Leaker shares insights into state of Xiaomi 15 Ultra design and camera upgrades

According to recent reports, Xiaomi is set to unveil its next high-end smartphones later this month. As with recent generations of its 'Xiaomi' series, the company is expected to bring forward the release of new flagships once again. However, there is not to be the six-week jump that existed between the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 14 series.

Instead, Xiaomi is rumoured to have scheduled the initial release of the Xiaomi 15 series for October 20, a week before the anniversary of the Xiaomi 14 Pro and smaller Xiaomi 14 (curr. $826 on Amazon). Typically, Xiaomi waits until a few extra months before offering an 'Ultra' branded model, as has been the case with the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Recent leaks suggest that the Xiaomi 15 Ultra could soon be on the horizon too, though.

Reportedly, Xiaomi's 'Ultra' smartphone will return with a quad camera set-up including the 1-inch type primary camera from the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Although not a hardware upgrade, the likely upgraded image signal processor (ISP) inside the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset should help deliver image quality upgrades between the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and Xiaomi 15 Ultra.

More importantly, Xiaomi is said to have taken inspiration from the Vivo X100 Ultra with its telephoto camera choice for its next 'Ultra' smartphone. Allegedly, it has settled on another 1-inch type sensor, albeit one that outputs at a 200 MP native resolution. By contrast, the X100 Ultra's equivalent sensor has a much smaller 1/1.4-inch optical format, coupled with an 85 mm lens and an f/2.7 aperture.

Unfortunately, other details about Xiaomi's new telephoto camera remain unknown for now. Nonetheless, the inclusion of an improved telephoto camera necessitates a redesigned camera housing, a sketch of which we have reproduced below. Presumably, Xiaomi will continue to equip its 'Ultra' smartphone with 5x telephoto and ultra-wide-angle rear-facing cameras too; details about these have not leaked yet either, though.