Xiaomi 15T Pro Review: Currently the Best Value Android Ever!

Xiaomi’s T series has a long history as a more affordable alternative to flagships. This usually meant a few compromises, but still a decent package of features for reasonable money. This year’s Xiaomi 15T Pro, however, raised the bar higher than I expected. After three weeks of intensive testing, I can say that this “cheaper flagship” can challenge phones twice its price. And literally – it handles some things better than premium competitors.

But not everything is rosy. Xiaomi chose strange timing for its launch (the 17 series is around the corner), the software has its flaws, and longer support is missing. The question is: will the positives outweigh the negatives? Let’s take a look.

Package contents: charger missing, the rest is solid

Xiaomi has joined the eco-friendly trend, and you won’t find a charger in the package. It’s a shame, because the phone supports 90W fast charging, and to take full advantage of it, you’ll need to buy a proprietary Xiaomi adapter. Regular 65W chargers work, but you won’t achieve maximum speed; for example, my 100W AlzaPower can only charge the phone at 15 watts, as it doesn’t support the proprietary protocol.

So, the box only contains a USB-C/USB-A cable, a SIM ejector tool, a pre-installed screen protector film, and a silicone case. The case is quite thick and offers decent protection, but it’s rather slippery to the touch and attracts grease. Personally, I would opt for a higher-quality third-party case.

Design: solid evolution!

The camera module on the back has undergone a significant change. Gone is the prominent square island; instead, you have a rounded module made of an aluminum alloy in the phone’s body color. It looks clean, modern, and, importantly, doesn’t protrude excessively. The phone doesn’t wobble much on a table.

The frame is made of 6M13 aluminum alloy with an admixture of magnesium, silicon, copper, and other elements. The result? Solid, pleasantly cool to the touch, and surprisingly scratch-resistant. The back is made of fiber glass with a matte finish that doesn’t attract fingerprints as brutally as glossy glass. The phone sits well in the hand, although at 210 grams and dimensions of 162.7 × 77.9 × 7.96 mm, it’s not exactly a featherweight.

The buttons on the right side have a pleasant mechanical feel with good resistance. IP68 certification means resistance to dust and immersion in up to 3 meters of water for 30 minutes.

The tested Mocha Gold version looks luxurious; the bronze shade is somewhere between gold and brown. It’s not flashy, rather elegant. However, if you prefer something more conservative, there’s black or gray.

Display: one of the brightest panels on the market

The display is a 6.83-inch AMOLED panel with a 144 Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2772 × 1280 pixels (477 ppi). These are numbers that look good on paper, but how does it perform in practice?

Amazingly. Maximum brightness reaches a true 3200 nits. This means the display is perfectly readable in direct sunlight. In fact, it’s among the subjectively brightest panels I’ve ever tested. Compared to the Pixel 10 Pro XL or iPhone 17 Pro Max, I felt no difference; sometimes the Xiaomi was even brighter.

The 144 Hz refresh rate ensures absolutely smooth scrolling and animations. Is it a noticeable difference compared to 120Hz panels? Not really. LTPO technology dynamically adjusts the frequency according to the content – from 1 Hz for a static image up to 144 Hz for gaming.

Color reproduction is accurate, contrast is infinite (as expected with OLED), and HDR content looks great. Automatic brightness adjustment works reliably, and I also appreciate the minimal brightness, where the display almost turns off. I like it this way when reading in bed before sleep, it doesn’t unnecessarily illuminate the room.

An optical in-display fingerprint reader is hidden beneath the display. It’s not ultrasonic like in top flagships, but it works quickly and accurately. However, in my opinion, it’s a somewhat strange decision when the cheaper stablemate POCO F7 Pro received an ultrasonic one. Sometimes you don’t hit the sensor precisely (it’s quite small), but after a few days, you do it automatically. An alternative is face unlock via the front camera – fast, but not entirely secure like on iPhones or Pixels.

The display protection is Gorilla Glass 7i, which is a solid choice, though not as premium as Victus 2 on more expensive models, so I recommend keeping the factory-installed film or replacing it with quality glass.

Performance: Dimensity 9400+ is a beast

Here I must say right from the start: MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ is a brutally powerful chip. In the AnTuTu benchmark, the phone achieved a score of 2.6 to 2.8 million points, which puts it on par with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. In some tests, it even surpasses it.

In Geekbench 6, I measured a single-core score of 2630 points and a multi-core score of 7998 points. While this is slightly less than the Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Xiaomi 15, in real-world use, you’ll practically not notice the difference. Apps open instantly, multitasking is smooth, and even demanding games pose no problems for the phone.

Graphics performance is also excellent. Genshin Impact, Diablo Immortal, PUBG Mobile – everything runs on high details with high fps. During longer gaming sessions, the phone heats up on the surface to around 42 °C, which isn’t ideal, but the phone remains usable and performance doesn’t drop significantly.

Cooling is handled by the Xiaomi 3D IceLoop system, which separates vapor and liquid for more efficient heat dissipation. It works well – during normal use (social media, YouTube, photography), the phone remains pleasantly cool, and even during 30 minutes of 4K/60fps video recording, it didn’t exceed 38 °C.

There is 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and you can choose variants with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage. All use fast UFS 4.1, so copying large files or installing games takes minimal time.

Software: HyperOS 2.2

The Xiaomi 15T Pro ships with Android 15 and the HyperOS 2.2 overlay. This is partly a positive – competitors often launch phones with Android 14, but I would have expected that if the manufacturer shows HyperOS 3 at the same presentation, the new version, which brings many new features, would be present here. Unfortunately, we will have to wait.

After the first boot, you’ll find a few pre-installed applications that you might consider bloatware. Fortunately, most can be uninstalled or at least disabled. Moreover, there are no system ads in the EU version.

Personalization is extensive – you can customize almost everything from icons to animations to the Always-On display.

AI features include an AI writing assistant, photo editing in the gallery, a real-time translator, and an interpreter. They work decently but are not as advanced as on Google Pixels or Samsung phones. However, for domestic users, the crucial information is that they also work in Czech, which cannot be said for the aforementioned competition.

Software support includes 4 years of major updates and 6 years of security patches. This is not bad, but Samsung offers 6 years for its A-series, and Google even offers 7 years for Pixels.

Cameras: a star named telephoto lens

This is where the Xiaomi 15T Pro truly excels. The camera system with Leica partnership offers a 50Mpx Light Fusion 900 main sensor (f/1.62, OIS), a 50Mpx periscopic telephoto lens with 5× optical zoom (f/3.0), and a 12Mpx ultrawide lens (f/2.2, 120° angle).

The main camera delivers excellent performance in all lighting conditions. Images have natural colors, good dynamic range, and plenty of detail. Leica Vibrant mode produces vibrant but not exaggerated colors – it finally looks realistic, not like an artificial Instagram filter. If you want an even more natural look, switch to Leica Authentic. I personally prefer it and also used it on the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, where, however, it works even better in combination with a larger sensor.

Night mode is excellent. Even in very low light, the phone can extract a huge amount of light and detail without the photos looking artificial or noisy. White balance is accurate, and photos look natural, not bluish or yellowish.

But the real star is the 5× periscopic telephoto lens. In this price category, it has no competition. Image quality is excellent, colors are consistent with the main sensor, and thanks to the 50Mpx resolution, you can digitally zoom up to 15-20× with very usable results. You’ll appreciate this at concerts or sporting events, for example.

The ultrawide lens is the weakest link. At 12 Mpx, it lags behind the main sensor and telephoto lens, especially at night where noise quickly appears and details fade. During the day, however, it is usable, and distortion correction works decently.

Portrait mode finally makes sense. You can switch between 1×, 2×, and 5× zoom, and the phone naturally blurs the background. Edge detection works reliably, although it sometimes falters with hair or more complex objects.

The front 32Mpx camera is also solid. Images have plenty of detail, colors are natural, and it delivers decent results even in poorer light. Autofocus is fast and accurate.

Video: up to 8K at 30 fps

The Xiaomi 15T Pro can record up to 8K resolution at 30 fps, but in reality, you’ll probably use 4K at 60 fps with HDR10+, which looks great.

Stabilization works well, colors are consistent, and autofocus is fast. When shooting in 4K/60fps with HDR, the phone heats up slightly, but I’ve never experienced the camera app shutting down due to overheating, which happened to me a few times with the Ultra.

You can also shoot in 4K at 120 fps for slow-motion effects, which is a nice bonus. Support for LOG format with LUT will be appreciated by content creators who want more control during post-production. However, it must be added that the LOG format does not contain as much information as, for example, on iPhones; the resulting file is smaller than on Apple devices, but you are more limited in post-production. That’s a shame.

Battery: a new champion in endurance

Here, the Xiaomi 15T Pro absolutely dominates. The 5500 mAh battery combined with the efficient 3nm Dimensity 9400+ chip produces results that are simply brutal.

During normal use, the phone achieved around 8-9 hours of screen-on time, which is one of the highest values among phones I’ve tested in recent years.

This means comfortably two days of battery life even with more intensive use. Charging is fast – 90W wired (if you have a Xiaomi adapter) and 50W wireless (again, with a proprietary charger). From 15% to 100%, the phone charges in approximately 40 minutes via cable. With a regular 65W charger, it takes a bit longer, but it’s still fast.

Xiaomi promises that the battery will retain at least 80% of its original capacity after 1600 cycles, which is a solid guarantee of long lifespan.

Audio and haptics

The stereo speakers play clearly, and the volume is sufficient. They are not the best speakers I’ve heard, but they are enough for watching videos or listening to podcasts. Maximum volume could be a bit higher, and the bass lacks a bit of punch; it’s about average for its class.

Haptic feedback is solid, firm, and precise. It’s not quite on the level of Pixels or OnePlus, but it’s significantly better than most phones in this price category. The system works well with haptics – you feel it when scrolling, typing, toggling switches… basically almost everywhere.

Special features: offline communication

A unique feature that most of you will probably never use, but it’s good to know it’s there: Xiaomi Offline Communication. It allows direct voice calls between phones without mobile signal or Wi-Fi.

The range is up to 1.9 km in open areas. In practice, this means that if you go hiking in the mountains and lose signal, you can continue to communicate with a friend (who also has a Xiaomi with this feature).

Its use is limited, but in critical situations or during outdoor activities, it can save the day. Moreover, it will only arrive with HyperOS 3, which (as I mentioned above) was not yet on the phone at the time of testing.

Price and availability

The Xiaomi 15T Pro is sold in the Czech Republic in three variants:

• 12/256 GB – 18,999 CZK (on sale for 15,499 CZK)
• 12/512 GB – 20,999 CZK (on sale for 17,499 CZK)
• 12/1TB – 23,499 CZK (on sale for 19,999 CZK)

The introductory discount of 3,500 CZK is valid until October 19, 2025. Additionally, you’ll receive a Xiaomi Smart Band 10 as a gift and can take advantage of a trade-in bonus of up to 3,000 CZK for your old phone. This makes the price even more attractive.

At that promotional price (15,499 CZK for the base version), it’s an absolutely great deal.

Conclusion: A great phone and, most importantly, a great value phone

The Xiaomi 15T Pro is a phone that pleasantly surprised me. I expected a solid flagship with a few compromises, but I received a device that in many respects surpasses even more expensive phones.

Performance is brutal – the Dimensity 9400+ handles everything you throw at it and competes with the Snapdragon 8 Elite in benchmarks. The display is among the brightest on the market, and the battery lasts up to two days. And the 5× telephoto lens is unique at this price point with excellent quality.

On the other hand, there are a few weaknesses. Software support of only 4 years is disappointing, HyperOS has its flaws, and the ultrawide lens lags behind the rest.

Who would I recommend the Xiaomi 15T Pro to? People who want a near-flagship experience without the premium price. If you take a lot of photos and appreciate a telephoto lens, need long battery life, and don’t want to spend 30,000+ CZK on a top model, this is an excellent choice. At the promotional price of 15,499 CZK, it has no competition.

Editor’s rating: 92%

What do you think of the Xiaomi 15T Pro?

We thank the Czech representation of Xiaomi for providing the phone.