Xiaomi 15 vs Xiaomi 14: What’s new

When boss Abe first handed me our review unit of the Xiaomi 15, I was a bit confused. I thought he mistakenly gave me the Xiaomi 14 since it looked exactly the same. But then he also handed me the Xiaomi 14 to write this article, and well, let’s just say I became even more confused.

The two phones looked almost identical to each other. While I know there are upgrades, it is a bit difficult to figure out what’s new, at least just by looking at them from the outside.

But what are these differences, and more importantly, is it worth it to upgrade to the Xiaomi 15 if you just bought the Xiaomi 14? Well, if you’re curious, I suggest you read on.

Design and Construction

First, we have to talk about the design of the Xiaomi 15 and how it’s changed from the Xiaomi. If you look at them at first glance, you wouldn’t think Xiaomi changed anything at all. The cameras are still located in the upper left corner, and they’re all enclosed in a square camera island. Even the Leica branding didn’t change.

But if you look closer, you will see a few changes to the camera island. On the Xiaomi 15, the camera island is a bit more flowing. Xiaomi also moved the LED flash outside of the camera island as a separate vertical slit. Because of this, the Xiaomi 15 now looks like it has a quad rear camera system, but don’t be fooled. This is still a triple rear shooter.

Aside from the camera, the back panel is the same, even the location of the Xiaomi logo. The Xiaomi 15 is a bit slimmer since it has thinner glass and a frosted design compared to the smooth, reflective glass on the Xiaomi 14. However, do note that this could be because of the color.

As for the rest of the design, it’s very much the same as before. The volume rocker and power button are on the right side, while the USB-C port, loudspeaker, and dual-sim card slot are at the bottom. An IP68 rating is also standard for both, so no upgrades here.

And that’s pretty much all the design changes from the Xiaomi 14 to the Xiaomi 15. Not a lot, but it’s already a good-looking phone to begin with. Why change it up if it works, right?yy

Display and Multimedia

Moving on to the display, it seems the design isn’t the only thing that was carried over. The new Xiaomi 15 and the Xiaomi 14 have the same size, measuring 6.36 inches. Both displays are LTPO OLED, have a maximum 120Hz refresh rate, and support HDR10+ along with Dolby Vision.

The only visible difference? The Xiaomi 15 has a higher peak brightness compared to the Xiaomi 14. In everyday use, you won’t notice it. In fact, even the colors look identical. But if you max out the brightness on both phones and view the screens from an angle, that’s where you’ll see some differences.

From our eyes, though, there’s nothing to complain about in the display on the Xiaomi 15 or the Xiaomi 14. The colors are still very vivid, and the blacks are deep. No matter which phone you use, you’ll definitely have a great viewing experience. With the 120Hz refresh rate, you can also play games on this phone without issues. More on that later.

As for the audio, there doesn’t seem to be any changes or upgrades on the Xiaomi 15 coming from the Xiaomi 14. You still have dual stereo speakers, and they are loud. However, like most phones, they still lack bass. The sound stage on Xiaomi 14 isn’t that great, and it seems there wasn’t any changes made to address that issue on the 15 either.

But if you’re just watching videos on the couch, it’s more than adequate.

Cameras

On paper, the Xiaomi 15’s cameras appear to be a carryover from the Xiaomi 14. It still uses a triple rear camera featuring a 50MP main, a 50MP telephoto, and a 50MP ultrawide. Just like before, these are all tuned by Leica too.

If you use the Xiaomi 15’s cameras, you’ll notice that the images come out a lot better as compared to the Xiaomi 14. Specifically, this is very prominent when you use the zoom function of the Xiaomi 15. That’s because, according to Xiaomi, the telephoto uses a new sensor as compared to the one in the 14.

Check out these images we captured to see what we mean.

The images captured by the Xiaomi 15’s zoom are a lot sharper, and retain a lot more detail as compared to Xiaomi 14. Even in the camera interface, you’ll notice that there are more zoom options to choose from on the Xiaomi 15 vs the Xiaomi 14.

But even when you’re not using the zoom lens on the Xiaomi 15, there is a clear difference in how the two phones capture and process images. Mind you we were shooting with the same Leica mode in these images.

As for the video, there’s one advantage that the Xiaomi 15 has over the Xiaomi 14, and it’s called Master Cinema Mode. It makes the videos look similar to the images captured by the phone with the Leica mode turned on.

Unfortunately, this mode is not found on the Xiaomi 14. As a result, you get a moodier video with the Xiaomi 15 out of the box as compared to the Xiaomi 14. That’s not to say that the video on the Xiaomi 14 is bad though; it’s still decent for 2025 standards.

Check out the video we were able to take on the Xiaomi 15 and the Xiaomi 14 with Master Cinema Mode turned on.

With Master Cinema Mode turned on though, the Xiaomi 15 is limited to just 4K@30FPS max. Without it, it still tops out at 8K@30FPS just like before. So with that, the Xiaomi 15 does have a better camera even though the megapixel count of the three cameras are the same as before.

Performance and Benchmarks

In terms of performance, the Xiaomi 15 does pack a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset under the hood versus the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset used in the Xiaomi 14. Both of our units come with 12GB or RAM and 512GB of storage too.

From our initial experience, there doesn’t seem to be that big of a difference between the two phones. It could easily run your usual day-to-day tasks without any problems whatsoever. These are flagship chipsets after all, so you can expect them to handle almost anything you throw at them.

The same can be said for gaming. These phones will run heavy games like Genshin Impact and Diablo Immortal without any problems, and even with the graphic settings set to the highest. Unfortunately, Xiaomi wasn’t able to fix the heating issues of the 14 since the 15 tends to heat up as well when you’re playing heavy games.

In real world use, there’s not a big difference. However, the performance benchmarks do say otherwise. The xiaomi 14 only recorded an Antutu score of around 1.9 million while the Xiaomi 15 recorded around 2.2 million in comparison.

The rest of the benchmarks show a similar story, and you can check them out below.

Battery and Connectivity

The last upgrade Xiaomi made to their new flagship smartphone is the battery. It now uses a 5,400 Li-Polymer battery pack, which helps the phone last a lot longer on a single charge. In comparison, the Xiaomi 14 only had a 4,610mAh battery pack, which is a lot smaller in comparison.

You might think that the 800mAh difference wouldn’t make that big of an effect in terms of battery life, but it does. Not to mention that the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset is a lot more energy efficient than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

As a result, the Xiaomi 15 lasts a lot longer than the Xiaomi 14. To be exact, it outlasted the Xiaomi 14 by almost 6 hours and 30 minutes. With PC Mark’s Battery Test, the Xiaomi 15 recorded 21 hours and 55 minutes of battery life, while the Xiaomi 14 only recorded 15 hours and 24 minutes.

That’s a significant improvement, no matter how you look at it since you don’t need to charge the Xiaomi 15 as often. As for the charging rates, it’s the same as before – 90W wired and 50W wireless.

Price and Conclusion

Before we end this video, we do have to talk about the price of the phones. For reference, the price of the Xiaomi 14 starts at PHP 45,999USD 802INR 69,104EUR 742CNY 5,819, which isn’t exactly affordable. In comparison, the Xiaomi 15 is also being offered at the same price starting at PHP 45,999USD 802INR 69,104EUR 742CNY 5,819 for the 12+256GB variant.

With that in mind, if you’re someone who bought the Xiaomi 14 just last year, we don’t see a need for you to upgrade to the Xiaomi 15 just yet. Sure, it may have upgrades to the camera, chipset, and the battery, but that doesn’t justify spending thousands of pesos once more.

But if you’re someone who’s using an older or even a weaker phone, then there’s no reason not to get the Xiaomi 15. You already have the latest chipset, an improved camera, and a long lasting battery.

Still, what do you think of the Xiaomi 15 and the changes they made from the Xiaomi 14? Share your thoughts in the comments below.