The global debut of Xiaomi’s next flagship smartphone, the Xiaomi 14, which debuted in China last year, took place on Sunday at MWC Barcelona. The overpowered Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which was introduced in China last week, was also released globally by Xiaomi. Strangely, there was no global release for the Xiaomi 14 Pro. However, this is not a huge concern because the Xiaomi 14 Pro is just the Xiaomi 14 on steroids, with most of the features remaining the same.
Let’s go back to the Xiaomi 14 and the Ultra. The two phones have radically distinct designs, but they share a lot of the same DNA, as is usual of Xiaomi phones.
The 6.36-inch AMOLED display on the Xiaomi 14 smartphone, which runs Android 14, has a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a maximum brightness of 3,000 nits. It has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor from Qualcomm, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of storage. On top of Android 14, Xiaomi’s HyperOS is installed on the phone.
With Leica’s assistance, a triple 50-megapixel camera was constructed for the rear, while a 32-megapixel wide-angle selfie camera with 4K video recording sits on the front.
Large 4,660mAH battery with 90W wired, 50W wireless, and 10W reverse wireless charging capacity powers the phone. Notable features also include stereo sound, hi-res, and IP68 dust/water protection.
The Xiaomi 14’s design features an aluminium frame, a large rectangular camera bump on the glass back, a hole-punch opening for the selfie camera, and a flat glass front with equally thin bezels on all sides. For added effect, the bump is embossed on a small pedestal. These kinds of details don’t alter the reality that this phone resembles an iPhone in appearance, and you’ll notice software parallels as well. For instance, the slide-down control panel of Xiaomi’s new HyperOS is eerily similar to Apple’s iOS’s Control Centre.
Xiaomi refers to the material used on the textured back of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra as “nano-tech vegan leather.” The device also features an even more pronounced circular camera bump. Additionally, it includes a novel kind of curved display that curves uniformly in all directions, including the corners. Xiaomi refers it this as a “all around liquid display,” and although it is not very curved, the display is still rather good in comparison to previous curved displays. While the Xiaomi 14 is available in Jade Green and Snow Mountain Pink, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is limited to white and black colours.
Internally, the Ultra is a somewhat enhanced Xiaomi 14 that is already incredibly potent. With a 6.73-inch display, it is larger and packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor along with 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. With a whopping 5,300mAh capacity, the battery is larger and wireless charging is faster than ever—an unprecedented 80W compared to the Xiaomi 14’s 50W wireless charging.
The truly amazing quad back camera on Ultra is where the big distinctions lie. Despite having four distinct cameras on the rear, all four have a resolution of 50 megapixels. A 1-inch sensor and a Leica Summilux lens with stepless variable aperture, spanning from f/1.6 to f/4.0, are combined to form the Ultra’s primary camera. This means that depending on the real circumstances you’re in, it will let in the perfect quantity of light. Then there are the two telephoto cameras, which may also be used as macro cameras. They both use periscope lenses to provide optical zooms of 3.2 and 5 times. Lastly, the ultra-wide camera offers a 122-degree field of vision with an f/1.8 aperture. The 32-megapixel selfie camera is the same as the one seen on the Xiaomi 14.
Before making any conclusions, they would need to examine the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s cameras, but from the looks of the specifications, this looks to be one of the most flexible phone camera systems we’ve seen, with the ability to take excellent-looking pictures in almost every situation and at six different focal lengths. Additionally, Xiaomi has improved the camera’s video capabilities, which should be especially apparent while recording in HDR mode.
Possibly the most significant feature of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is its global availability. It’s a shame that the previous generation of Xiaomi Ultra phones, which were incredibly powerful and competitive with the best Android phones available, were primarily designed with the Chinese market in mind. Users in other markets can now test the Xiaomi 14 Ultra to see if it satisfies their need for phonetography.
In addition to the new phones, Xiaomi unveiled the Xiaomi Watch S3, a new wearable. The unique feature of the smartwatch is its detachable bezels, which drastically alter the device’s appearance and instantly install a new watch face.
