OnePlus 15T vs Xiaomi 17

OnePlus 15T

The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED panel is the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market and pairs that refresh rate with a measured 1,800 nits brightness, 460 ppi pixel density, Crystal Shield Glass, and HDR10+/Dolby Vision support. Native 165 Hz support in popular FPS games is a real differentiator. Notebookcheck flags 120.7 Hz PWM dimming that can cause eyestrain for sensitive users.

• The 6.32-inch 165 Hz AMOLED panel achieves a very good 460 ppi pixel density and the advertised maximum brightness of 1,800 nits in standard measurement.
• Display sharpness is plenty competent — sharp, smooth, and easily one of the strongest spec sheets you can get on a compact phone.
• Native 165 Hz support in COD, Delta Force and Peacekeeper Elite makes this the only small-screen flagship pushing a full 165 Hz gaming experience.
• OnePlus claims up to 3,600 nits peak brightness — even on a playground in direct sunlight you can still see everything clearly, no squinting required.
• Specifications confirm a 6.32-inch 1.5K (1216 × 2640) resolution with 165 Hz refresh — a configuration unique to the 15T in the compact class.
• Display backlight flickers at just 120.7 Hz under PWM dimming — low enough that the flickering may cause eyestrain and headaches for sensitive users after extended use.

Xiaomi 17

A compact 120Hz LTPO AMOLED that punches well above its size for outdoor brightness, though it uses a different (lower) pixel arrangement than the Pro Max and measured full-screen brightness is well under the headline figure.

• The display is as good as it can get on a compact flagship — high-res, vibrant and as bright as 3,500 nits peak.
• Measured over 1,000 nits in auto mode and over 3,400 nits on a smaller patch — more than enough for good legibility outdoors.
• In controlled testing, manual full-screen white brightness reached only around 1,100 nits — far below the 3,500-nit peak headline figure.
• The standard model's screen doesn't use the new pixel arrangement found in the Pro Max version, though it still holds certain advantages.
• Peak brightness of up to 3,500 nits keeps everything clearly visible even in direct sunlight.

OnePlus 15T

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 paired with 12-16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM delivers flagship synthetic scores — Notebookcheck recorded Geekbench multi-core 10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited 29,901, on par with the larger Xiaomi 17 and Honor Magic8 Pro Air. The problem is sustained: in the 3DMark Wild Life stress test the GPU drops over 50% and the back of the phone hits 50 °C, which both Notebookcheck and SuperSaf flag as a deal-breaker for long gaming sessions.

• Geekbench 6 multi-core hits 10,976 — flagship-tier and within 1% of the average 8 Elite Gen 5 result, so there is no compromise on the chipset versus larger phones.
• 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited hits 29,901 — 5% above the 8 Elite Gen 5 average and ahead of the Xiaomi 17 with the same chip.
• In the 3DMark stress tests the OnePlus 15T shows a sharp drop in performance of over 50%, which significantly lowers our rating.
• Wildlife Extreme stress test scores swung from 6,990 best loop to 3,743 worst loop in a single run — the chart is 'quite a bit of a bumpy ride' and performance mode did nothing to stabilize it.
• Surface temperatures hit 48.3 °C on the back during stress testing and continued climbing to 50 °C near the camera bump — about 45 °C internal — which seems to be the phone's thermal limit.
• Genshin Impact averaged 60.3 fps over 30 minutes at just 3.2 W power draw, with the phone staying cool to the touch — and Peacekeeper Elite pushed 164.5 fps thanks to native 165 Hz support.
• r/Android's reviewer thread flags the same thermal issue directly: 'Gets kinda hot, over 50 degrees in the corner. This is with its very heavy throttling.'

Xiaomi 17

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 makes the 17 one of the fastest compact phones around, but sustained-load behaviour is the single most contested topic in the coverage.

• Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 on a 3nm process, claiming ~20% better CPU performance and ~35% better battery efficiency than the previous generation, with a Geekbench 6 single-core score of 3,367 and multi-core of 9,830.
• If you look at benchmark scores, it is a significant upgrade over the 8 Elite that powered the Xiaomi 15.
• After a month it still feels just as snappy as day one, with high-end titles running at top settings and sustained performance over long sessions holding up well.
• In a prolonged CPU stress test the Xiaomi 17 did worse than expected, dipping to less than 40% of maximum and spiking continuously rather than holding stable.
• In Honkai Star Rail the Xiaomi 17 began throttling after about 3 minutes of gameplay, with the device becoming extremely hot to the touch.

OnePlus 15T

This is the section the OnePlus 15T was built to win. The 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon 'Glacier' cell is the largest ever fitted to a true compact phone — 50% bigger than the iPhone 17's pack in a similar footprint. Notebookcheck measured roughly 1.5 days of real-world endurance at 150 cd/m². Wired charging tops out at 100 W, wireless at 50 W. The only friction points are the missing built-in magnets for MagSafe-style alignment and the still-USB-2.0 port.

• OnePlus relies on a silicon-carbon-based battery with a large capacity of 7,500 mAh for its mini flagship — in our practical battery test at 150 cd/m² brightness, the 15T achieved an excellent battery life of nearly 1.5 days.
• 9to5Google's preview confirms the 7,500 mAh cell carries the same 'Glacier' moniker as the OnePlus 15's battery, so the silicon-carbon structure is here too — 200 mAh more than the larger sibling.
• Even though the phone keeps the same compact size, it now packs a massive 7,500 mAh battery — to put that into perspective, the iPhone 17 Pro Max only has around 5,000 mAh, and this is a 6.32-inch phone.
• Battery life is wild for a phone this size and is actually a hair bigger than the one in the OnePlus 15, which has a noticeably larger footprint.
• 100W SuperVOOC wired charging and 50W wireless mean even the huge cell refills fast — getting through two full days on a single charge feels totally realistic.
• There is no native magnetic Qi alignment — wireless charging works, but accessories require a separate magnetic case for MagSafe-style snap-on functionality.
• r/Android's reaction to the battery is unambiguous — 'Incredible battery life makes the compact smartphone competition pale in comparison' is the actual review-thread headline.

Xiaomi 17

The headline reason to buy a compact 17: an oversized silicon-anode battery and very fast charging that together solve the usual small-phone endurance problem.

• The massive 6,330mAh battery is truly exceptional for a compact flagship (the China version is 7,000mAh).
• You can get a full day of use, up to ~7 hours of screen-on time and sometimes more depending on usage.
• In a one-month real-world test, 6–7 hours of screen-on time on regular days was normal, dropping to 5–6 hours on heavy days, with up to ~16 hours in benchmark testing.
• Reached close to 9–10 hours of screen-on time on regular use — a genuine full-day battery phone — with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging faster than the iPhone 17 or Galaxy S26.
• 100W charging takes the 6,330mAh battery from 0–100% in as little as 45–46 minutes.

OnePlus 15T

The OnePlus 15T ships with ColorOS 16 on Android 16 in China rather than the global OxygenOS, though the two skins are now nearly identical in feel. Update commitments are unclear — OnePlus doesn't publish a timeline for Chinese-market hardware, and even the global OnePlus 15 only commits to 4 years of major Android upgrades. Mind Space (AI-powered productivity vault) and Gemini integration are the headline software features.

• ColorOS 16 comes pre-installed on the 15T instead of OxygenOS — but the differences are minor overall, with German language and Android Auto supported, though no WearOS watches or eSIMs.
• There are question marks over the duration of the updates provided — the manufacturer does not usually provide any information on this for China, though typically a OnePlus 15-class phone should receive security updates for six years.
• OxygenOS 16 (and ColorOS 16 by extension) integrates Gemini with Mind Space — you can ask Gemini about any saved memory and it accesses local content to perform tasks, making it the best on-phone AI integration we have seen.
• Mind Space is the headline AI feature — a digital vault that takes a screenshot of important content and saves it as a card with URL, summary, title and hashtags for contextual search.
• The system feels incredibly smooth — arguably one of the best experiences you can get on Android right now, with useful features for students like meeting summaries and lecture transcription.
• Update commitment trails the competition — even on the global OnePlus 15 the company only promises 4 years of major Android upgrades, well behind Samsung and Google's 7-year commitments.

Xiaomi 17

HyperOS 3 on Android 16 is fast and visually polished but draws repeated criticism for bugs, bloat and missing basics — and the China ROM many global buyers import has real Google-service gaps.

• Runs Android 16 with Xiaomi's HyperOS 3, which is a very aesthetically pleasing UI.
• Feature-rich HyperOS 3 with a promised 5 years of major upgrades, but the software feels cheap with lots of bugs and you have to calculate screen-on time yourself because there's no built-in counter.
• Xiaomi confirmed the entire Xiaomi 17 series gets 6 years of security updates with end-of-life in February 2032.
• On the China ROM there is no Google Play Store out of the box, and you can't get into the Google Discover page — a real friction point for global buyers.
• Proprietary apps like settings, file manager and security ship with built-in ads.