Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus review: an unexciting annual update with one huge reason to buy

Introduction

In a relatively short space of time, silicon-carbon battery tech has redefined how long I expect an affordable phone to last. With capacity jumps of 20% – or more – between generations, going a day between refuels just won’t cut it anymore. Price-conscious Xiaomi sub brand Redmi has now gotten on board, giving the Note 15 Pro Plus the potential for epic endurance.

Rapid charging speeds should then mean you’re not waiting around once it’s finally time to refuel, and the optically stabilised 200MP main snapper that punched above its weight on the outgoing Redmi Note 14 Pro+ sticks around for another year.

Looking elsewhere on the spec sheet, however, things don’t seem to have progressed a great deal. That could be a problem when the old handset can still be found at big name retailers – and for a lot les than the new phone’s £429/€499 starting price (Redmi doesn’t sell in the US). There have been a few sidegrades from the Chinese version, too. Is the bigger battery enough to make up the difference?

Design & build: flat’s where it’s at

I’ll admit I was a little gutted Redmi didn’t send the Mocha Brown version of the Note 15 Pro+ for review. It’s got a faux leather finish that looks rather tidy, and contrasts nicely to the pale gold mid-frame in photos. My Glacier Blue loaner is a bit more generic, with a frosted glass rear that can’t entirely shrug off fingerprint marks.

With a 6.83in display it’s a proper palm-stretcher, but the front and rear panels’ subtle 2.5D curved edges make the thing a tad more comfortable to hold than the fully flat Oppo Find X9 Pro I was using previously. Naturally the sides are fully flat – because what phone hasn’t adopted that particular tech trend?

This is the first time in a long while Redmi has stuck with the same rear camera arrangement between Note generations. The rounded square doesn’t protrude all that much and gives the impression you’re getting four lenses, though it’s really only three – and not all of ’em are worth talking about. More on that further down the page.

A small bit of give in the centre of the rear panel indicates it’s built from fibreglass rather than the real thing, and the frame merely looks like metal. But this is still an impressively sturdy handset, being rated for IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K protection against dust and water. That’s good enough to shrug off a 2m dunking for an entire day. The screen is also covered in Gorilla Glass Victus 2 glass. I haven’t confirmed the 2.5m drop protection claim, though.

Some Redmi signatures like the IR blaster make a return, and the under-display fingerprint reader does a decent enough job given it’s using an optical sensor rather than a pricier ultrasonic one. The front-facing camera has basic facial recognition for skipping the lock screen, but not authenticating your banking apps.

Screen & sound: size matters

The Note 15 Pro+’s sizeable 6.83in screen is a pretty big jump from the previous generation’s 6.67in panel. There are marginally more pixels per inch here, but not so many the chipset has to work overtime; this is still a 1.5K resolution display, which is the norm for an affordable handset. It looks sharp from a typical distance and viewing angles are decent for the money as well. The sloped edges do kick up more reflections than a flat screen would, but I didn’t find them distracting.

Refresh rate once again jumps between 60 and 120Hz, with fully variable LTPO tech yet to filter this far down the price ladder. It was quick enough to respond to onscreen motion, and no apps gave me any issues, so I didn’t bother forcing it to the higher rate permanently.

As expected, the AMOLED panel delivered punchy hues, wide contrast and deep, dark blacks. That helps when streaming Dolby Vision or HDR10+ content, with bright highlights able to share the screen with areas of shadow. Redmi reckons it’s here where you’ll see a peak 3200 nits brightness, up 200 nits from the previous generation, though it only applies to a small part of the screen. In more regular use it’s much lower, but still bright enough that I could use it outdoors without having to squint.

Redmi’s “400% volume boost” is overkill for the stereo speaker setup, which sticks with the typical down-firing main driver and earpiece tweeter. Crank it to full and everything becomes very tinny in order to get that little bit louder. 100% should be more than enough for most listening that doesn’t need a pair of headphones.

Cameras: 200 not out

Another year, another mixed bag of camera tech from a Redmi mid-ranger. The Note 15 Pro+ might get a new sensor for its top-billing 200MP lead lens, but the basic 8MP ultrawide has more than run its course at this point. Rivals like the Honor 400 have a higher pixel count secondary with autofocus, letting it double as a superior macro lens; the sooner Redmi follows suit, the better.

Wide-angle shots are as noisy, lacking in fine detail and washed out colour-wise as they were on the Note 14 Pro+. It continues to prioritise highlights over shadows too, which helps out with bright skies but isn’t always true-to-life.

At least the token 2MP macro lens has been scrapped – it added nothing to last year’s phone. That does mean one of the four rear ‘lenses’ is effectively now a dummy though, while another contains the LED flash. I expect Redmi decided to remove the 50MP telephoto found in the Chinese version for international markets because that phone makes do with a 50MP lead snapper, and here the main sensor has enough pixels to deliver virtually lossless 2x shots.

The 200MP lead lens is the clear champion here, with a wonderful amount of resolved detail even once your snaps have been pixel-binned down to 12MP. Colours can be especially vivid, with reds and greens looking a lot punchier than they appeared in reality, though never to distracting amounts.

There’s a good amount of dynamic range on display and exposure was usually judged rather well, with HDR stitching able to make up for any areas of deep shadow. Don’t let the sensor’s big numbers fool you, though: this is still very much a mid-range setup, so while the Redmi Note 15 Pro+ doesn’t disappoint for the cash, it doesn’t overachieve either.

4x zoom is possible in good light, though it’s less useful in darker and indoor environments, particularly when you’ve got a moving subject. The Night mode will flit between shutter speeds depending on how dim it is, and the optical image stabilisation really helps counter any shaky hands. I liked how HDR could handle neon lights without blowing out the highlights or rendering the rest of the scene overly bright – other cheap handsets I’ve tried recently haven’t been so hot here.

This is the latest Redmi phone I’ve tested where the selfie camera’s beauty mode is enabled by default, leading to artificially processed snaps that not every country the Note 15 Pro+ is sold in will appreciate. Stepping up to a 32MP sensor has brought a bump to resolved detail in stills, but you’re still restricted to 1080p/60 video recording – only the rear camera lets you film in 4K.

Software experience: get with the times

Redmi isn’t the only one of Xiaomi’s brands to regularly launch new affordable hardware running an older software version, but that doesn’t excuse the practice. The Note 15 Pro+ arrives with the HyperOS 2 skin sat atop Android 15, which is already a generation behind most rivals. The firm hasn’t mentioned any change to its modest update promise either, meaning only three new Android versions can be expected over its lifetime.

That does mean the software is a known commodity, with all the features – and foibles – I’ve come to expect. There’s an awful lot of pre-installed bloat, including a bunch of basic games that are stuffed with ads. At least stripping them out is the work of just a few minutes.

Visually things haven’t changed all that much from last year, with legible menus, clearly labelled quick settings and a decent amount of customisation on offer. There’s no app drawer by default, but most of the built-in apps are stuffed into folders after the initial setup so you’re not overwhelmed. While the music, video, theme and game stores are overly keen to sell you something, I’m glad there aren’t too many apps competing with Google’s defaults.

Gemini and Circle to Search are present and correct, as is a now-familiar helping of AI-infused apps. Think audio transcription, text summaries and generative image editing tools.

The one thing I’ve not been able to test is Offline Communication, which apparently lets you stay in touch with other compatible Xiaomi devices from kilometers away, without needing a phone signal.

Performance & battery life: generation game

Redmi has never been afraid to swap chipset allegiances for the Note series, but here it has stuck with Qualcomm for a second year in a row. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 is fairly new silicon, but isn’t that far removed from the outgoing phone’s 7s Gen 3 chip. Its single Kryo Prime core runs at a nippier 2.7GHz, but the three smaller Kryo Gold and 4 Kryo Silver efficiency cores are largely unchanged.

Unsurprisingly that hasn’t brought a significant performance leap, with synthetic tests showing a 10% improvement at best. A OnePlus Nord 5 has it beat, as does a Google Pixel 9a. This is still very much a mid-tier chip, though my day-to-day experience left little to grumble about. My test phone was the step-up version with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, which proved sufficient for social scrolling, web browsing, image editing, photography without any obvious lag, and gaming at sensible settings.

It was never going to feel as responsive as a flagship phone with a more powerful processor, but I wasn’t left twiddling my thumbs whenever I launched an app, and Android was largely stutter-free. Being a pre-release handset not all my usual 3D benchmark apps would run, but Sonic Rumble felt smooth as you like at the higher detail settings, and the phone didn’t get offensively hot over time either.

Battery is where the Note 15 Pro+ stands out. While high-end phones have now breached the 7000mAh barrier, that’s still unheard of at this price point – at least in Europe – so the 6500mAh cell you’re getting here is rather generous indeed. It’s considerably more than you got in last year’s phone, and schools the likes of Google, Samsung, Nothing and more.

Unsurprisingly I got through a full day of heavy use without once having to think about recharging, and could leave the phone unplugged overnight too. I topped up before lunchtime on the second day for peace of mind, but could’ve lasted longer if I wanted. That’s a great showing for an affordable phone, though I do wonder for how much longer that’ll be the case. Rival Chinese brands have been quick to push silicon-carbon chemistry, so surely even higher capacities are just around the corner.

100W wired charging is mighty fast for an affordable phone, needing just 40 minutes for an empty-to-full refuel.

Redmi Note 15 Pro+ verdict

Taken in isolation, the Note 15 Pro+ hits all the right notes for phone that straddles the affordable/mid-range price points. The revised styling and new generation processor help it largely keep pace with rivals, and the 200MP lead camera remains rather capable indeed.

It’s not like Redmi has taken a giant leap forward from the Note 14 Pro+, though. The refreshed silicon isn’t dramatically faster or more power efficient than the outgoing phone, and while the battery is bigger, it’s not as big a jump as I was expecting given rivals are already pushing 7000mAh or higher.

We’ve merely had baby steps for multiple generations now, which are hard to get excited about. It’s high time Redmi steps up its software game – then maybe next year’s offering will be something to set pulses racing.

Redmi Note 15 Pro+ technical specifications