Skip to main content

Our current favorite camera phone is about to get a successor

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra seen from the back.
Xiaomi 14 Ultra Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

One of our favorite camera phones of 2024 is about to receive a successor, and the launch could happen sooner than expected. In a post on Weibo (via Gizmochina ), Lu Weibing, Xiaomi’s president and general manager, said the Xiaomi 15 Ultra would launch shortly after the Chinese Spring Festival, which begins next week.  This suggests we’ll be seeing an announcement sometime in February. A previous rumor about the Xiaomi 14 Ultra successor said the new flagship wouldn’t launch until March.

One of the standout features of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra has been its impressive camera system, and the new model shows great promise in this area as well. The rear camera system of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is expected to include a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto camera, and a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera.

Recommended Videos

The upcoming Xiaomi phone is expected to feature Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which is also likely to be found in the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Pro. As with previous Xiaomi phones, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra will likely include a circular camera module on the back, a quad micro-curved display, and an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner.

The Xiaomi phone is rumored to come with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of internal storage, promising improved performance. Additionally, it may feature an enhanced stereo speaker setup and a larger battery capacity compared to the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

Three weeks into the year, it has already been a busy time for new smartphones. Earlier this month, the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R were launched worldwide. Tomorrow, January 22, Samsung will announce the Galaxy S25 series .

Bryan M. Wolfe
Former Mobile and A/V Freelancer
Bryan M. Wolfe has over a decade of experience as a technology writer. He writes about mobile.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra may get a brand new camera upgrade
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra's camera.

Samsung may be working on upgrading the Galaxy S25 Ultra's already complex, high performance camera system for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, by replacing one of its multiple cameras with a brand new sensor. Before we get into it, you should know the details come from information apparently taken from a prototype of the future Galaxy phone, and is therefore not only a little unclear, but also subject to change. That said, here’s what we know.

For reference, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has four cameras on the back — a 200-megapixel main camera, a 50MP wide-angle camera, a 50MP 5x optical telephoto, and a 10MP 3x optical telephoto. Samsung is expected to continue using the 200MP main, 50MP wide-angle, and 50MP 5x telephoto, but is potentially doing something different with the 10MP 3x zoom according to the PandaFlashPro X account, a known source of mobile industry information.

Read more
Vivo’s new flagship will have a stunning camera, but you probably can’t get it
The new Vivo X200 Ultra.

Vivo has just announced the upcoming launch of its new flagship, the Vivo X200 Ultra. By the sound of it so far, it could end up rivaling some of the best smartphones. We now have an official release date for the device, but there's one problem: Getting one in the U.S. could be tricky.

The news comes directly from Vivo's product manager Han Bo Xiao, and it was later shared by Notebookcheck. There's been a flurry of leaks surrounding the upcoming Vivo X200 Ultra, but now, the device has an official release date. It's coming to the Chinese market on April 21, and it'll be joined by several other new releases, including the Vivo X200s, the Vivo Pad 5 Pro, the Vivo Pad SE, and the Vivo Watch 5.

Read more
The iPhone 16e made me face a hard truth about mobile cameras
OuttaFocus: The iPhone 16e made me face a hard truth about mobile cameras.

I’ve spent a few days taking photos with the Apple iPhone 16e, which has a single camera on the back. One, solitary lens on the back of a current smartphone makes it look rather old school, and somewhat under equipped next to the multi-lens competition. But instead of feeling short changed by the iPhone 16e, it made me face a hard truth. I don’t need a wide-angle camera on my phone as much as I think I do.
One camera is better?

Wide-angle cameras have been a staple addition on smartphones since the days of the LG G5. Most have a 120-degree field of view, allowing us to capture photos of vistas to help convey scale in a way cameras with a narrower field of view cannot. It’s normal and accepted to have a “0.6x” mode in the camera app, and to not see it as an option on the iPhone 16e was quite jarring at first.

Read more