Redmi Note 15 review: Balanced performance with stylish design

The Redmi Note 15 continues Xiaomi’s tradition of delivering feature-packed smartphones at competitive prices, aimed squarely at the mid-range market. The smartphone sports a sleek design and promises to offer a dependable everyday performance. The Redmi Note 15 is powered by a Qualcomm chipset and it runs HyperOS 2. The smartphone also offers 45W fast charging support and a 108MP main camera for photography. We used this mid-range smartphone for some time and here’s our complete review of the same. The mid-range Redmi Note 15 smartphone’s design is one of its main highlights. The sleek and stylish design of the smartphone will immediately catch your attention. The Redmi Note 15 weighs only 178 grams and it comes in three colour options — Black, Glacier Blue and Mist Purple. We got the Black unit which makes the smartphone look and feel premium. The smartphone houses a glossy rear camera and the camera is placed inside a squarish module located in the centre. Down below on the rear panel you will find the Redmi branding. The smooth rear panel and the curved edges of the smartphones offer a firm grip to the user. The company has neatly placed the power button and the volume rockers on the right side of the smartphone. The bottom of the smartphone is home to the USB Type C charging port and SIM card tray. The famous infrared sensor is placed on the top part of the smartphone. The front of the Redmi Note 15 is dominated by a 6.7-inch AMOLED display which houses a centre-aligned front camera. The Redmi Note 15 comes with IP65+IP66 ratings which makes the smartphone resistant to dust and splashes. Along with this, the smartphone also comes with military-grade certification which means it can withstand accidental falls. In all, the Redmi Note 15 scores high in the design department. Its elegant design will give tough competition to many premium smartphones available in the market.Redmi Note 15 comes with a crisp display which will surely impress you with its output. The mid-range Redmi smartphone houses a 6.77-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 10800x2392 pixel resolution. The display offers a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 3200 nits of peak brightness levels. The high refresh rate offers a smooth scrolling experience to the users and it also enhances the viewing experience. Also, the 3200 nits of peak brightness levels deliver pretty good visibility under direct sunlight. Apart from adding a premium feel to the smartphone, its curved display also enhances the user experience. The curved display of the smartphone provides vibrant colour reproduction, elevating the experience of binge-watching and gaming on the device. The display on the Redmi Note 15 offers a Reading Mode which adjusts the colours and textures of the items on your screen allowing your eyes to relax. Also, the colour scheme options of the display take the user experience to a comfortable level. Redmi Note 15 is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM. The smartphone comes in two storage options — 128GB and 256GB. The dual SIM mid-range smartphone offers a smooth and lag-free user experience. The smartphone delivered a crisp experience during multi-tasking. Gaming performance is decent, with titles like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG running at stable frame rates under medium to high settings. However, when pushed to maximum graphics or during extended sessions, the phone shows signs of thermal throttling, which slightly impacts performance. We also did not notice any shutters during app switching and the smartphone also delivered a smooth image processing. The Redmi Note 15 comes with stereo speakers tuned by Dolby Atmos. The smartphone delivered a loud and clear audio experience. Coming to software, Redmi Note 15 runs Android 15 operating system topped with the company's own layer of Xiaomi HyperOS 2. The HyperOS 2 is lighter and faster as compared to MIUI. The interface features cleaner animations, modern widgets and adaptive layouts HyperOS 2 also introduces dynamic theming based on wallpapers, giving users a more personalized look. Along with this, the OS also offers some AI-driven features such as smarter text recognition, improved voice assistance, and AI-powered photography tools.Redmi Note 15 features a 108MP main camera with f/1.7 aperture and 8MP ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture. The rear camera is capable of recording 4K at 30fps. On the front you will find a 20MP front camera with f/2.2 aperture for selfies. The smartphone performed really well in the camera department. The 108MP main camera performed impressively during daylight. The main sensor reproduced some really sharp images with good detail retention and balanced dynamic range. The colours appeared towards natural tones and the camera managed to avoid the issue of over saturation which is present in a lot of mid-range smartphones. The HDR processing is also effective, ensuring highlights and shadows are well managed in high-contrast scenes. The smartphone delivered mixed-bag results during low-light photography. While the large sensor easily captures a fair amount of light, the noise becomes noticeable, especially in darker areas of the frame. Redmi Note 15 also offers a dedicated night mode which brighten the shots and also improves clarity. In contrast, the 8MP ultra-wide-angle sensor does not perform as well as its rivals. When compared to the primary camera, it exhibits a significant difference in colour accuracy. In daylight, its performance is only average, and it struggles to handle artificial or low-light situations. On the video front, the Redmi Note 15 supports 1080p recording at 30fps, delivering stable footage with decent color accuracy. Electronic image stabilization (EIS) helps reduce shakes, though it’s not flawless during fast movements.The 20MP front camera is reliable for selfies and video calls, producing clear images in good lighting but struggling slightly in dim environments.Redmi Note 15 is backed by a 5520 mAh battery with 45W fast charging support. The smartphone manages to last a day of mixed usage on a single charge. The 45W fast charging support manages to charge the smartphone completely within 30 minutes which is quite impressive. With the fast charging support, you will never run out of juice. Compared to rivals in the same segment, the Redmi Note 15’s battery performance is competitive, striking a balance between capacity and charging speed.Redmi Note 15 comes with a starting price tag of Rs 22,999. The smartphone sports an elegant and classy design. It packs a powerful mid-range chipset and delivers a lag-free performance. The 108MP camera on the Redmi Note 15 will also impress you with the image output and the 45W charging support works as an added advantage. If you are looking for a well-built 5G smartphone under the budget of Rs 25,000, then Redmi Note 15 can be your pick.