After a surprisingly busy start to the year from Chinese smartphone makers like Oppo and Realme, Xiaomi has now joined the race with the launch of the Redmi Note 15 5G and Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G on January 5.
While the pace of launches from Chinese smartphone brands may feel relentless, it does signal an aggressive start to 2026, with more announcements likely in the weeks ahead. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about Xiaomi’s latest Redmi offerings.
Redmi Note 15 5G
As the successor to the Redmi Note 14 Pro, the Redmi Note 15 5G brings a familiar premium look to the mid-range segment. On the front, it features a 6.77-inch curved AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. According to Xiaomi, the panel can hit a peak brightness of up to 3,200 nits, making it well-suited for outdoor use. There’s also an in-display fingerprint sensor, which feels like a natural upgrade over side- or rear-mounted alternatives.
Surprisingly, under the hood, the Redmi Note 15 5G sports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset, paired with UFS 2.2 storage. This makes it Xiaomi’s first smartphone launch of 2026 to feature a Snapdragon processor, which should appeal to users who prefer Qualcomm-powered devices for stability and efficiency.
If taking shots matters more to you than other phone specs, the Redmi Note 15 5G offers a 108-megapixel main camera alongside an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor. The main camera supports 4K video recording at 30fps and includes optical image stabilisation. On the front, there’s a 20-megapixel selfie camera for photos and video calls.
Powering the device is a 5,520mAh battery, and Xiaomi includes a charger in the box that supports 45W fast charging, so you won’t need to buy one separately.
In terms of pricing, the Redmi Note 15 5G goes on sale in India starting January 9, 2026, with the base 8GB/128GB variant starting at Rs 22,999, while the 8GB/256GB model costs Rs 24,999. Xiaomi also says buyers can take advantage of bank offers worth up to Rs 3,000.
Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G
The Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G leans into a clean, familiar tablet design, featuring a rectangular body with rounded corners. It measures just 7.5mm in thickness and weighs around 610 grams, keeping it relatively slim for a tablet in this size category.
On the front, the tablet sports a 12.1-inch QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a pixel density of 249ppi. Xiaomi says the panel supports up to a 360Hz touch sampling rate and reaches a peak brightness of 600 nits, which puts it in the same performance bracket as tablets like the Tecno Megapad Pro.
Powering the Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset, built on a 4nm process. The octa-core processor is clocked at up to 2.7GHz and includes one prime core, three performance cores, and four efficiency cores. Graphics duties are handled by the Adreno 810 GPU. The tablet comes with 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and offers up to 256GB of UFS 2.2 internal storage. For audio, Xiaomi includes a quad-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos support.
The tablet is backed by a large 12,000mAh battery, supporting 33W wired fast charging and 27W wired reverse charging. In terms of connectivity, it covers all the basics, including 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.4. Sensor support includes an accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor, colour temperature sensor, e-compass, and a hall sensor.
For the cameras, the Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G features a single 13-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture. On the front, there’s an 8-megapixel camera with an f/2.28 aperture for selfies and video calls. Both cameras support video recording at up to 1080p resolution at 60fps.
On the software side of things, the tablet operating system HyperOS 2, based on Android 15, grants it capabilities you hardly see on most tablets, even though it feels outdated. Xiaomi is promising long-term support, with up to five years of OS updates and seven years of security patches.
In India, the Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G starts at Rs 22,999 for the Wi-Fi-only variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. The same configuration with Wi-Fi and 5G connectivity is priced at Rs 25,999. The top-end model, which includes 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage with Wi-Fi and 5G support, costs Rs 27,999. Xiaomi is also offering an instant discount of up to Rs 2,000 on select Axis Bank, SBI, and ICICI Bank credit cards.
Ejiro Onose
Takeaway
With Xiaomi kicking off the year with these launches, it’s hard not to be curious about what other smartphone brands are lining up next. The early momentum already suggests 2026 will be a crowded and competitive year, especially in the mid-range segment. For Xiaomi, the Redmi Note 15 5G and Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G set the tone for what’s to come, signaling a focus on familiar strengths like aggressive pricing, solid hardware, and incremental upgrades. If this is how the year starts, there’s plenty of reason to keep an eye on what Xiaomi and its rivals roll out in the months ahead.
