Xiaomi 15 Ultra review: Best phone under 150k

So this year, a lot of flagship phones have launched in Nepal. Last month, VIVO launched its flagship phone, the X200 Pro, and today, I have with me Xiaomi’s latest 15 Ultra, which marks the first time Xiaomi Nepal has launched a proper flagship phone. And as always, Xiaomi Nepal has set a highly competitive price. Compared to VIVO and Samsung, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is much cheaper—it costs 150K vs. 185,000 for VIVO and Samsung. So, in terms of pricing, it wins, but should you buy this over the VIVO X200 Pro and S25 Ultra? I will give the final answer at the end, but lets start with the basics. 

Xiaomi 15 Ultra Specifications

• Dimension : 161.3 x 75.3 x 9.4 mm
• Weight: 226 g
• Display: 6.73-inch WQHD+ AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate
• Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite, 3nm process
• Rear Cameras: 50MP (wide) + 50MP (telephoto) + 200MP (periscope) + 50MP (ultrawide)
• Front Camera: 32MP
• Memory: 12G/16GB
• Storage: 256GB/512GB
• Battery: 5410mAh, 90W wired, 80W wireless charging
• Software: Xiaomi HyperOS 2.0 (Android 15)
• Connectivity: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, USB-C 3.2 Gen 1

Xiaomi 15 Ultra Review

I have been using the Xiaomi 15 Ultra for about 10 days. A proper flagship phone should have five core pillars, and this phone has all of them at an A+ level. Design, Display, Camera, Performance, and Battery - all are A+. Phones priced at 140K-142K, like the OnePlus 13, S25+, and iPhone 16+, do not offer these features. So, this is a big win for Xiaomi.

Design

• 161.3 x 75.3 x 9.4 mm
• 226 g
• Xiaomi Shield Glass 2.0
• Glass-fiber back or silicone polymer back (eco leather)
• Aluminum frame

Speakers & Display

• 6.73 inches
• LTPO AMOLED, 68B colors, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR Vivid, 3200 nits

Software & Updates

• Android 15, up to 4 major Android upgrades,
• HyperOS 2

However, the software experience is where the Xiaomi 15 Ultra lags behind Samsung and OnePlus. 

 Xiaomi has made many improvements with HyperOS 2.0, making it more stable and adding AI features, but it still doesn’t feel as polished as the S25 Ultra or OnePlus 13. The Xiaomi UI just doesn’t feel premium! Don’t get me wrong, everything is smooth, but it lacks that extra edge—it just feels ordinary. Regarding updates, Xiaomi provides 4 years of OS updates, which is not as good as Samsung or Pixel. Even Honor has now promised 7 years of updates for its flagship phones. Xiaomi should also start providing 7 years of updates for its flagships to maintain resale value. For example, if you sell the Xiaomi 15 Ultra after 3 years, its resale value won’t be as high as an iPhone or Samsung.

Performance & Gaming

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm)
• Octa-core (2x4.32 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix L + 6x3.53 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix M)
• Adreno 830
• 16GB, 512GB

Performance-wise, it is great. It has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Elite (same as the S25 Ultra), 16GB RAM, and 512GB storage. So, performance is blazing fast, as expected. 

 However, I noticed that the Xiaomi 15 Ultra gets slightly hotter than other Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Elite phones. It heats up more when taking photos in direct sunlight or while charging. For gaming, there are no issues. The phone is well-optimized for gaming.

• PUBG runs at a smooth 120 FPS
• Genshin Impact runs at 60 FPS on the highest settings

Battery & Charging

• 5410 mAh Battery
• 90W Charging

 The battery life is impressive. It has a 5410mAh silicon-carbon battery, which delivers excellent backup. We will conduct a dedicated battery drain test soon to compare it with other phones. Meanwhile, you also get a 90W wired charging ( which is unfortunately sold separately) – full charges in about 50 minutes. You can also opt for  80W wireless charging – which is also very fast by the way.

Camera 

• Main Camera – Sony LYT 900 (1-inch sensor)
• Ultra-wide – 50MP
• 3X Telephoto – 50MP
• 200MP Periscope (Samsung HP9) – 4.3X zoom (instead of 3.7X on VIVO X200 Pro)

• The 200MP periscope lens is slightly slower than VIVO’s
• VIVO X200 Pro captures sharper portraits, even when the subject is moving
• At 20X-30X zoom, you must keep your hands very steady for a sharp shot

But if your hand and subject are still, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra produces excellent portraits, with natural skin tones and great edge detection.

Xiaomi’s Leica Black & White mode is next level. Some of the B/W shots I took look stunning! However, the 3X telephoto lens is not well-optimized for portraits. The 200MP 4.3X lens is much better. The 3X telephoto lens has autofocus, so you can capture some amazing macro shots with it. Plus, videos from the 3X lens also turn out really good. Overall, I found the videography aspect quite impressive. It’s not quite at the level of Samsung or iPhone in terms of color science or stability, but you’ll still get a good overall result—from all the lenses. Selfies are good too. The selfies are wide, with good skin tones and nice details. Even the selfie videos looked great to me.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Affordable flagship
• Outstanding camera performance
• A+ Performance
• Fast charging

Cons:

• Uncomfortable design
• Software lacks polish
• No charger included

Xiaomi 15 Ultra Review Conclusion

So, overall, if I had to sum it up—for 150K, this is the best phone. Zero doubt about that. Instead of getting the OnePlus 13 or S25+, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra will give you a much, much better camera experience. But is its camera better than the VIVO X200 Pro? I don’t think so, because the VIVO X200 Pro’s portraits are just in a different league compared to the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. And is this phone better than the Samsung S25 Ultra? Again, I don’t think so. That’s because the S25 Ultra offers a better software experience and an overall more refined phone experience than the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. The S25 Ultra simply feels like a more mature device. But for 150,000, you can't go wrong with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra—just like I said at the beginning… It scores A+ in all five key pillars of a flagship smartphone.

• Meanwhile, check out our review of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra