The Xiaomi 14 is a solid flagship… that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone

A compact smartphone, finally

The phone feels premium with its metal frame and matte glass back (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

I am the biggest supporter of compact flagships. With most smartphones being too large (and also boring), it’s good to see that Xiaomi went the route of actually making a compact flagship smartphone when almost every major phone brand has given up on it. The Xiaomi 14 (first impression) manages to pack a larger screen onto a smaller device, letting it be physically smaller in your hand or pocket.

It fits snugly into my hand (and pocket) in a way that no other mainstream smartphone I’ve tested in recent times (sorry, iPhone 15 Pro Max (review) has. And it’s not heavy either at 193 grams. The rear has a dominant squared camera module, and the curved glass back has a fingerprint-resistant matte black finish. I loved the design and how it feels when you hold it in your hands; it looks premium. The phone is durable enough (with the same IP68 rating as every other modern flagship). The Gorilla Glass Victus protects the screen, which is flat (and thank god not curved), complemented by flat edges around the frame, reminiscent of the iPhone.

Super sharp display

The Xiaomi 14 fits perfectly in my hands. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

The 6.3-inch screen takes up the entire face of the device, except for a notch at the top containing the front-facing camera. There’s a fingerprint sensor under the screen at the bottom, which I found to be responsive. Like pretty much every other flagship phone, this is an AMOLED display. It has a 2,670 x 1,200-pixel resolution, giving you a sharp 460 pixels per inch as well as a dynamic refresh rate capable of going from 1 Hz up to 120 Hz for smooth animations and scrolling, thus saving battery life when needed. The display was bright enough to read WhatsApp messages and go through emails outdoors in direct sunlight; plus, having support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ makes it a pretty compelling movie-watching experience on the go. I prefer the colours on this screen to those on the iPhone 15 Pro (review) though this one looks less natural. This is a personal choice.

Top performance, but Gen AI features are missing

The device is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

The Xiaomi 14 uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, the same as the OnePlus 12 (review) and Galaxy S24 Ultra (review). This chip has impressive raw power, but what does all that do for you in practice? Aided by 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage, the phone is blazing fast. The apps I use the most—LinkedIn, Apple Music, Google Docs, Netflix, and YouTube—run fast on the device. However, I am also a user of ChatGPT on mobile and thus needed a phone that also lets me generate AI photos on the go using Adobe Firefly.

For intensive tasks (like huge mobile games and editing images), I didn’t notice any lag. Sure, both apps use the cloud for execution (rather than running LLMs locally), but the phone’s processor is capable of running on-device generative AI (after all, it’s the same chip running in Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra). But sadly, the new HyperOS, which is an improvement on MIUI and sits atop Android 14, currently lacks Gen AI features (at least for now, on the global version). I think this is a miss from the brand because the Xiaomi 14 is coming at a time when Gen AI is a huge buzz in tech, and companies are all in on AI to boost sales of tech products.

I see the HyperOS runs smoothly on the Xiaomi 14; it feels a lot like iOS, less busy, easy to navigate, and highly customisable, but it still comes with a ton of bloatware, with several Xiaomi apps that nobody uses as defaults. The good thing is that the Xiaomi 14 will get four years of Android updates and five years of security patches.

The battery life lasts long but..

If you are worried about the Xiaomi 14’s battery life, do not worry. Its 4,610 mAh battery can get me through a day, but when I am out on a busy day with back-to-back meetings where I need to record videos and take voice notes, the phone needed to be charged at night. I bet there won’t be an iPhone 13 mini-like scenario when the phone’s battery dies post-lunch. But I have to admit, the Xiaomi 14 is smaller by today’s standards and that means a relatively smaller battery too. Thank God, Xiaomi ships the 90-watt charger and USB-C cable in the box, which can fully charge the device in just over half an hour.

Impressive cameras

The smartphone has a 50 MP triple camera setup (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Xiaomi is highlighting a Leica camera as the biggest strength of this phone, and while it does seem impressive, it’s not always the case. First, let me cover the basics. The rear camera comprises three 50-megapixel lenses. The main lens has a 1/1.31-inch sensor, an f/1.6 aperture, and a 23-mm focal length. The telephoto lens offers 3.2X optical zoom with an f/2.0 aperture and a 75-mm focal length. And then there’s an ultrawide lens with an f/2.2 aperture and a 14-mm focal length.

One of my favourite elements of the camera system on the Xiaomi 14 is the telephoto lens, which is great for portrait shots. I have snapped some stunning and artistic portrait shots. You should check out the samples below.

Xiaomi 14 camera sample (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Just notice the details and sharpness in the photos. They look natural, as if you are on the spot, in the moment. The ultra-wide camera is also impressive.

Meanwhile, I do enjoy shooting with the main camera; it offers excellent dynamic range and clarity, but the pictures don’t stand in comparison to what one would get with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, iPhone 15 Pro, or Pixel 8 Pro. The Xiaomi 14’s camera limitations did start showing on my recent visit to Baansera, Delhi’s first bamboo theme park. Not that the Xiaomi 14 struggles to maintain consistency – because I went to the park in the afternoon when lighting was absolutely perfect. It’s the natural tones, texture of fabrics, and subjects in the foreground that seemed off. A friend of mine who accompanied me chose to go with pictures shot on the three-year-old iPhone 13 mini over the Xiaomi 14.

However, we both agree on the Xiaomi 14’s capabilities to take amazing black-and-white portraits. Even the iPhone 15 Pro Max can’t come close to delivering the same quality that the Xiaomi 14 is capable of. It just lifts my mood whenever I do photography in monochrome.

Xiaomi and its camera partner, the legendary German camera maker Leica, focused primarily on the improvements made to the camera system and not on the gimmicks. Users can choose the Leica Authentic or Vibrant style. I prefer the realistic colours of Authentic. Ultimately the pictures speak for themselves – nothing else.

Speaking of night shots, I got some interesting scenic views of Barcelona at night. There’s minimal noise, and the results had pleasing natural tones to them. You can check out the samples below.

The 32-MP selfie camera is fine for video calls and selfies. But I must say the phone’s video shooting capabilities are a step below the iPhone (take any iPhone model for that matter).

Xiaomi 14 camera sample (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Xiaomi 14 camera sample (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Xiaomi 14 camera sample (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Xiaomi 14 camera sample (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Xiaomi 14 camera sample (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Xiaomi 14 camera sample (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Xiaomi 14 camera sample (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Xiaomi 14 camera sample (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Should you buy the Xiaomi 14?

I had a very different opinion on the Xiaomi 14 when I got the unit, and this is usually how the process of product reviews typically goes. The pocketability, one-handedness, and all-day battery life make the Xiaomi 14 a compelling premium Android smartphone out there on the market.

I would argue that for anyone who is looking for a high-end smartphone (especially one with a kick-ass camera), there are far more interesting options out there — those with bigger displays, longer battery life, and better cameras. However, that doesn’t change my perception of the Xiaomi 14. I find the device functional and conservative. I should mention that Xiaomi also offers (which surprised me during the launch) a super high-end Xiaomi 14 Ultra (starting at Rs 99,999), which I think is the biggest competitor to the base-line Xiaomi 14 (Rs 69,999).

Now to the question of whether this phone is a game changer. Xiaomi’s newest flagship is a re-evaluation of the company’s high-end strategy. This should have been done long ago. Any phone has to stand on its own, regardless of whether it comes from a known brand with a legacy or a new brand. The Xiaomi 14 does feel like a big leap from its past flagships (and credit should be given where it is needed), but the phone doesn’t come near the competition despite a genuine attempt at making a solid premium smartphone.