Xiaomi 15T Pro review: They can’t keep getting away with this

It’s hard to explain the admiration we have for the Xiaomi T series. For the last few years, we’ve been giving phones like the Xiaomi 13T Pro and the Xiaomi 14T Pro our Best Value award, and Xiaomi has done it again with the Xiaomi 15T Pro.

In this day and age, when tech companies seem to be consistently asking for more money while offering little change (or even downgrades) to their offerings, the Xiaomi 15T Pro is a breath of fresh air. 

We’re getting flagship-level specs such as the MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ processor (which was only just succeeded by the new flagship MediaTek Dimensity 9500 processor a few days ago), has high-speed LPDDR5X RAM, and UFS 4.1 storage, while the recommended retail price for the phone has actually gone down!

We have a quick explanation for the eagle-eyed amongst us who might have noticed that the S$899 price tag for the 12GB+512GB configuration of the phone is actually more expensive than the S$869 that the equivalent model of the Xiaomi 14T Pro launched at. S$869 was the Online Exclusive price for the Xiaomi 14T Pro’s pre-order period, with the actual RRP being S$949 as noted in our review.

This year, Xiaomi isn’t offering two separate prices, as it has managed to bring the official price for the 512GB model down to S$899 and is selling it at this price from the start. Kudos to Xiaomi.

There’s even an upgraded 5x optical zoom telephoto camera, along with a new design that makes the phone look and feel more premium than it did previously.

With no price increase from previous years, we’re almost certain that the Xiaomi 15T Pro will impress us just as much as before. Let’s delve in to give you the lowdown on our usage.

Premium inside and out

We’ve gotten a little tired of the curved glass backs that most Chinese smartphones ship with, so it was a pleasure to find out that Xiaomi has opted for a flat glass rear this year. 

Paired with some gentle curves around the edges of the colour-matched sides, the phone is very comfortable in the hand despite the larger size.

For the display, we get a larger 6.83-inch AMOLED display (2,772 x 1,280 pixels) that has a 144Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of 3,200 nits and supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. 

This is technically a slight downgrade from the 4,000-nit peak brightness of the Xiaomi 14T Pro, but in real-life usage, it remains very legible under bright sunlight. Of course, this small change is directly due to the increased screen size (the previous phone had a 6.67-inch display) and a slightly higher corresponding resolution, so it’s still quite good for what it offers.

The phone still retains an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, although Xiaomi states that the 15T series uses stronger materials, like a CNC-machined aluminium alloy frame with enhanced structural integrity and a glass fibre back panel for improved durability. 

The Xiaomi Offline Communication feature is being introduced internationally for the first time with the Xiaomi 15T series. Powered by Bluetooth, it allows for device-to-device voice communications without needing access to cellular or Wi-Fi networks. In an ideal environment, it can allow for people to communicate within a 1.9km range, which can be handy if you’re hiking or overseas with no connection. 

There are a few requirements such as needing both devices to be a Xiaomi 15T series phone or a future device that supports the feature, and that both phones must be logged into a Xiaomi account with a SIM card inserted. This feature will be available through an OTA update that’s rolling out from 24 September 2025.

HyperOS 2 (or 3?)

The Xiaomi 15T Pro comes with HyperOS 2 (Android 15) out of the box, but it’ll get HyperOS 3 (Android 16) in November. We won’t get too in-depth into HyperOS 2, as we’ve already covered most of what you need to know about it and Xiaomi’s HyperAI features when we reviewed the Poco X7 Pro and the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. 

However, there are some new HyperAI features and updates that we’ll be able to access on the Xiaomi 15T Pro when HyperOS 3 rolls out, and we’ll quickly cover those.

AI Search is a new feature powered by the Gemini 2.0 multimodal large model that enables natural language searches and AI summaries for results, as well as the ability to find and interpret information across local apps like Gallery, File Manager, Notes, Messages and more. 

You’ll have to enable it by changing the Swipe Down on Home Screen gesture to activate App finder before you can access it.

AI Gallery Search is another new feature, and it helps with context-aware suggestions, document recognition and complex queries. 

Last but not least, Xiaomi has updated AI Writing so that it can be used in third-party apps like WhatsApp and Instagram. Additionally, there’s a new DeepThink Mode in Notes, which reveals the AI’s thought process during the generation phase so that the text creation is more transparent. 

Imaging performance

The Leica Vario-Summilux 1:1.62-3.0/15-1115 ASPH. optics on the Xiaomi 15T Pro remains the same, with the exception of the telephoto camera:

• 50MP main camera (f/1.6 aperture, 2.4µm 4-in-1 Super Pixel,Light Fusion 900 sensor, OIS)
• 50MP telephoto camera (f/3.0 aperture, 5x optical zoom, 100x digital zoom, Samsung Isocell JN5 sensor, OIS)
• 12MP ultrawide camera (f/2.2 aperture, OmniVision OV13B sensor)

As expected, we achieved great results with this camera system, just like its predecessor.

However, like other high-end Xiaomi phones, there are two forced photographic styles to choose from: Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant. We previously preferred Leica Authentic, but this time, while reviewing the Xiaomi 15T Pro, we preferred the outcomes from the Leica Vibrant images. Regardless, we took a mixture of photos with both photographic styles.

The main camera outputs nice, detailed images with tastefully done HDR that isn’t too processed. The ultrawide camera does a good job with minimal fish-eye distortion, and there’s still a decent amount of detail left in the photos. 

Night mode shots are handled quite well, with accurate colours and a decent amount of brightening. We would recommend using Leica Vibrant here if you’re in a very dim environment, to help boost the brightness and colours a touch more. 

Benchmark performance

The Xiaomi 15T Pro uses the flagship-tier Dimensity 9400+ chipset, which is supposed to compete against flagship chips like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, so we’ll be comparing the phone to some alternatives around the S$800-S$1,000 price range with equivalent processing chops. 

Just like last year, Xiaomi has decided to go with a flat 12GB of RAM across all storage configurations for the Xiaomi 15T series in Singapore. At this juncture, we would like to point out that we reviewed a 1TB configuration, which is not sold in Singapore, but it’s a full retail set.

To find out more about the tests we conduct and what they relate to, we’ve jotted them down here.

Even though the numbers are slightly lower than the competitors, keep in mind that the Xiaomi 15T Pro costs only S$899. 

Normal usage was perfectly fine with no stuttering or lagging, and the phone was able to remain relatively cool, hitting a max temperature of 38.7°C only when charging, benchmarking or playing games. Xiaomi’s 3D IceLoop System is clearly pulling its weight here.

Battery Life

Our battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life, with results shown in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage, such as web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing, and more. 

With a larger 5,500mAh battery inside, the Xiaomi 15T Pro performed incredibly well in our battery benchmarks, besting the older Xiaomi 14T Pro.

Even though Xiaomi has dropped charging speeds back down to 90W for this model, it’s not too bad since we can still get a 50% charge from empty in just 23 minutes, and a full charge only takes 51 minutes. Surprisingly, this is quicker than the charging speeds we got for the smaller 5,000mAh battery (which supported 120W wired charging speed) in the Xiaomi 14T Pro. This only proves that there are diminishing returns after a certain charging rate since it can’t maintain that ultra-high charging rate throughout the full charging cycle.

The phone still retains 50W wireless HyperCharge, if you prefer the convenience of wireless charging.

Conclusion

We truly don’t know how Xiaomi does it. It’s nothing short of a wonder that the Chinese company is able to consistently offer flagship-tier components and great value while keeping prices stable for three years and counting now. 

Other smartphone brands would do well to take a leaf out of Xiaomi’s playbook, instead of alienating their fanbase with complicated choices and only offering the brand’s best at exorbitant prices.

The Xiaomi 15T Pro comes in Black, Gray and Mocha Gold at these official price points:-

• Xiaomi 15T Pro: S$799 (12GB RAM, 256GB storage)
• Xiaomi 14T Pro: S$899 (12GB RAM, 512GB storage)

You can get it at authorised Xiaomi retail stores island-wide, Shopee and Lazada.

Pre-ordering the Xiaomi 15T Pro between 25 September and 10 October 2025 will get you a free Xiaomi Watch S4 (worth S$199). All pre-orders can receive up to a S$50 rebate with trade-in offers, along with free services and subscriptions to services like YouTube Premium, Spotify Premium and Google AI Pro, which are worth a total of S$518.83.

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