Xiaomi 15 Ultra In-Depth Review: Imaging Flagship, Ultimate Experience, Contender for Android King?

Xiaomi 15 Ultra In-Depth Review: Imaging Flagship, Ultimate Experience, Contender for Android King?On February 27th, Xiaomi's "Double Ultra Launch Event" saw the Xiaomi 15 Ultra make a stunning debut, priced starting at 6499, instantly becoming a focal point online. This top-tier Android imaging flagship boasts not only a powerful camera system but also represents a significant step in Xiaomi's high-end strategy

Xiaomi 15 Ultra In-Depth Review: Imaging Flagship, Ultimate Experience, Contender for Android King?

On February 27th, Xiaomi's "Double Ultra Launch Event" saw the Xiaomi 15 Ultra make a stunning debut, priced starting at 6499, instantly becoming a focal point online. This top-tier Android imaging flagship boasts not only a powerful camera system but also represents a significant step in Xiaomi's high-end strategy. The Lei Technology team conducted an in-depth review of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, examining its imaging capabilities, hardware specifications, and user experience to comprehensively showcase this flagship phone's unique charm.

I. Imaging System: True-to-Life Reproduction, Clear Layering

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra's imaging system continues Xiaomi's pursuit of realistic image reproduction, minimizing over-reliance on algorithms and aiming for maximum fidelity to the scene. This is evident in its main camerathe LYT-900 sensor. Compared to the previous generation's one-inch sensor, the LYT-900 offers a significant improvement in dynamic range, resulting in richer layering in images. This enhancement is especially noticeable when photographing buildings with complex light and shadow, revealing finer details, clear subject-background separation, sharp near and far objects, and increased depth.

Even during the review period, when Guangzhou experienced its characteristic humid "return of south" weather, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra demonstrated its powerful imaging capabilities. Software algorithm upgrades have imbued images with richer details and a more artistic feel.

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra's advantages extend beyond its main camera. Its full-focal-length, large-aperture design provides photographers with a wider field of view and more flexible composition options. The 4.3x equivalent 100mm telephoto lens is particularly impressive. It boasts the largest effective aperture and light intake among current phone telephoto lenses, balancing low-light performance and telephoto capabilities. Its longer focal length creates a stronger sense of spatial compression, enabling visually striking photos even with simple compositions.

The specifications of this telephoto lens are astonishing: a 1/1.4-inch large sensor, 14EV high dynamic range, four independent Micro-Lenses, and a 2.51cm physical focal length its sensor specifications rival flagship main cameras. The 200-megapixel ultra-high resolution delivers detail comparable to the main camera; without the watermark indicating the focal length, many might mistake it for a main camera shot.

Thanks to its high resolution and focal length, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra can easily capture close-up macro shots, proving highly practical in museum settings and similar environments. Furthermore, it supports 8.7x and 17.4x lossless cropping; simply tapping the 4.3x button switches to 200mm and 400mm focal lengths with excellent detail retention.

The super telephoto capabilities from the Xiaomi 14 Ultra are retained, using AI algorithms to restore detail in distant scenes. Although at 30x magnification and above, AI algorithm limitations manifest in certain details (like brickwork), the overall effect remains impressive.

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra's telephoto macro function is integrated into the 3x telephoto lens, but in default mode, when shooting close-up objects, it might automatically switch to other lenses for cropped "fake macro" shots. Users are advised to disable the adaptive lens option in settings for better macro results.

While the Xiaomi 15 Ultra omits the variable aperture design, this impacts most users minimally; the practicality of a variable aperture in everyday shooting is low. However, it remains valuable for some professional users.

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra's "Night Owl" night mode is also noteworthy. In near-total darkness, images taken with night mode enabled are dramatically different from those without; the algorithm effectively increases light intake, resulting in natural-looking images without obvious digital artifacts. Notably, this algorithm works with both the main and telephoto lenses.

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra supports full-focal-length 8K/4K video recording and incorporates Xiaomi's self-developed anti-shake system, effectively preventing blurry footage. In video recording, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra finally has the capability to rival the iPhone.

In short, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra's imaging experience can be described as "point and shoot" with confidence. It not only captures high-quality images but also instills confidence in users, empowering even casual photographers to easily take professional-looking photos.

II. Monochrome Photography: A Unique Imaging Style

Monochrome photography is a litmus test for a manufacturer's understanding of imaging style. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra demonstrates a unique approach to monochrome filters, emphasizing light and shadow, grayscale transitions, and contrast to create more captivating and evocative images. With the Leica Monochrome HC filter, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra's monochrome images are clear, with well-controlled contrast, grayscale, and black and white brightness, faithfully reproducing the true relationship between light and shadow.

Furthermore, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra provides various distinctive filters and supports custom style presets, allowing users to adjust parameters like tone, color, and saturation to their liking. Leica Classic, Leica Vivid filters, and custom style combinations can create diverse works. The extensive preset scenes and parameter settings in professional mode, along with the ability to import external compressed files, add to the shooting fun.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra's exploration of stylized photography positively contributes to enhancing consumer aesthetic appreciation.

III. Photography Grip: Enhanced User Experience

Starting with the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, Xiaomi has included a photography grip with its flagship models. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra's grip offers significant improvements in operational logic and emotional value. The threaded knob and shutter lever on the shutter button, while not enhancing actual shooting capabilities, enhance the retro and playful aspects.

The grip's built-in battery powers the phone and features a wheel, shutter button, recording button, etc., allowing direct control over the shooting interface. A 67mm filter adapter ring accommodates various filters. Importantly, when the grip is attached, the phone's street photography mode displays a new interface almost identical to the classic interface of the Leica M series camera, a detail-oriented touch that significantly enhances the user experience.

The inclusion of the photography grip significantly boosts users' enthusiasm for shooting outdoors.

IV. RAW Shooting: The UltraRAW Breakthrough

For photography enthusiasts, RAW shooting capability is crucial. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra achieves a breakthrough in RAW shooting, supporting 16-bit UltraRAW capture (in specific scenes), exceeding the native 14-bit RAW. It's currently the only phone to achieve 16-bit RAW output without third-party software.

UltraRAW surpasses native RAW in color information and post-processing flexibility, particularly in high-contrast scenes. However, UltraRAW files consume considerable storage space; a 12.5-megapixel UltraRAW image occupies approximately 40MB, while full-pixel output (50MP) soars to around 70MB. Users who prefer UltraRAW are advised to purchase a higher-storage version of the phone.

While all four lenses on the Xiaomi 15 Ultra support UltraRAW, full-pixel output doesn't seem to be currently available in UltraRAW format. When switching to the 200-megapixel super telephoto lens, the system indicates that only JPG format is supported.

The difference in resolution between the full 200-megapixel mode and the default mode is significant, but its massive storage consumption and processing speed mean it's only recommended for users with specific needs.

V. Other Specifications: Flagship-Level Standards

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra's other specifications also reach flagship levels: a 226g body weight, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 6.73-inch 2K resolution 120Hz display with professional color support, 6000mAh battery, 90W wired charging + 80W wireless charging, BeiDou and global satellite communication capabilities, etc.

VI. Summary: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages:

1. Significant improvements in hardware and software algorithms, leading to a higher success rate of good shots.

2. Complete focal length coverage, with each lens reaching main-camera level quality.

3. UltraRAW provides greater post-processing potential, achieving "professionalization of mass-market devices."

4. Leica-style interface, Leica camera interface, and photography grip deliver a satisfying user experience.

Disadvantages:

1. Average grip feel.

2. Mediocre quality of the included phone case.

VII. Pricing and Assessment

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is priced at: 12+256GB: 6499; 16+512GB: 6999; 16+1TB: 7799; 16+1TB (dual satellite version): 7999.

As an ultra-flagship phone and imaging powerhouse, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has almost no noticeable shortcomings. It continues Xiaomi's unique imaging style, closely tying it to the Ultra series. Its powerful hardware configuration and comprehensive features meet users' diverse needs in imaging, performance, screen, etc. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is Xiaomi's