Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G Review

Design

• Polycarbonate frame makes it lighter than the older model
• Curved edges may date it a little
• Excellent dust and water resistance

The Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G builds on the previous model’s successes by making some small, but noteworthy changes, to make this the sleekest Pro Plus model Xiaomi has made.

For instance, the chassis has moved to a polycarbonate material to shave some weight, meaning this phone weighs just 207g in the black colourway I have. Opt for the faux leather-backed Mocha Brown model, and it adds an extra gram. Either way, it makes this Xiaomi handset one of the lightest at its price point.

The Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G is available in other colours besides black and brown, with Xiaomi also offering Glacier Blue if you’d prefer a more defined splash of colour.

There are curved edges on the front and back, unlike the other models in the Note 15 lineup, which isn’t as on-trend as it used to be. Nonetheless, I’ve always liked curved edges from the point of comfort, and this Xiaomi phone isn’t tiresome to hold.

Ports are standard fare for a modern phone, with a USB-C port for charging and a SIM slot off to the left. Gone are the days of cheaper phones still coming with things such as a headphone jack or expandable storage.

Where the Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G really punches above its weight is with its improved water and dust resistance over its predecessor, with full IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K certification that’s up there with flagship devices. 

There is also Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for added durability on the display, a pre-applied plastic screen protector, and a TPU case in the box so you’re ready to go as soon as you get the phone.

Screen

• 6.83-inch 120Hz 1280×2772 OLED
• Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support
• 3200 nits peak brightness

The screen size on the Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G has been upped from 6.67 inches to 6.83 inches, making its 1280×2772 resolution AMOLED panel one of the largest Xiaomi has fitted to a handset yet. It seems to be the same screen that was present on the more premium Xiaomi 15T, proving some components can trickle down to more affordable models.

Xiaomi promises up to 1800 nits of panel-wide brightness and up to 3200 nits peak, which would be seriously impressive for a more mid-range device. In real-world use, I didn’t feel any reason to doubt the brand’s claims, as displayed images in video and games were sharp and vibrant, indoors and out. The panel also benefits from HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR support for increased vibrancy in supported content for even greater vibrancy.

It’s up to 120Hz of refresh rate here, which gives an added slickness against the 60Hz we were stuck at for a long time, although the screen here lacks the more advanced LTPO tech we see in dearer phones, meaning the variable refresh rate works in a blockier manner. For the most part, the Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G’s panel sticks at 120Hz, which isn’t much of a hardship.

Xiaomi has also included an optical under-display fingerprint sensor for this phone, mounted quite low down on the panel. It’s fine to use, although not quite as good as the ultrasonic ones seen on higher-end devices.

Cameras

• 200MP main sensor provides natural images
• No telephoto lens meaning zoom isn’t too brilliant
• Good 4K video from rear camera

In spite of Xiaomi’s long-running partnership with Leica, tech from that collaboration hasn’t worked its way down to the brand’s more affordable handsets just yet. Instead, the Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G is bestowed with a dual camera setup, with an 8MP ultrawide and a 200MP 1/1.4-inch main sensor doing most of the heavy lifting.

It’s a similar setup to the previous model, and the same advice applies – stick to the main 200MP snapper as much as possible. That’s because it resolves the most detail, provides the most natural colours and pleasing imagery for a mid-range camera.

General wide photography yields a natural image that doesn’t have the saturation cranked up for unrealistic, poppy colours, with sharp detail and great dynamic range in my walkabout in London a few weeks’ back. The larger sensor size helps with this, with a 1/1.4-inch size surprisingly large for a more modest handset.

The main sensor does reasonably well in the dark, although let things get too dark, such as in the case of the beef sandwich image, and things begin to look a little fuzzy in places as detail retention drops.

The lack of a dedicated telephoto lens means Xiaomi is left to crop in on the 200MP sensor to offer an artificial form of zoom via pixel binning, and a choice of focal lengths in the phone’s camera app. At anything up to 4x, detail is still reasonably sharp and well-preserved, although go fully into a digital zoom range of 10x or more and it falls off a cliff in terms of sharpness, detail preservation and more besides.

The 32MP front selfie snapper on the Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G is reasonable, although there isn’t any autofocus here to make sure you remain the star of the show. It’s still reasonable for vain photos of yourself, and the dedicated Portrait mode can add some pleasant bokeh, but images can come out a little soft.

We’ve got up to 4K/30fps video supported on the rear camera with good detail and smooth zoom action, although the front camera’s 1080p/60fps feels comparably limiting in both general performance and overall sharpness.

Performance

• Newer Snapdragon chip inside
• Middling performance for the price
• Decent for gaming, although there are limitations

As expected for the Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G, Xiaomi has opted to use a newer version of the Qualcomm chip found in last year’s model. Here, we’ve got an eight-core Snapdragon 7S Gen 4 SoC, against the Gen 3 model found in the 14 Pro+, along with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage in my sample.

The performance in the Geekbench 6 benchmark isn’t groundbreaking by any means, with as much performance as a flagship from a few years ago, and a modest boost over its predecessor. It’s largely in line with rivals, such as the Motorola Edge 60 Neo, although the OnePlus Nord 5 remains the standout for pure power at this price.

General use proves the Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G doesn’t feel sluggish, in spite of the middling numbers. Navigating around Android felt zippy, as did my general workflow of using my phone for using social media, streaming music from Tidal and playing the odd game.

More serious multi-tasking can lead to some minor lags or stutters, although that’s perhaps more due to the middling LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage arrangement than the outright raw grunt of the processor.

Gaming is possible with the Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus 5G, and with the Game Boost features that spring into life when you open one, it’s possible to optimise your experience as much as possible. It’s possible to clear RAM and enable a faster performance profile to eke out more oomph, and there’s a decently competent GPU inside to allow for 60fps in the likes of Call of Duty Mobile. 

For more prolonged intensive loads, expect this Xiaomi phone to get a little on the warm side, although it seems the phone’s vapour chamber cooling solution does its job well to prevent things from getting too warm.

Software & AI

• HyperOS isn’t as polished as its rivals
• More ad-riddled than previous versions
• Middling OS and security upgrade commitments

I’ve had a couple of run-ins with Xiaomi’s HyperOS skin of choice in the past, and to be truthful, it’s never been my favourite Android skin against the likes of One UI or the Stock Pixel Launcher due to a lack of polish and the presence of pre-installed guff I didn’t ask for.

It borrows a lot of cues from Apple’s iOS, which become particularly noticeable with the OS’ quick settings menu that’s accessed by swiping on the right side of the screen and has a very Apple feel in terms of brightness and volume control. It’s the same as Honor’s MagicOS, so I’ve been quite used to it, but if you’re moving from other Android variants, it can take some getting used to.

There are also Google’s latest AI additions, such as Circle to Search and utilising Gemini as an assistant. There are Xiaomi-specific AI gubbins here, which mostly feature in the gallery app when editing images, such as object removal and portrait blurring with an artificial bokeh effect. There are also a few more advanced options, like the ability to remove backgrounds, FOV expansion and AI-powered automatic video editing.

What I dislike about HyperOS is the amount of bloatware that comes pre-installed, such as Xiaomi’s own MI app store, as well as OneDrive, the Opera browser, and the Booking.com app. Honor is guilty of this, too, and I wish more brands would opt for a cleaner approach to their Android skins. 

The big problem here is the prevalence of ads at virtually every turn – most of them are for Temu – and it majorly cheapens the feel of the operating system.

Xiaomi promises more modest updates and software longevity for the Redmi Note 15 Plus 5G, with four years of OS and six years of security updates. It’s okay, if not class-leading.

Battery Life

• 6500 mAh battery
• 100W wired charging
• No charger in the box

The Redmi Note 15 Plus 5G comes with a hefty 6500mAh battery, which is one of the largest available on a phone at this price, and I could comfortably get through a working day without so much as even thinking about battery life. Only a small top-up was needed with a charger before I went to bed to keep it ticking over without worrying for a second day.

This phone supports up to 100W wired fast charging, but unfortunately the proprietary Xiaomi charger isn’t included in the box. For my testing, I used a more modest 66W 6A charger that wasn’t as brisk in its speeds, taking 75 minutes to get to 50 percent and well in excess of two and a half hours for a full charge. It isn’t the quickest to get back to full.

Moreover, this phone doesn’t support any form of wireless charging, which feels like quite a misstep in 2026, as many of its rivals do.

Should you buy it?