Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro are here with HyperOS and revamped Leica cameras

2023-10-29

As expected, today Xiaomi unveiled the 14 series featuring the just announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, revamped Leica-branded main cameras, a new design, and Xiaomi's new HyperOS.

Xiaomi 14 Pro

The Xiaomi 14 Pro moves away from the curved edges of its predecessor and instead brings a flat metal side. The frame has a glossy, mirrored finish. The phone has a symmetrical design and the two glass panels taper slightly at the very edge. The camera island sits on a metal bezel finished with a Parisian hobnail texture.

The Xiaomi 14 Pro is the bigger phone, bringing a 6.73-inch 1440x3200 px 12-bit LTPO OLED panel of 120 Hz refresh rate, which is mostly the same spec as the 13 Pro. However this panel lights up all the way up to 3,000 nits and is covered by Xiaomi Longjing Glass. Xiaomi also mentions the bezels are thinner all around the display.

The Xiaomi 14 Pro will come in black, white, rock green, and an exclusive Titanium Special Edition. It has a matte side made of titanium alloy.

Xiaomi ditched the 1-inch type sensor for the 14 Pro and instead premiers a new sensor dubbed the "Light Hunter 900" with a custom Leica Summilux lens. The sensor is a 50 MP 1/1.31" with 1.2 μm pixel size and 13.5 EV of dynamic range. The custom 23 mm lens has a variable aperture, going from f/1.42 at its widest to f/4.0 when closed. The sensor may be around 44% smaller than the 1-inch type imager of last year's 13 Pro, but this new lens is around 80% brighter, so the overall light-gathering capacity is virtually unchanged.

Then there's the 75 mm f/2.0 telephoto camera with floating auto focus elements, seemingly lifted straight from last year's Xiaomi 13 Pro, capable of 10 cm closeup photography. It will capture 40 MP regular photos and 50 MP portrait mode images. The third camera is a 50 MP f/2.2 14 mm ultrawide snapper with 5 cm macro capabilities.

The Xiaomi 14 Pro has the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, built on TSMC's 4 nm process. The SoC is paired with either 12 GB or 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256 GB, 512 GB, or 1 TB of UFS 4.0 storage. The battery capacity is 4,880 mAh and it supports 120 W wired and 50 W wireless charging.

The Xiaomi 14 Pro is up for pre-order in China in black, white, or rock green and in 12/256GB, 16/512GB, and 16GB/1TB. Prices are CNY 4,999 (€650, INR 57,000), CNY 5,499 (€710, INR 62,500), and CNY 5,999 (€780, INR 68,700), respectively.

Xiaomi 14

Moving right along to the Xiaomi 14 - a solid addition to the parched compact flagship segment. It shares the new symmetrical design of the Pro, though last year's Xiaomi 13 already had a flat-sided frame and more angular corners.

In fact, the Xiaomi 14 is basically identical in size to its predecessor at 152.8 mm in length, 71.5 mm in width, and 8.20 mm in thickness. The new phone comes with two finishes - a 193 g glass version and a lighter 188 g nano-leather model.

The display has retained the 6.36-inch diagonal but is otherwise a superior 1200x2670 px LTPO OLED panel with 120 Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits.

The cameras on the smaller 14 may appear identical to the 14 Pro, but there are subtle differences. The 50MP main camera has the same 1/1.31" "Light Hunter" sensor with 1.2 μm pixels, though the lens on top is a fixed-aperture 23 mm f/1.6 unit. The 75 mm floating telephoto is identical, though the 50 MP 14 mm ultrawide seemingly lacks AF and in turn macro capabilities.

The Xiaomi 14 is powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset with 8 GB, 12 GB, or 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and the same choice of 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB of UFS 4.0 storage. The 4,610 mAh battery does 90 W wired and 50 W wireless charging.

The Xiaomi 14 is up for pre-order now, starting at CNY 3,999 (€520, INR 45,800) for the 8/256GB model, CNY 4,299 (€560, INR 49,000) for the 12/256GB model, CNY 4,599 (€600, INR 52,300) for the 16/512GB model, and CNY 4,999 (€700, INR 57,200) for the top-of-the-line 16GB/1TB model.