"Xiaomi 15 Ultra has a heavy burden on its shoulders.

In the past period, the Xiaomi 15 series has become the focus of the mobile phone industry. On the one hand, the sales of the Xiaomi 14 series have soared, and fans' expectations for its successor have peaked; on the other hand, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is expected to debut at the end of October. Undoubtedly, the Xiaomi 15 series, which will be the first to launch Qualcomm's new mobile platform, will naturally be the "touchstone" for this new flagship SoC.

On August 22, the internal code names of the four models in the Xiaomi 15 series were officially exposed: the standard version of Xiaomi 15 is codenamed "Dada", Xiaomi 15 Pro is codenamed "Haotian", Xiaomi 15S Pro is codenamed "Dijun", and Xiaomi 15 Ultra is codenamed "Xuanyuan". Friends familiar with Chinese civilization history are certainly not unfamiliar with "Xuanyuan", who is known as the ancestor of the Chinese nation, the first emperor of China, and the head of the Five Emperors.

(Image source: What Mobile)

Judging from the internal code name, Xiaomi has high expectations for the new generation of Ultra, which also implies that it will have a very powerful configuration. So can Xiaomi 15 Ultra reverse the reputation of its predecessors and become the new generation of "Android's light"?

Leica Imaging, Even More Powerful?

Since the Xiaomi 11 series designated the largest cup as "Ultra", the suffix has officially established its image as a synonym for "imaging flagship" in the mobile phone market. Up to now, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Huawei, all name their imaging flagships with the suffix "Ultra", indicating its profound influence.

Since we're talking about Xiaomi 15 Ultra, let's naturally start by discussing its imaging capabilities.

Consistent with the previous generation, Xiaomi 15 Ultra continues with a quad-camera setup, with the main camera still being the Sony LYT-900, a 1-inch large sensor. There are reports that Xiaomi may abandon the iris diaphragm scheme in this generation of imaging flagships, but there is no clear leak of configuration information yet.

(Image source: GSM China)

As for the telephoto lens, there have been significant changes. Xiaomi 15 Ultra is basically confirmed to adopt the Samsung ISOCELL HP9 sensor, a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto lens that debuted on the vivo X100 Ultra. The advantages of this telephoto lens are self-evident, with ultra-high pixel count, ultra-large sensor area, and new-generation reflective coating technology, all geared towards being the strongest telephoto lens at present. Another telephoto lens may choose Sony's LYT-600 to complement the missing focal length range from 23mm to 85mm.

(Image source: Samsung)

The ultra-wide-angle lens continues the previous generation's solution, with basically unchanged sensor model, aperture, and other parameters.

To be honest, when I first heard about this quad-camera solution, I was a bit worried for Xiaomi. In the teardown of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, we have learned that Xiaomi has almost reached the limit in the internal components of this generation of imaging flagship, with the four lenses occupying the upper half of the body, leaving very little room for improvement. Referring to the previous Samsung HP9 sensor-equipped vivo X100 Ultra, it even abandoned the quad-camera solution for this telephoto lens.

Regardless, Xiaomi wants to pack a lot of powerful features into the 15 Ultra, mainly to maintain its reputation as the light of Android imaging. After all, the quad-camera solution of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra has very few improvements over the previous generation, and Xiaomi has also tried to use AI imaging models to make up for hardware deficiencies, but the effect is relatively average. If Xiaomi can indeed incorporate a quad-camera solution with the Samsung HP9 periscope telephoto lens, then the imaging flagship battle in 2025 will become quite intense.

As for the other hardware components, Xiaomi 15 Ultra will still choose the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 mobile platform, support the new generation of satellite communication technology, and offer up to 1TB of storage space. The well-received isobaric curved screen from the previous generation will also be carried over to this generation, with a resolution maintained at 2K level, and a significant improvement in peak brightness is expected.

(Image source: wccftecn)

With such a packed configuration, the biggest problem with Xiaomi 15 Ultra is that it is difficult to control the dimensions of the device. With imaging, screen, performance, and cooling all maxed out, it will also include a large-capacity battery of over 6000mAh, resulting in a weight that may exceed 230g.

Apart from the hardware, what people are most looking forward to in the Xiaomi 15 series is the update of Pengpai OS 2.0. Recently, the news of Jin Fan, head of Xiaomi MIUI (now Pengpai), clearing his social media platform caused concern, with rumors of his resignation, but subsequent official replies indicated that he was actually in seclusion. The first system update after Jin Fan's seclusion resolved many issues with the Pengpai system and brought a new AI version of XiaoAi Assistant. It can only be said that Pengpai OS 2.0 is also quite It's worth looking forward to .

Xiaomi Mobile Phone's Ascent: Success or Failure Hinges on Ultra's Move?

The slogan "Mi Chonggao" (Xiaomi's ascension) has been chanted for several years, but Xiaomi's Ultra models always seem to encounter some unexpected situations. Take Xiaomi 14 Ultra as an example, despite its hardware, software, and market presence reaching their peak, its reputation plummeted due to some issues in promotion.

On August 21, Xiaomi released its second-quarter financial report for 2024, in which the mobile phone business achieved remarkable results. In addition to the Chinese mainland market, Xiaomi achieved phased victories in various countries/regions such as Japan and Africa. Lu Weibing, President of Xiaomi Group, said in an interview that Xiaomi successfully attracted users from Apple, Huawei, and other mobile phone brands this year, with a net increase of 15 million users, one of the best results in recent years.

It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi MIX Flip has received impressive market feedback since its launch, with about 42% of iPhone users reportedly choosing to purchase it.

(Image source: Xiaomi)

In fact, Xiaomi's most successful models in recent years have been its digital series. Since Xiaomi 12S series collaborated with Leica, it has found its goal and direction in the imaging flagship journey. Xiaomi 12S is also one of Xiaomi's masterpieces on the path of small screens, followed by Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 14, two "small screen flagships", which have successfully garnered the support of a large number of users. According to market research firm Canalys, Xiaomi 13 shipped approximately 900,000 units in the second quarter of 2023, while Xiaomi's total shipments in that quarter were only 8.6 million units, meaning that this single model accounted for 10.5% of shipments.

Compared to the success of the standard version of the digital series, the Ultra models have encountered more setbacks.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra did not continue the success of the standard version, mainly because as an imaging flagship, it did not differentiate significantly from the 13 Pro. With the same IMX989 1-inch large sensor as the main camera, most consumers chose the Xiaomi 13 Pro instead of the more packed Xiaomi 13 Ultra. The subsequent Xiaomi 14 Ultra faced similar issues.

In the imaging flagship battle in the first half of this year, Xiaomi 14 Ultra was the most balanced device, with no controversy over its imaging solution or tone. In contrast, OPPO Find X7 Ultra, vivo X100 Ultra, and Huawei Pura 70 Ultra all received some negative reviews. However, this lack of outstanding features also made it less noticeable.

(Image source: Xiaomi)

It's not hard to understand why Xiaomi 15 Ultra included the Samsung HP9 "giant" periscope telephoto lens as an alternative option during the project initiation stage, using powerful features to create a splash in this boring mobile phone market. However, the reputation and sales of flagship Ultra models often do not solely depend on packed features but also require an understanding of the real needs of the target group. Whether Xiaomi 15 Ultra can deliver remains to be seen, and perhaps only time will tell.

Aiming for Global Sales Champion, Xiaomi 15 Ultra Carries a Heavy Burden

After announcing its second-quarter financial results, Xiaomi's next goal is to become the global leader in mobile phone sales.

According to the second-quarter global smartphone shipment report issued by market research firm TechInsights, the current top three global smartphone vendors are Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi, with Apple showing a significant decline and Xiaomi rising sharply. Despite the strong momentum, there is still a considerable gap between Xiaomi and Apple.

As Lei Technology analyzed in the article "Xiaomi's Mobile Phone Business: How Strong Is Its Core Competitiveness? Gross Margin Declines, But Premiumization Takes Shape" (available for search and viewing across the internet), the situation of Xiaomi's mobile phone business in Q2, while revenue and overall sales increased significantly and overseas markets performed well, the domestic market performance was relatively average. While the share of the high-end market increased, the gross margin of mobile phones declined: Xiaomi's Q1 mobile phone gross margin was 14.8%, compared to 13.3% in the same period last year, while the Q2 gross margin was only 12.1%.

Why did Xiaomi's mobile phone business gross margin decline despite an increase in its share of the mid-to-high-end market? Lei Technology believes that this is closely related to the mobile phone products that Xiaomi promoted during the quarter. From January to March this year, Xiaomi's high-end models, mainly the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Xiaomi 14 series, exceeded market expectations. From April to June, Xiaomi released the Redmi Turbo 3, a mid-range phone that diluted some of the gross margin advantages brought by high-end models. In addition, Xiaomi's active participation in the 618 promotion also lowered the gross margin of the mobile phone business to some extent.

Moving forward, the release of strong high-end models such as the Xiaomi 15 series is expected to drive an increase in Xiaomi's mobile phone gross margin. In this sense, Xiaomi 15 Ultra carries a heavy burden as it will determine Xiaomi's position in the high-end market, the staying power of its overseas markets, and the performance of the new generation of Leica imaging, which will directly determine Xiaomi's position in the imaging phone race.

Regardless, the Xiaomi 15 series is already on its way, and soon we will see whether it is a horse or a donkey. At that time, I will also be the first to experience the Xiaomi 15 series, so please subscribe and stay tuned.

Source: Lei Technology