50 minutes. Without Quick Charge Boost, the full charge time doesn’t differ much, though fast replenishment at low battery levels is more efficient. For reference, see some reviewers’ tests.

Other Peripheral Features

For a standard version device, the peripherals are completely adequate; and for a device starting at 4500 RMB, it’s only right.

Though it uses a small 0809 size motor like many compact phones, the vibration feels crisper and more forceful. Unfortunately, Xiaomi ruined its “Natural Vibration” haptics. Unlocking is a single “da” click, pressing a shortcut toggle is also “da,” long-pressing the home screen icon or rearranging icons feels the same “da,” swiping back, whether long or short, is “da,” clearing all apps is “da da da” three times. The previously rich and varied tactile effects are gone. Even the system settings demo is less diverse than on the Xiaomi 12S. Perhaps this blandness caters to those who complained about buzzing.

With ultrasonic fingerprint recognition comes the sensor’s placement back to where it should be. Unlike the crippled ultrasonic fingerprint on the Xiaomi 5S, this time it’s clearly faster and more accurate—just a tap and it’s unlocked. However, the system lacks guidance, and there’s no white light like optical sensors, making it harder to land your finger precisely. Still, it’s a matter of adaptation.

NFC works stably, and the coil’s position is user-friendly. There’s even an exciting new feature: preventing the card selection interface from popping up when the phone is close to something. This suggests it could theoretically choose cards based on the reader, though it’s not implemented.

I worried that moving the microphone to the back might affect front-facing recording quality, but no, because this time it’s got four mics—two at the bottom, one at the back, and one in front with the earpiece. Curious how they achieve noise reduction.

The speakers can make sound. They’re very dry and not symmetrical. Loudness is fine. At high volume, the bottom of the phone vibrates slightly in the hand.

It has a barometer and IR blaster.

Conclusion

People often mention the “cost-effectiveness trap.” I think Xiaomi ultimately can’t escape it easily. After storage and SoC price hikes, they can no longer hold the price line. Price fluctuations show the impact. But now it’s no longer just empty talk to compare itself to the iPhone. Putting aside the self-flattering comparison with the iPhone Pro, Xiaomi’s effort over the years is paying off. In the 4000 RMB range, it’s now standing firm. With Qualcomm’s chipset performing well, the device can maintain its position; and the system’s optimization is a belated remedy. As for the market’s response, I believe it will be positive.

The experience has moved beyond simple parameter piling. Without a full spec advantage over competitors, it has lost many well-known quantitative metrics. If the old quantitative standards no longer fit, should we explore new standards or just follow Apple’s example and declare each generation “the strongest ever”?