Sharp Shooter

There’s a new Ultra in town, one that promises to upend what it means to carry an Ultra badge. Say hello to the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, a phone so ultra that checking the du jour superphone boxes – a top tier chip with ample storage and memory, a big battery and a gorgeous screen – wasn’t enough, and Xiaomi backs the 15 Ultra up with a camera setup that makes it a solid contender for the ultimate smartphone for photography in 2025. 

Now, if you think that’s hyperbole for a phone launching in the first quarter of the year, sample this – not only does the 15 Ultra get a 1.0inch-type 50-megapixel LYT-900 sensor on the primary camera (a rarity in 2025), there’s also a new, larger 1/1.4-inch 200MP telephoto sensor coupled with a 100mm-equivalent lens (4.3x zoom) alongside a 70mm shorter (3x) telephoto with a 50MP sensor as well. Shots taken on the main camera are excellent in daylight, with good dynamic range, crisp details and accurate colors, and portraits, both at 23mm and 46mm (2x) are pretty great too. The shorter telephoto helps with close focusing and even better punched-in portraits, but it’s the new 4.3x telephoto that truly delivers at 100mm and 200mm (8.6x zoom), with excellent levels of detail, and you can always switch to 200MP mode when you need to eke out more from the shot. Low light shots are well exposed and with well-developed shadows and highlights, and the 3x and 4.3x zooms impress in sharpness and details in dimly lit scenes without compromising on dynamic range and colors. 

The 50MP ultrawide brings up the rear in the package, with respectable shots in good light and poor, and while you get a near-lossless zoom range of 14mm-400mm, you can go further with rather usable images at 50x zoom, and slightly-less-than-tack-sharp images if you max out the 120x digital zoom. The 15 Ultra is strong on video as well, with each of the four rear cameras capable of 4K/60p Dolby Vision recording, with 120fps 4K on the main and telephoto shooters. Each sensor sits behind Leica-blessed glass, and you can pick between Leica’s Authentic and Vibrant color profiles, and if anything, it’s really the selfie camera that’s the weakest link in an otherwise strong camera suite. 

But wait, there’s more – the truly committed photography buffs can pick up the Rs. 11,999 Photography Kit which bundles in a two-tone (red-black) textured phone case and a clip-on battery grip, plus some interchangeable rings for customization. Aside from giving you a classic digital SLR-style grip, the grip adds 2000mAh of added power, a physical shutter button, and customizable physical controls for zooming or changing functions without having to tap the touchscreen. Adds a bit of weight, but it’s among the best mated accessories I’ve seen thus far.

Yet, despite the obvious focus on its photography chops, the 15 Ultra is far from a one-shot wonder. There’s a practically faultless 6.73-inch 1-120Hz QHD OLED panel that goes all the way to 3200 nits peak brightness and supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision standards, and the switch to an ultrasonic fingerprint reader only makes it better. Add to that a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and 16GB/512GB of memory/storage, and the 15 Ultra easily keeps pace with the flagship class of 2025. 

Battery life is a step up as well, with a larger 5410mAh silicon-carbon battery lasting a full day with all the highest settings enabled, and then some more if you pick up the Photography Kit. Charging speeds are impressive, topping off the phone in just under 50 minutes with bundled 90W charger. Wireless charging goes to a blistering 80W, if you have a proprietary wireless charger, though no Qi2 magnetic charging. The only grouse is that it is a thick, heavy phone, and that camera bump on the rear is massive, but it almost feels justified. I quite like the two-tone (silver-black) plastic rear that emulates a classic rangefinder camera, but the Xiaomi Shield Glass 2.0 protection and IP68 dust/water rating are bested by their Android peers. 

At Rs. 1,09,999, the 15 Ultra delivers without any significant compromises, and is an easy recommendation for photography buffs looking to spend upwards of a lakh for a phone that can do it all. 

Rating: 9/10

Price: Rs. 1,09,999