Redmi Note 15 5G First Impressions Review: Good Basics, Slim Design, And More

I have been using the Redmi Note 15 5G for quite some time now, as we received the review unit of the 8GB + 256GB variant. I tried its gaming, camera, software, etc. And in this article I will share my first impressions with the smartphone and whether it stands tall as per its pricing of Rs. 22,999 (Rs. 19,999 Including Bank offers) for the base. So without any further ado, let’s head into the article.

Redmi Note 15 5G Design, Display, and Software

Design is one of the phone’s strongest suits. It's slim at about 7.35mm thick and lightweight for a big phone, weighing in at about 175g: it feels like a modern device when you're holding it. The curved AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate is beautiful, offers strong outdoor visibility at up to 3200 nits of brightness and works wonderfully for content consumption. It's a minor let-down that it doesn't support HDR, however.

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On the software front, it’s running Android 15 with HyperOS 2 and will offer four years of OS updates along with six years of security patches, which is good to know. But, you might notice there are quite a few preloaded apps and the UI may not be as silky-smooth all of the time.

Redmi Note 15 5G Day-to-Day Performance: Just Average

Where I felt the phone might give more was in terms of performance. The Snapdragon 6-series processor is capable but, in practice, average. Normal day-to-day activities are mainly lag-free, though I did observe some micro stutters while moving around HyperOS 2 in testing. It’s usable and stable, but not thrilling, certainly not what enthusiast users had hoped for at this level.

Redmi Note 15 5G Battery Life and Charging

Battery life is solid. And yet the 5,500mAh battery keeps me chugging along throughout a full day. I also appreciate the 45W fast charging, and it’s terrific to have a charger in the box in 2026.

Redmi Note 15 5G Camera and Multimedia Experience

The 108MP Samsung main camera with OIS sounds impressive, but in reality it tends to produce good rather than fetch-the-fireworks images. Daylight shots offer plenty of detail and attractive skin tones; low-light situations are usable. That said, this doesn’t quite feel like a proper “108MP” camera to me right now and I’m hoping that can be pushed further with software updates.

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Video recording is decent for the most part, with 4K at 30 fps out of the main camera and 1080p at 30 fps from the front. The 20MP selfie camera also captures good photos and is sufficient for casual video chatting or social media purposes.

Redmi Note 15 5G First Impressions Review In Conclusion

I've spent some time with the Redmi Note 11 5G, and my opinion can be boiled down to this: It's a decent phone, made well, and it plays it safe. There isn’t anything here that’s outright bad, but also nothing that really shines. Whether this feels like a genuine return to form for the Redmi Note series will ultimately depend on how other brands price their phones in 2026.

The Redmi Note 15 5G is a good-looking handset with a nice display, long battery life and reasonable cameras – but only average performance. This might make sense if other phones get substantially more expensive. Otherwise, it could have a hard time distinguishing itself.