Xiaomi 15 Ultra review: It almost meets our very high expectations

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra looks like a camera from the back, and I think it’s a fantastic design.

The top section (viewed in landscape) is made of metal and the lower section is covered with a vegan leather.

The camera module is huge, but at least its sensibly and symmetrically laid out, so size-aside it doesn’t overwhelm the otherwise simple design of the phone.

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra looks a lot like a camera, so has it got the photographic ability to back up the style? The main camera is a 50 -megapixel Sony LYT-900 with an f/1.63 aperture, electronic and optical image stabilization ( EIS and OIS ) and a 23mm focal length.

There’s good consistency between the main and wide-angle cameras, but the zoom modes are all over the place.

Notifications have been unreliable, especially over the first few days of use.

At the time of writing the 3DMark benchmarking app seems to be blocked on the 15 Ultra .

There’s a slight hint the phone will get quite warm when playing games.

The phone supports the 90W HyperCharge proprietary wire charging system, and 80W wireless charging.

Xiaomi does not sell its smartphones in the U.S. , but it will release the Xiaomi 15 Ultra in the UK in the near future.