Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus review: Et tu, Poco?

The new Redmi Note 15 line is here, hoping to breathe new life into the series, with the Redmi Note 15 Pro+ 5G sitting at the top of the pile.

If choosing between five near-identical looking Note 15 models wasn't confusing enough, there are also regional differences to consider. The global model being reviewed here is a different beast compared to the Chinese Note 15 Pro+ – which debuted earlier in 2025 – most notably thanks to its cameras.

Unlike the Chinese version's 50MP Light Fusion 800 primary sensor (found across numerous other Xiaomi, Poco and Redmi phones), the international variant plays host to "the global debut of the 200MP HPE sensor."

Detailed specs on the HPE are pretty thin on the ground, but with key hardware details seemingly identical to the Samsung-made HP3 sensor used by the previous Pro+, on paper it's unclear what renders this "new 200MP ultra-clarity camera," truly 'new'.

However mysterious Xiaomi intends to be with the camera hardware the new Note 15 Pro+ is bringing to the table, only by putting it to the test can we really know whether this affordable mid-ranger is worth picking up.

Specifications

Price

Redmi is a sub-brand centered around value, and buying from the bottom of the Note 15 line still grants you a pretty complete smartphone package, for less than £180.

At the other end of the range, however, the Note 15 Pro+ 5G starts at a more considerable £429, while more RAM and double the storage (topping out at 512GB) demands an asking price of £479. For comparison, at launch its predecessor cost £399 and £449 for the same 256GB / 512GB options, respectively.

This puts the 15 Pro+ up against an entirely different assortment of affordable mid-range smartphones than both its predecessor and the more modest members of the Note 15 line; meaning greater consideration is needed before buying.

The silver lining to this stiff competition conundrum is that Xiaomi loves an Early Bird discount (offering around 18% off both models – at £329 and £399 – for a short time after launch), not to mention launch prices tend to fall on Redmi phones relatively quickly after release; especially from third-party retailers.

Design

Building on Redmi's previous-generation Notes, the 15 series has a defined enough look that you can pick them out in a crowd. Perhaps not from one another, but at least against the competition; most obviously thanks to their distinct squircle rear camera module.

As well as swapping out its main sensor, the global version of the 15 Pro+ also ditches its predecessor's (admittedly ineffectual) macro snapper, and the Chinese version's 2.5x telephoto camera. As such, of the four black circular elements within the phone's camera bump, only two are actually cameras. The third is a single LED flash, and the fourth is the autofocus laser module.

Despite being a large-screened device – bigger than its predecessor, moving from a 6.67 to a 6.83-inch display – the Pro+ is still a pleasingly comfortable phone to handle. This comes thanks, in part, to a polycarbonate – instead of metal – frame, helping keep weight down under 210 grams; impressive for a phone of this size.

You get a marginally thinner, lighter device if you opt for the fiberglass-backed Glacier Blue or black finishes, but the fractionally thicker, heavier Mocha Brown colorway featured in this review is the real head-turner.

The light brown faux leather back and pale gold accent work might not be to everyone's taste but they make for an unquestionably different looking phone; especially outside Xiaomi's wider portfolio.

Unlike the majority of phones from the past 12 months, and even the Note 15 Pro 5G that sits just beneath the Plus model, the line's top entry also opts for curved edges front and back, rather than on-trend flat sides all the way around. While the form means this phone is more comfortable to hold and elegant to look at than many rivals, the material choices do rob the it of a truly premium feel, though.

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The tagline for the Note 15 series is "Titan strong" and, design-wise, that's made most evident in the 15 Pro+'s flagship-class IP66/68/69/69K-certified dust and water resistance, paired with SGS-certified drop resistance (having been tested at up to 2.5 meters), and Corning's premium Gorilla Glass Victus 2 defending the display.

In practice, this feels like a solidly built device, but if you are a little butterfingered, there's also the benefit of a pre-fitted screen plastic protector (which I have found is pretty easy to scratch up but nonetheless appreciated) and the brand's signature dark gray flexible TPU case, included in the box.

Display

The premium Xiaomi 15T from late 2025 (which starts at £120 more) offered up a superb display, and despite the Pro+'s differing curved-edge design, it looks like it's using essentially the same 6.83-inch panel.

That makes this Plus model notably larger than its 6.67-inch predecessor, but I'm all for it. As the phone doesn't feel overtly heavy, you're simply getting a bigger viewfinder and a better canvas on which to multitask, game and stream video.

Like the 15T's screen, the Note 15 Pro+'s 'CrystalRes' AMOLED lacks the more dynamic and power efficient LTPO tech seen in higher-end phones, meaning its refresh rate can only scale in large increments, between 30Hz (such as with the Always-On display), 60Hz, 90Hz, and up to its peak of 120Hz. In testing, swiping around the phone's homescreen and first-party apps, you're treated to that peak refresh rate practically all of the time; meaning a consistently responsive and fluid user experience.

Its promised 1800-nit panel-wide and 3200-nit peak brightness are pretty impressive in this corner of the mid-range market, ensuring great-looking HDR content (bolstered by 12-bit color depth, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision compatibility), as well as usable outdoor brightness.

Despite getting helpfully dim in low light scenarios (ideal for reading in the evening or checking your phone in the cinema one last time before the movie starts), other devices can dip even lower.

Xiaomi's flavor of user experience makes getting at supplementary accessibility tools – like Extra Dim – frustratingly trickier than other versions of Android, but it otherwise serves up a pleasing amount of control over the Note 15 Pro+'s viewing experience; particularly with regards to controlling the display's color balance.

The company's Wet Touch 2.0 tech goes some way to keep you typing coherently – even when raindrops hit the phone's display, but droplets running down the screen still cause the touchscreen to misinterpret interactions more often than not. This isn't an issue unique to Xiaomi's phones, however, with the likes of OnePlus' Aqua Touch algorithm proving similarly temperamental.

When it comes to smartphone displays, one of the telltale signs that this is a more affordable device comes with its use of an optical in-display fingerprint sensor. Unlike more advanced ultrasonic sensors, which employ smaller components, the use of an optical sensor has pushed Xiaomi's engineers to place it awkwardly close to the bottom bezel. It's functionally fine and responsive (working even when the display is off), but will prove a stretch for most people's thumbs.

Camera Performance

Despite Xiaomi's long-standing partnership with Leica, the efforts of this collaboration haven't yet trickled down to the camera experience offered up by the company's Redmi devices.

That headline 200MP 'ultimate-clarity camera' is the first example of the mysterious HPE sensor, but it comes backed by promising specs: namely a large 1/1.4-inch sensor size, a wide f/1.7 aperture and OIS (optical image stabilization). Whilst unconfirmed at the time of writing, it's potentially the same sensor behind the new Xiaomi 17 Ultra's telephoto camera system too.

Although this global model lacks a dedicated telephoto snapper, it instead uses the additional pixels of that higher resolution main sensor to give you lossless telephoto shooting via pixel binning. Xiaomi frames it as offering five dedicated focal lengths (in reference to its 1.2x / 28mm and 1.5x / 35mm equivalent 'lenses' when tapping the '1x' button within the camera UI), but I'd say there are three that really count: 1x, 2x and 4x lossless zoom.

By default, the main sensor bins down to capture 12.5MP stills, while the ultrawide and front facer capture images at their native 8MP and 32MP, respectively. You do also have the option to switch to 'Ultra HD' shooting, which lets you snap full-resolution 200MP stills too, but you'll want to keep hand shake to a minimum to reap any of the benefits the added resolution brings to the table.

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This being a mid-range mobile photography experience, there are some expected shortcomings which rear their head when assessing the shots the Note 15 Pro+ delivers, but Xiaomi has nonetheless worked to offer up a consistent shooting experience here.

In well-lit conditions, imagery from the main sensor delivers pleasing color rendition, accurate white balance, good contrast and – when shooting subjects closer to the lens – natural-looking bokeh. It's only under scrutiny you'll notice softness in the fine details, most evident around higher contrast elements.

The consistency – particularly with regards to color rendition – surprised me, when capturing the same shot between the main and ultrawide, however, weaker dynamic range and less pixel data to work with does lead to a marginally warmer, higher contrast ultrawide image, under the same shooting conditions.

The promise of lossless zoom also delivers, but in spite of the phone's "200MP AI Engine," shots taken beyond the phone's 4x telephoto crop suddenly nosedive is quality, with the Note desperately trying to salvage useable details with little success. As the camera samples of the pier (below) highlight, such results take on an almost painterly artificial finish, as a result.

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As for shooting in Ultra HD mode, 200MP shots yield greater center-frame detail than equivalent 12.5MP photos, as you might expect, but also sport softer contrast and weaker detail capture towards the edge of frame.

Unlike some of Xiaomi's more premium phones, the Redmi's standing and the ultrawide's lack of autofocus mean there's no dedicated macro shooting mode to speak of, but experimentation reveals that you can get respectable close-ups by shooting using the main sensor's 2x crop.

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The phone appears to assess autofocus based on the entire frame, meaning close-up subjects it can't seem to focus on at 1x, can suddenly be pulled into sharp focus when shooting at 2x.

With low light performance, the main sensor still retains good white balance and accurate color rendition, but the further available light drops, the more dynamic range and detail retention suffer.

Even with OIS, artificial lighting is enough to challenge the Note 15 Pro+'s camera, and in side by side tests with the Galaxy S25 Ultra's flagship 200MP sensor (see above), it's clear where work needs to be done; in terms of both light gathering and detail capture.

If you're a selfie fanatic, you'll likely like the 32MP front-facer on the Note 15 Pro+. There no autofocus and – like the ultrawide – detail and dynamic range suffer in low light, but you're otherwise getting serviceable shots for the price. Tricks like Portrait Mode still do a decent job of subject separation and generate pleasing looking bokeh too, even under dim shooting conditions.

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Flip to video and the front camera's 1080p / 60fps capture feels a little limited, with weaker color reproduction and obvious jitter from the EIS (electronic image stabilization) when walking and the like, but the rear camera's peak 4K / 30fps capture is comparatively great. Image fidelity is pleasing, primarily thanks to fast autofocus and exposure adjustment, as well as an impressively smooth zoom transition; mainly due to the fact the phone doesn't readily need to switch sensors as you increase magnification.

There's pleasant enough stereo audio capture, which was able to maintain clear voice pickup against the coastal winds in my test footage. Better bass performance from the microphones is needed for a fuller sound, though. The OIS system grants smoother footage than what's possible from the front camera, but as with stills, a lack of natural light will quickly degrade definition and dynamic range in your recordings.

Phone Performance

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that, as the Note 14 Pro+ used Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, the Note 15 Pro+ is powered by its successor: the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4.

There aren't many phones on the market using this new silicon at present, but in practice it ensures the new top Note 15 can keep pace about as well as last year's model did.

Artificial benchmarks – like Geekbench 6 – cite an incremental 8% single-core and 3% multi-core improvement, alongside 7% better GPU performance. Not taking into account the newer, more efficient process the chip is built on, the 7s Gen 4 delivers about as much power as a five year-old flagship Android phone.

That's paired to – again, like its predecessor – serviceable, but not cutting-edge LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage. Mid-range competitors have started to embrace faster and more power efficient LPDDR5 and UFS 3.1 memory and storage standards, though.

How does this all translate into the real-world use? While those benchmark scores aren't anything to write home about, it's a liveable, fluid and responsive phone to use most of the time. Aside from the occasional stutter, wait times are the most consistent performance hiccup; left waiting a second or two longer then you might expect when opening more demanding apps (in terms of performance, data load, or both). Flipping between the phone's camera sensors can also take longer than expected, which could lead to you missing a fleeting shot.

Using the phone's Game Boost feature, high-end titles like Call of Duty Mobile are wholly playable at a solid 60fps, anything above that, however, is inconsistent at best. Prolonged play (more than 30 minutes) does result in a little warmth, but the phone's IceLoop vapor chamber seems to keep performance dips in check.

As with its memory standards, the phone's software experience is also a little dated out the gate too. HyperOS 2.0 (atop Android 15) is the company's previous-generation user experience, with more premium entries – like the Xiaomi 15T series – already running the latest HyperOS 3.0 (atop Android 16).

Thankfully, there isn't a gaping divide in functionality between these particular releases, but paired with Xiaomi's middle-of-the-pack commitment to four years of OS and six years of security updates, longevity could be better.

HyperOS is a feature-packed take on Android, but if you're coming from a more traditional entry – like a Pixel or Motorola – Xiaomi's heavier skin has a steeper learning curve than you might expect.

Highlights include interconnectivity and AirDrop-style convenience with MacOS and an impressively robust set of image editing tools built right into the phone's native Gallery app. Paired with RAW capture support (only at 12.5MP, not 200MP), you can get more out of pictures taken with the Note 15 Pro+ if you're willing to take the time to experiment.

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There are also a wealth of AI-backed image editing features too, like competent object and reflection removal (see below), outpainting and more. Collectively, HyperOS lets you get extensively creative with your images, thanks to a toolset you're unlikely to find elsewhere from phones at this price point.

On the flip side, Redmi's affordable standing in Xiaomi's smartphone hierachy is directly proportional to the number of baked-in ads you'll encounter throughout the user experience. They appear in the notifications shade, when opening certain first-party apps, and even on the lock screen. It's easily the worst part of HyperOS and while you can take steps to mitigate their prevalence, I've been unable to avoid encounters with ads completely.

Networking is handled by Xiaomi's own T1S Tuner, but the Redmi Note 15 Pro+ is also among the first of the company's phones to support Xiaomi Offline Communication, which means cell network-free calls and messaging with other compatible Xiaomi devices, at a range of up to a kilometer.

As well as its hardy construction, one other area where the Note 15 Pro+ demonstrates impressive endurance is with its battery longevity.

While the global model loses out on the Chinese version's gargantuan 7,000mAh power pack, it still sports a sizeable 6,500mAh cell of its own (for comparison, the likes of the Galaxy S25 Ultra has a 5,000mAh cell). That comes backed by the latest silicon-carbon tech – helping to keep the physical dimensions of the battery down – and impressively fast 100W fast charging (up from 90W on the Chinese model).

As well as offering the fastest wired charging in the new Note 15 line, the Pro+ also boasts faster 22.5W reverse wired charging, making it an excellent back-up power bank in a pinch.

Whether your device comes with a power adapter in-box will vary by region. I was able to test the Note 15 Pro+ 5G with an included 100W Xiaomi charger, and after enabling Top Speed mode in the phone's battery settings, I was able to refill the device from flat in just 39 minutes. The battery also made it back past 50% charge after only 15 minutes. Impressive stuff.

Compare that to similarly-priced Pixels and Nothing's latest a-series phones, and the Note 15 Pro+ leaves them in the dust in this regard.

As for longevity, despite the huge Si-C battery, Xiaomi's cells often seem to lag behind other high-capacity rivals. That said, the Note 15 Pro+ can happily be a two-day phone, without requiring too much thought; based on around eight hours of screen-on time per charge.

If we're talking long-term longevity, Xiaomi claims the battery is also rated to withstand operation in temperatures as low at -20ºC, and will retain 80% of its total capacity after 1,600 cycles; equivalent to around six years of charging.

Verdict

The Redmi Note 15 Pro+ is, for the most part, a by-the-numbers incremental upgrade; littered with small improvements across the majority of its feature set, when compared to its predecessor.

The global model's reworked camera system makes for a more seamless shooting experience than its Chinese counterpart, but is ultimately still best suited to social media; despite the odd neat trick. If you like to get creative with your photography, there are few phones at this price point with as robust a set of native editing tools to play with, though.

A hardy design and decent battery performance (particularly its fast-charging), will appeal to those after a long-lasting, durable, affordable mid-ranger, but HyperOS' ad-riddled user experience may be a little too challenging to live with for some.

Perhaps the biggest challenge the Note 15 Pro+ 5G faces isn't like-priced competition from big-name rivals – like Samsung and Google – but rather from within Xiaomi's own ranks. The Poco M8 Pro just arrived less a month after the Note 15 Pro+ and brings to the table a near-identical design and spec sheet, save for the camera system, which mirrors that of the Chinese Pro+ instead.

If the explicit fluidity and versatility of the 15 Pro+'s 200MP main snapper aren't essential to your photographic needs, the newer Poco M8 Pro is otherwise the same phone but for significantly less. In the UK, the M8 Pro starts at £299 (before any discounts), that's 30% than the baseline Note 15 Pro+, making Redmi's latest and greatest global release a tricky recommendation, despite its strengths.

Alternatives

The most obvious alternative that's run DCW's review gauntlet has to be the 15 Pro +'s direct predecessor: the Redmi Note 14 Pro+.

Similar specs on paper – especially in the camera department – but despite weaker long-term software support, a year's worth of price reductions makes this hardware markedly more approachable.

Read the full Redmi Note 14 Pro & Pro+ review

Samsung's mainline mid-ranger of 2025 has dropped in price significantly since launch, meaning it's more affordable than the Note 15 Pro+, offers a cleaner user experience, more cameras and longer software support. It can't match the Redmi's fast-charging talents, however.

Read the full Samsung Galaxy A56 review

The Pixel 9a (and Pixel 9) has dropped in price to beneath that of the Note 15 Pro+ since launch.

For your money, you're getting a significantly cleaner user experience than HyperOS, with much longer support from Google.

A more consistent camera experience and beefier performance from its Tensor chip make for better future-proofing too.

Read the full Google Pixel 9a review