Xiaomi 15 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.73-inch Xiaomi 15 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on February 27, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A19 Pro and came out 6 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi 15 Ultra
  • Delivers 60% higher peak brightness (1613 against 1009 nits)
  • The rear camera has a 4.3x optical zoom
  • Supports higher wattage charging (90W versus 40W)
  • Slow-motion recording at 1920FPS
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • 17% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3030K versus 2590K)
  • 13% higher pixel density (522 vs 460 PPI)
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
  • Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
  • Shows 11% longer battery life (33:14 vs 30:03 hours)
  • 27% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3940 and 3106 points
  • The phone is 6 months newer

Review

Evaluation of Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
12 / 256 GB
18.8
(Bad)
Value Index
39.5
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type AMOLED OLED
Size 6.73 inches 6.9 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3200 pixels 1320 x 2868 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.5:9
PPI 522 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1600 nits 3000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 3200 nits 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Touch sampling rate 300 Hz -
Screen protection Xiaomi Shield Glass 2.0 Ceramic Shield 2
Screen-to-body ratio 90% 91.6%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.7% 99.9%
PWM 120 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 1 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
15 Ultra +60%
1613 nits
1009 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 161.3 mm (6.35 inches) 163.4 mm (6.43 inches)
Width 75.3 mm (2.96 inches) 78 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 9.35 mm (0.37 inches) 8.75 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 226 g (7.97 oz) 233 g (8.22 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Silver, Green Silver, Blue, Orange
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Repairability Average (2.61/5) Good (3.04/5)
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops Very good (B) · 180 drops
Screen-to-body ratio
90%
91.6%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Apple A19 Pro
Max clock 4320 MHz 4260 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M)
- 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L)
- 4 cores at 2.6 GHz:
- 2 cores at 4.26 GHz:
L3 cache 8 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 830 6 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 1536 768
GPU clock 1100 MHz 1620 MHz
FLOPS ~3379.2 GFLOPS ~2488.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
3106
3940
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
9710
10434
Compute Score (GPU)
24339
46450
Compute Score (GPU) 24339 46450
Single-core score 3106 3940
Multi-core score 9710 10434
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
15 Ultra +17%
3030376
CPU 912791 788283
GPU 1097348 922741
Memory 440343 226010
UX 579894 653533
Total score 3030376 2590567
Samples [12 tests] [14 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
2151
2487
Stability 76% 76%
Graphics test 16 FPS 18 FPS
Graphics score 2151 2487
3DMark Solar Bay
9815
10999
Graphics test 37 FPS 42 FPS
Section 1 42 FPS 47 FPS
Section 2 38 FPS 42 FPS
Section 3 32 FPS 36 FPS
Graphics score 9815 10999
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 85% -
Graphics test 33 FPS -
Graphics score 5626 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 19993 -
Video editing 8213 -
Photo editing 36597 -
Data manipulation 17882 -
Writing score 22481 -
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#110th place)

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Xiaomi 15 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-27 (dmxsan)AnTuTu 123059557
📘 2026-07-07 (average f-4 enjoyer)AnTuTu 112993761
📘 2026-06-28 (Mansur)Battery lifeSOT 12:59 / 16:48
📘 2026-02-22 (XX5mipiXX)AnTuTu 113108699
📘 2026-01-27 -> MiEmirrGeekbench 6 CPU3127 / 9465
Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-21 (Md.Imran Shafiq)AnTuTu 112602137
📘 2026-07-31 (xon1005)Geekbench 6 CPU4028 / 10579
📘 2026-06-15 (Domi)AnTuTu 112427596
📘 2026-06-09 (Cristiano)AnTuTu 112258714
📘 2026-05-29 (Joker)AnTuTu 112433128

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.1 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) iOS 26 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5)
ROM HyperOS 3.0 -
OS size 23.9 GB 20 GB
OS updates 4 years 7 years
Security updates 7 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 5410 mAh 5088 mAh
Max charge power 90 W 40 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (80 W) Yes (25 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (72% in 30 min) Yes (65% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:51 hr 1:12 hr
Battery cycles 1000 cycles 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 12:19 hr 12:36 hr
Watching video 18:43 hr 22:25 hr
Gaming 06:45 hr 08:17 hr
Standby 141 hr 154 hr
General battery life
30:03 hr
33:14 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8064 x 6048
Zoom Optical, 4.3x Optical, 4x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS No
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 1920 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 115° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 200 MP
3) Telephoto: 50 MP
4) Ultrawide: 50 MP
5) Depth
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Telephoto: 48 MP
3) Ultrawide: 48 MP
4) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.63 f/1.78
Focal length 23 mm 24 mm
Sensor Sony LYT-900 Sony IMX903
Sensor size 1/1.0" (≈ 1 inch) 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch)
Pixel size 1.6 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Laser autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 200 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/2.6 f/2.8
Focal length 100 mm 100 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KHP9 Sony IMX973
Sensor size 1/1.4" (≈ 0.71 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.56 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 14 mm 13 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KJN5 Sony IMX972
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 170 -
Preview 89 -
Zoom 166 -
Samples Photo samples of Xiaomi 15 Ultra from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 18 megapixels
Image resolution 6528 x 4896 4896 x 3672
Aperture f/2.0 f/1.9
Focal length 22 mm 20 mm
Sensor Omnivision OV32B Sony IMX914
Sensor size 1/3.14" (≈ 0.32 inch) -
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Optical
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 6.0
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port Yes No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 -
Type of SIM card Nano eSIM
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
15 Ultra +12%
92.1 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2025 September 2025
Release date February 2025 September 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $1099 $1199
Successor - Xiaomi 17 Ultra -
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Yes, 90 W Not included
Further details
Notes on 15 Ultra:
    - The Chinese version of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has a 6000 mAh battery, while the international model comes with 5410 mAh, leading to a noticeable difference in battery life.
Notes on iPhone 17 Pro Max:
    - Battery is 5,088 mAh on the eSIM-only model (vs 4,832 mAh on the Nano SIM + eSIM version).
    - The Chinese model alone includes dual Nano SIM slots and 15 W wireless charging.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

These smartphones have a lot in common, but we would recommend the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max. It has a better performance, gaming, and software.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
640 (85.3%)
110 (14.7%)
Total votes: 750

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