Xiaomi Marketing Manager Louise So introduces the Xiaomi 15. Arthur Fuentes, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Xiaomi Philippines finally took the wraps off its new flagship phone for the Philippine market.

The Chinese tech giant unveiled the Xiaomi 15, which Xiaomi said will deliver even better photos and videos than the already standout 14 series from 2024.

I was lucky enough to play around with the 15 a few days before the launch, and I can confirm that its cameras are excellent and the photos it captures are superb. But more on that later.

As expected, the 15 series has the top-notch specs of a 2025 flagship: they have the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. The Xiaomi 15 has 12 GB of RAM and 256 to 512 GB of storage. 

Leica-branded cameras on the Xiaomi 15. Arthur Fuentes, ABS-CBN News

In terms of design, not much has changed for the Xiaomi 15 from the Xiaomi 14. It's still a compact phone with a 6.36-inch flat AMOLED screen at 3,670 x 1,200 pixels and a matte-glass back.

It also still has the same brushed-metal chassis from last year, the same square camera module at the back, and the punch hole camera up front. It was an elegant design back then and remains a stylish handset today.

The upgrades were kept inside, namely the new speedier chip, the higher-capacity battery, and of course, the software.

About the battery, the Xiaomi 15 is paired to a 5,240 mAh battery. On normal usage — watching videos, taking photos, listening to music, browsing social media, and even occasionally using the phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot — the phone lasted me a whole day, with plenty of juice to spare.

The bigger Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which has yet to be announced for the Philippine market, meanwhile packs a bigger 5,410 mAh battery. 

In terms of camera specs, the Xiaomi 15 has three cameras on the rear, all with 50 megapixel sensors — same as with the Xiaomi 14. However, the 15 uses a 60mm telephoto lens which is rated at 2.6x optical zoom, while the 14 used a 75mm lens rated at 3x zoom. While this might seem like a downgrade, the photos from the 15 themselves beg to differ. It's still a superb camera.

Meanwhile, gadget reviewers from around the world have been tripping all over themselves, heaping praise on the 15 Ultra and its new telephoto camera. While I have yet to try this beast and its 4.3x periscope telephoto and 200MP sensor, various tech websites have said that this is by far the best camera phone yet.

It seems that every high-end phone is pushing AI features these days and Xiaomi is no exception. On the photo app, users can tap a list of AI image editing features: HD enhance, expand, erase, remove reflections, and sky (which lets you choose what sort of firmament you want for your background — dusk, full moon, starry sky, etc).

'Remove reflections' can come in handy, just like 'erase,' but word of warning: the expand feature may result in weird stuff. 

Aside from Google's Gemini chatbot being built into the phone, the Xiaomi 15 also has a suite called 'AI app boost' that can help with writing, transcription, translation, and subtitles.

Personally I prefer using AI apps on the desktop for productivity, but I can see how having these AI features on mobile phones can also come in handy.

The Xiaomi 15 starts at P45,999.