Xiaomi Router AX1500: Specs, Features, Pros & Cons
Only one of this router's two radios is Wi-Fi 6. Xiaomi's own spec sheet lists the 5 GHz side as 2×2 802.11ax at up to 1201 Mbps and the 2.4 GHz side as 2×2 802.11n, the Wi-Fi 4 standard, at up to 300 Mbps. The AX1500 in the name is those two figures added together and rounded down by one megabit.
Phones and laptops on the upper band get the Wi-Fi 6 features Xiaomi lists, OFDMA and BSS Coloring among them. Xiaomi also lists WPA3-SAE encryption. Smart plugs, cameras and other gadgets that only connect on the lower band stay on an 802.11n radio, the standard ratified in 2009.
All four Ethernet ports are gigabit and self-adaptive, so the internet cable can go into any of them and the router works out which one is the WAN. There is no USB port and no multi-gig socket. Xiaomi's support FAQ gives the hardware as a Realtek RTL8197H single-core chip at 1.0 GHz with 128 MB of RAM, and rates the router for up to 128 connected devices across both bands and the wired ports.
A mesh button on the case pairs it with other Xiaomi routers that support Xiaomi Mesh on current firmware, up to ten devices in one network, with the links between them running over cable, over Wi-Fi or a mix of the two. The ports also handle an IPTV set-top box. Day-to-day control runs through a web page or the Xiaomi Home app, and Xiaomi and Redmi phones get a game-acceleration path once the router recognizes them and the phone's Game Turbo setting is switched on.
Category strengths
Where the Xiaomi Router AX1500 trails the median
- A much lower max wireless speed ?1,501 Mbps vs 7,876 Mbps (median)
- No 6 GHz band ?
- A much lower WAN port speed ?1 Gbps vs 2.5 Gbps (median)
- No multi-gig LAN ?
- Much less RAM ?128 MB vs 1,024 MB (median)
- Fewer processor cores ?1 vs 4 (median)
- Fewer frequency bands ?2 vs 3 (median)
- Fewer USB ports ?0 vs 1 (median)
- Fewer LAN ports ?3 vs 4 (median)
- Fewer max connected devices ?128 vs 189 (median)
How this VS Score was computed
Score 18: each known spec is measured against the median of all wi-fi routers (26 products), then weighted; 50 means level with that median. In classes of six or more, a value beyond the class’s 10th–90th percentile range counts as that limit, so one extreme product cannot set the scale. 59% of the scoreable weight could be used; unknown values, features not applicable to this class and proxies (battery capacity where a rated life exists) add or remove nothing.
| Specification | This product | Cohort median | Score weight | Points moved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 | Wi-Fi 7 | 2 | −96.0 |
| Max wireless speed | 1,501 — capped at the class’s lower range (1,775) | 7,876 | 2 | −78.0 |
| 6 GHz band | No | 52% of the class have it | 1 | −48.0 |
| WAN port speed | 1 | 2.5 | 1.5 | −45.0 |
| Multi-gig LAN | No | 69% of the class have it | 0.8 | −38.4 |
| RAM | 128 — capped at the class’s lower range (512) | 1,024 | 0.7 | −17.5 |
| Frequency bands | 2 | 3 | 1 | −17.0 |
| USB ports | 0 | 1 | 0.3 | −14.4 |
| Processor cores | 1 — capped at the class’s lower range (2) | 4 | 0.5 | −12.5 |
| LAN ports | 3 | 4 | 1 | −12.0 |
| Max connected devices | 128 | 189 | 0.5 | −8.0 |
| Processor speed | 1 — capped at the class’s lower range (1.5) | 1.5 | 0.5 | +0.0 |
| Antennas | 4 | 4 | 0.3 | +0.0 |
Not scored: Coverage area (unknown: not scored); MU-MIMO (unknown: not scored); OFDMA (standard for the class (100% have it)); Beamforming (unknown: not scored); Link aggregation (unknown: not scored); WPA3 (standard for the class (100% have it)); Mesh support (standard for the class (94% have it)); Guest network (unknown: not scored); Parental controls (unknown: not scored); Quality of Service (QoS) (unknown: not scored); VPN server (unknown: not scored); App control (standard for the class (100% have it)); Built-in security suite (unknown: not scored); Weight (unknown: not scored); Wall-mountable (unknown: not scored).
Editor’s note
The 802.11n radio on the lower band is less of an outlier than it looks. TP-Link's Archer AX10, sold in the same AX1500 class, makes the same choice. The question at this level is whether anything on that band in the home is a Wi-Fi 6 device, and a smart plug or camera that is itself 802.11n gains nothing from a newer radio on that band.
What separates Xiaomi's router from the TP-Link is the feature list it does not publish. The global spec sheet covers WPA3, OFDMA, mesh and IPTV, and says nothing about a guest network, parental controls, traffic prioritization or a VPN server, all of which the Archer AX10 documents. Anyone who relies on one of those should treat it as missing until the admin panel shows otherwise.
Xiaomi's FAQ names a single-core Realtek chip, modest silicon for the client count it quotes, and I would expect the router to suit a small apartment with a handful of busy devices better than a family house full of video streams.
A home already run from the Xiaomi Home app, with Xiaomi phones and perhaps another Xiaomi router for mesh, gets a router that slots into the same app and the same mesh.
Specifications
Quality bars show where each figure sits between the lowest and highest of the 26 wi-fi routers this VS Score is measured against.
Wireless
Ports & wired
Hardware
Features & security
Design
Networking assessment
What the specification table does not say on its own: what this device needs to connect, what speeds are realistic, what costs extra, and where it falls short. Every statement below is read from the verified sheet or written by an editor — nothing is estimated.
Test environment
Research-based assessment: this brief is derived from the manufacturer’s published specifications for the Xiaomi Router AX1500 and the documents listed under Sources and verification. We have not run this unit on our own network, so nothing here is a measurement of ours.
Connection requirements
The WAN (internet) port is rated at 1 Gbps. An internet plan faster than that is capped at the router, and nothing on the network can download faster than this port regardless of the wireless figures.
There are 3 LAN ports, all Gigabit; a switch is needed for more wired devices.
Throughput expectations
The Wi-Fi 6 headline of 1,501 Mbps adds together the theoretical peak of every band. A single device connects to one band at a time, so no client ever sees the total, and real-world speeds run well below the link rate even in the same room.
There is no 6 GHz band, so the least congested spectrum available to new phones and laptops is not on offer here.
OFDMA and MU-MIMO help most when many devices are active at once; they do not make a single download faster.
Firmware and subscriptions
Xiaomi runs the router on its own MiWiFi ROM, managed from a web page or the Xiaomi Home app. Its global product pages give no firmware version history for this model, and the UK spec page refers buyers to the Xiaomi Security Center for the router's minimum security-update period.
Set-up and management run through the manufacturer’s app; check whether a local web interface is offered as well.
Security support
WPA3 is supported, the current Wi-Fi encryption standard; devices that only speak WPA2 still connect in mixed mode.
Security-update cadence is not something manufacturers publish as a specification; see Support and updates below.
Real-world household suitability
Rated for 128 connected devices — a marketing figure, but a useful indication of whether a home full of smart plugs, cameras and phones is within its design.
Mesh support means coverage can be extended later with a compatible satellite instead of replacing the router.
Known limitations
Not offered, according to the spec sheet: 6 GHz band, multi-gig LAN.
11 specifications are not published by the manufacturer and are shown as Unknown rather than guessed.
Support and updates
Model questions go through Xiaomi's regional support FAQs, including a specification page for this router. Mesh pairing depends on the other Xiaomi router running current firmware, and Xiaomi says its customer service can confirm compatibility model by model.
Sources and verification
Where the specifications come from
- Official product pagemi.com
Verification
- First published
- Specifications last checked
- Sheet completeness
- 17 of 28 specifications verified; the rest show as Unknown and are never estimated or scored
- Page type
- Product specification page — Compiled from the manufacturer’s published specifications and the cited sources; this is not a hands-on test.
- Basis
- Research-based: specifications and editorial text were compiled from the documents listed here and the manufacturer’s published data. We have not tested this unit ourselves; where independent measurements are mentioned they belong to the linked publication.
Wi-Fi Routers with similar specs to the Xiaomi Router AX1500
Ratings & reviews
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The bottom line
The Xiaomi Router AX1500 earns a VS Score of 18, below the median of the 26 wi-fi routers it is measured against (a score of 50 is level with that median).
- Who it’s for
- A small apartment on a gigabit-or-slower line, run from the Xiaomi Home app, that wants WPA3, Wi-Fi 6 for its phones and laptops, and the option of Xiaomi mesh units later.
- Who should look elsewhere
- Homes on a plan faster than a gigabit, anyone who needs a USB port, and anyone whose smart-home gadgets are Wi-Fi 6 devices that would use the newer standard on the lower band.
- The trade-off that matters
- Modern Wi-Fi on one band and older hardware everywhere else. The upper band is current, while the lower one, the single-core chip and the short published feature list belong to an older class of router.
- The main alternative
- TP-Link Archer AX21 (V5): Wi-Fi 6 on both bands, a VPN server and EasyMesh support, for buyers who want the newer standard on the lower band as well.
The VS Score is calculated from the weighted specifications above, each measured against the median of comparable wi-fi routers — a shortlisting guide, not a substitute for your own priorities. See how we score.
