Xiaomi 15 Ultra rears its head in first leaked photo with camera upgrades and design changes

The week in smartphones has arguably been dominated by the release of new Samsung Galaxy S smartphones. If you decided against jumping on discounted pre-orders for the Galaxy S25 Ultra (curr. $1,299.99 on Amazon) and its smaller siblings but are still after a new flagship experience, then it seems that the Xiaomi 15 Ultra could be right around the corner.

For now, Xiaomi is expected to present the Xiaomi 15 Ultra globally alongside the Xiaomi 15 during MWC 2025. To that end, CEO Lei Jun has already confirmed that Xiaomi will be attending the 2025 edition of the Barcelona-based trade show, which runs between March 3 and March 6.

While MWC 2025 is over five weeks away, the first photo showing the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has appeared online. On the face of it, Xiaomi has taken a few steps away from the designs of its recent 'Ultra' flagships. The wraparound mid-frame of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Xiaomi 14 Ultra has been dispensed with, for example, as has the vegan leather rear panel.

Instead, Xiaomi has adopted what looks like roughened glass, which is said to be the only finish in which the Xiaomi 15 Ultra will be available. By all accounts, the new glass back resembles a more extreme version of OnePlus' Sandstone finish that it has offered across various models since its inception.

A new camera layout can also be seen with an oblong lens in its top-right corner. Given the space that is free to its left, we suspect that this sensor could be the device's rumoured 200 MP periscope telephoto that should provide at least 5x optical zoom. Presumably, this is only the beginning of more substantial Xiaomi 15 Ultra-related leaks that will appear throughout next month before its alleged debut in China.