Product test
Xiaomi 14T Pro review: back to that good ol’ value for money
by Jan Johannsen
Xiaomi 15T Pro tested: More focal length for the telephoto camera
3/11/2025
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Jan Johannsen
The Xiaomi 15T Pro impresses with its very good value for money - and yet you don't have to do without anything with this smartphone.
A year ago, Xiaomi returned to its old virtues with the T series: lots of features for comparatively little money. This credo also applies to the Xiaomi 15T Pro. Although the improvements compared to its predecessor are manageable, the longer focal length of the telephoto camera is a big plus point.
The features of the Xiaomi 15T Pro compared with its predecessor.
The telephoto camera is a big improvement
As with its predecessor, Xiaomi has teamed up with Leica. That's why I have two shooting modes to choose from on the 15T Pro: «Leica Vibrant» and «Leica Authentic». Vibrant is supposed to make the colours a little stronger. However, I'm not going to go into this difference this time, but am happy about the longer focal length of the telephoto camera. Converted into 35 mm format, it corresponds to 115 millimetres. With the 14T Pro it is only 60 millimetres. Compared to the main camera, this results in five times the magnification.
With the telephoto camera, I can not only get closer to my subjects, but also capture completely different perspectives than with the main camera. For example, this view of a street.
With the main camera you can still see the cross street behind which I am standing.
I also managed to take detailed shots without moving. If I had moved closer to the fence, this angle would not have been possible. The photo of the main camera from the same point of view follows in the next section.
Despite its small aperture, the telephoto camera also delivers good images in the dark with the active support of night mode.
With the main camera, cars crowd into the picture.
Ultra wide-angle camera catches up with the main camera
There are no changes to the other cameras on the 15T Pro. They are identical to the main camera, the ultra-wide-angle camera and the front camera of the predecessor. The setup already impressed me a year ago, even if the ultra-wide-angle camera looked a little pale at the time. It has now caught up with the main camera in terms of colour. Xiaomi seems to have made improvements to the software here.
In the dark, the night mode has a much greater effect on the ultra-wide-angle camera than on the main camera.
With the main camera, it mainly removes the bright bubbles around light sources.
The front camera delivers usable selfies and copes well with difficult lighting conditions. However, the colours sometimes appear dull and the level of detail is higher with other front cameras.
Decent camera hump and larger display
The touchscreen of the Xiaomi 15T has undergone numerous changes compared to its predecessor, but it remains an AMOLED display that is easy to use in all situations. At 6.83, the screen has become slightly larger. Although this makes the smartphone longer overall, it is also narrower and thinner and only one grammes heavier. With Gorilla Glass 7i, it is also slightly more scratch-resistant than the Gorilla Glass 5 of the 14T Pro. The entire housing is dustproof to IP68 and waterproof for 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 metres.
Optically, I like the camera hump on the back. Thanks to its strongly bevelled edge, it looks less bulky than on many other smartphones. It is still wide enough to prevent the Xiaomi 15T Pro from wobbling when it is placed on a table.
Lots of performance and good battery life
In terms of performance, the Xiaomi 15T Pro with its Dimensity 9400+ takes a significant step up from the 14T Pro with the Dimensity 9300+. Nevertheless, it still lags behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite of the Xiaomi 15 (Ultra) - at least in the benchmark tests. In comparison with similarly priced smartphones from Samsung or Nothing, the 15T Pro performs very well.
Like its predecessor, the Xiaomi 15T Pro uses Wi-Fi 7, but there is an update with Bluetooth 6.0 instead of version 5.4 on the predecessor.
Xiaomi has increased the battery capacity by ten per cent to 5500 mAh. I measured a battery life of 16:23 hours with the PCMark Work battery test at 50 per cent display brightness. That's okay. The comparison with the predecessor is difficult because I measured the runtime differently back then.
Xiaomi has reduced the maximum power consumption of the 15T Pro from 120 watts to 90 watts. However, the extended time of 19 and 36 minutes until the battery is fully charged does not bother me and should only be relevant in exceptional cases. Wireless charging remains at up to 50 watts if you use Xiaomi's HyperCharge fast charging technology.
Xiaomi adds Android
Xiaomi delivers the 15T Pro with HyperOS 2. This is based on Android 15 and extends Google's operating system with apps from Xiaomi and a different design. When it comes to AI, Xiaomi relies on Gemini and offers various tools under the label «Xiaomi Hyper AI». This allows background images to be created or photos to be edited. There are also several translation functions, subtitles and a writing aid.
The update to HyperOS 3 and thus to Android 16 will be made available by Xiaomi later this year. The smartphone will receive a total of four updates - i.e. up to Android 19 - and five years of security updates.
In a nutshell
A very good smartphone that doesn't cost an arm and a leg
With its telephoto camera, the Xiaomi 15T Pro stands out noticeably from its predecessor for me. There is also a big increase in performance and slightly more battery capacity. The other changes are minimal and hardly noticeable. In the end, I can say that the Xiaomi 15T Pro offers a lot of features for comparatively little money. Exactly what the manufacturer has become known for.
Competition threatens from within the company. The price of the Xiaomi 15 has fallen since the spring and is very close to that of the 15T Pro. Although the older smartphone has a higher performance and is somewhat more compact, it only has a telephoto camera with a focal length of 60 millimetres.
Pro
- Good telephoto camera with longer focal length
- Good battery life
- Value for money
Contra
- Many pre-installed apps
- Selfies could be better
- Android 16 is still a long time coming
Header image: Jan Johannsen
Jan Johannsen
Senior Editor
Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.deAs a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
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