Home > Smartphone comparison > Xiaomi 15 vs Pixel 9a – which one to choose?

Xiaomi 15 vs Google Pixel 9a

87 out of 100
Xiaomi 15
VS
67 out of 100
Google Pixel 9a
Xiaomi 15
Google Pixel 9a

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.36-inch Xiaomi 15 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on October 29, 2024, against the Google Pixel 9a, which is powered by Google Tensor G4 and came out 5 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
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi 15
  • 2.3x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3076K versus 1321K)
  • The rear camera has a 2.6x optical zoom
  • Shows 58% longer battery life (31:54 vs 20:15 hours)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Supports higher wattage charging (90W versus 23W)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
  • Slow-motion recording at 1920FPS
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Thinner bezels – 5.6% more screen real estate
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 9a
  • Delivers 28% higher peak brightness (1927 against 1508 nits)
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16

Review

Evaluation of Xiaomi 15 and Google Pixel 9a 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
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
📱 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
8 / 128 GB
52.2
(Average)
Value Index
62.3
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Xiaomi 15
vs
Pixel 9a

Display

Type AMOLED POLED
Size 6.36 inches 6.3 inches
Resolution 1200 x 2670 pixels 1080 x 2424 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 460 ppi 422 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1500 nits 2700 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 3200 nits 1800 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 300 Hz -
Screen protection Xiaomi Shield Glass Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 90.1% 84.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.5% 98.2%
PWM 120 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 1 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Xiaomi 15
1508 nits
Pixel 9a +28%
1927 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 152.3 mm (6 inches) 154.7 mm (6.09 inches)
Width 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) 73.3 mm (2.89 inches)
Thickness 8.08 mm (0.32 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 191 g (6.74 oz) 186 g (6.56 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Silver, Green, Purple White, Black, Red, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Average (2.61/5) Good (3.53/5)
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops Excellent (A) · 270 drops
Screen-to-body ratio
Xiaomi 15 +7%
90.1%
Pixel 9a
84.5%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Xiaomi 15 and Google Pixel 9a
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Google Tensor G4
Max clock 4320 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M)
- 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L)		 - 4 cores at 1.92 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.1 GHz: Cortex-X4
L3 cache 8 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 3 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 830 Mali-G715 MP7
GPU shading units 1536 896
GPU clock 1100 MHz 940 MHz
FLOPS ~3379.2 GFLOPS ~1684.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Xiaomi 15 and Google Pixel 9a
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Xiaomi 15 +75%
2940
Pixel 9a
1677
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Xiaomi 15 +127%
9243
Pixel 9a
4067
Compute Score (GPU)
Xiaomi 15 +218%
24715
Pixel 9a
7784
Compute Score (GPU) 24715 7784
Single-core score 2940 1677
Multi-core score 9243 4067
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Xiaomi 15 +133%
3076179
Pixel 9a
1321069
CPU 946469 445318
GPU 1118762 410687
Memory 372907 175537
UX 638041 289527
Total score 3076179 1321069
Samples [32 tests] [7 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Xiaomi 15 +108%
2204
Pixel 9a
1060
Stability 82% 81%
Graphics test 16 FPS 8 FPS
Graphics score 2204 1060
3DMark Solar Bay
Xiaomi 15
10153
Pixel 9a
n/a
Graphics test 39 FPS -
Section 1 43 FPS -
Section 2 39 FPS -
Section 3 33 FPS -
Graphics score 10153 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Xiaomi 15
5782
Pixel 9a
n/a
Stability 89% -
Graphics test 34 FPS -
Graphics score 5782 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Xiaomi 15 +35%
17440
Pixel 9a
12890
Web score 18558 10570
Video editing 8103 7547
Photo editing 37685 21264
Data manipulation 13755 12988
Writing score 21293 16308
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Xiaomi 15
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-10 (artyashka)AnTuTu 123263798
📘 2026-09-28 (PenPen)AnTuTu 123242949
📘 2026-08-24 (zaido)AnTuTu 113236909
📘 2026-08-16 (jakisgood)AnTuTu 113007116
📘 2026-08-03 (abdurashidovvv)AnTuTu 113102543
Add View all (38)
Google Pixel 9a
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-21 (Leif)AnTuTu 111590049
📘 2026-05-13 (kiriguap)AnTuTu 111182042
📘 2026-03-09 (d1ldo)AnTuTu 11943849
📘 2026-01-03 (Joy)AnTuTu 111487240
📘 2025-11-11 (VLAD)AnTuTu 111507185
Add View all (7)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 17)
ROM HyperOS 3.0 Stock Android
OS size 21 GB 14 GB
OS updates 4 years 7 years
Security updates 5 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 5400 mAh 5100 mAh
Max charge power 90 W 23 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (50 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (83% in 30 min) Yes (47% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:45 hr 1:41 hr
Battery cycles 1000 cycles 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 13:20 hr 08:20 hr
Watching video 19:22 hr 12:40 hr
Gaming 07:10 hr 06:06 hr
Standby 150 hr 91 hr
General battery life
Xiaomi 15 +58%
31:54 hr
Pixel 9a
20:15 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8000 x 6000
Zoom Optical, 2.6x Digital
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 1920 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 115° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 13 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.6 f/1.7
Focal length 23 mm 25 mm
Sensor OmniVision Light Fusion 900 Samsung GN8
Sensor size 1/1.31" (≈ 0.76 inch) 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch)
Pixel size 1.2 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Laser autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP -
Aperture f/2.0 -
Focal length 60 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5KJN5 -
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 0.64 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 13 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 14 mm 16 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KJN1 Sony IMX712
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Xiaomi 15 +4%
150
Pixel 9a
144
Video quality
Xiaomi 15 +33%
133
Pixel 9a
100
Generic main camera score
Xiaomi 15 +15%
147
Pixel 9a
128
Bokeh 75 145
Preview 87 -
Zoom 152 99
Samples Photo samples of Xiaomi 15 from DxOMark Photo samples of Google Pixel 9a from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 6528 x 4896 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.2
Focal length 22 mm 20 mm
Sensor Omnivision OV32B CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.14" (≈ 0.32 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
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 5.3
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, Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port Yes No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
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 No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Xiaomi 15 +4%
91.3 dB
Pixel 9a
88.1 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced October 2024 March 2025
Release date October 2024 April 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $945 $499
Successor - Xiaomi 17 - Google Pixel 10a
SAR (head) - 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.39 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Yes, 90 W Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Xiaomi 15 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
8 (61.5%)
5 (38.5%)
Total votes: 13

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