Achim Maier
As expected, the first smartphones with the just announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset started today. The Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro bring new Leica cameras, a new design and Xiaomi’s new Android interface HyperOS.
Xiaomi 14 Pro
The Xiaomi 14 Pro does away with the curved sides of the Xiaomi 13 Pro. Instead, there’s a flat metal frame with a shiny, mirrored finish. Inside is the 6.73-inch 12-bit LTPO OLED display with a resolution of 1,440 x 3,200 pixels and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. These are almost the same specifications as the 13 Pro, but the new panel lights up to to 3,000 nits. Xiaomi’s durable Longjing Glass provides protection. The Chinese are also extremely proud of the fact that the display bezels are smaller than those of the Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Xiaomi has dispensed with the 1-inch Sonx IMX989 sensor of its predecessor in the 14 Pro. Instead, a new sensor called “Light Hunter 900” with a tailor-made Leica Summilux lens is used. The sensor has a resolution of 50 megapixels on 1/1.31 inch with 1.2 μm pixels and a 13.5 EV dynamic range. The 23mm lens has a variable aperture that ranges from f/1.42 at its widest to f/4.0 when closed. The sensor is about 44% smaller than the chip in the 13 Pro. The new lens is about 80% brighter, so there is practically no change in the overall low light capabilities.
The 75 mm telephoto camera with f/2.0 aperture appears to have been taken directly from last year’s Xiaomi 13 Pro and takes macros at a minimum distance of 10 cm. Normal photos have a resolution of 40 megapixels, portraits have a resolution of 50 megapixels. The third camera is a 14mm ultra-wide with 50 megapixels, f/2.2 aperture and 5cm macro capabilities.
The Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro are also the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones. The new chipset is manufactured using TSMC’s 4 Nm process and comes with 12 or 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB of UFS 4.0 storage. The battery has a capacity of 4,880 mAh and supports 120 watt wired charging and 50 watt wireless charging.
The Xiaomi 14 Pro is offered in black, white, rock green and an exclusive Titanium Special Edition with a matte titanium alloy. In China, you can already pre-order for CNY 4,999 (€650/$683/INR 57,000), CNY 5,499 (€710/$752/INR 62,500) or CNY 5,999 (€780/$820/INR 68,700).
Xiaomi 14
The Xiaomi 14 has the same flat frame as the Xiaomi 13 – in fact, at 152.8 mm long, 71.5 mm wide and 8.20 mm thick, it is identical to its predecessor. There are two versions – a 193g glass version and a 188g leather model. The LTPO OLED display has retained the diagonal of 6.36 inches. Technically, however, it is more advanced with 1,200 x 2,670 pixels, a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits.
The cameras on the Xiaomi 14 appear to be identical to those on the 14 Pro, but there are some subtle differences. The 50-megapixel main camera has the same 1/1.31-inch Light Hunter sensor with 1.2 μm pixels. However, the 23mm f/1.6 lens has a fixed aperture. The 14 mm ultra-wide lens apparently lacks autofocus and therefore macro functions. The 75 mm telephoto lens, on the other hand, is identical.
The Xiaomi 14 is powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. Storage options include 8, 12, or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. The 4,610 mAh battery charges with 90 watts via cable and 50 watts wirelessly.
The Xiaomi 14 is available for pre-order now for CNY 3,999 (€520/$547/INR45,800) for the 8/256GB model. It costs CNY 4,299 (€560/$588/INR49,000) for the 12/256GB model and CNY4,599 (€600/$629/INR52,300) for the 16/512GB model. The 16GB/1TB version costs CNY 4,999 (€700/$683/INR 57,200).
