The “vanilla” Xiaomi 14 is starting from €999 (almost $1100), while the maxed-out Xiaomi 14 Ultra comes at €1499 (over $1600).
All Xiaomi 14 phones are made camera-centric, but some Xiaomi 14 phones are more camera-centric than others.
That said, the non-Ultra Xiaomi 14 will give you tremendous joy using it as a mobile camera (you can make calls and send texts on that thing, too!), but the delight is taken to another level with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Your wallet is also taken to another level, but hey – it may cost an arm and a leg, but at least you get to keep the rest of your body.
The Xiaomi 14 Pro – the in-between those two Xiaomi 2024 champions, didn’t get a global unveiling, so it won’t make it outside of China, as many have predicted.
The Xiaomi 14 – what saving several hundred euro/dollars feels like
By trading the “Ultra” addition to the Xiaomi 14 moniker, you get great specs while saving some several hundred euro/dollars. The Xiaomi 14 packs a 6.36-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. This vanilla flagship runs on the almighty Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and comes with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Xiaomi’s HyperOS that’s based on Android 14 is offered out of the box.
Photography enthusiasts will appreciate the triple 50-megapixel camera setup, developed with Leica’s assistance, and a 32-megapixel front camera capable of 4K video recording. The device also offers a robust 4,660mAh battery supporting 90W wired and 50W wireless charging, IP68 dust/water resistance, and hi-res stereo sound.
The Xiaomi 14 Ultra – drooling for the camera
If you reach a further €500, you can get the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. If you only care about photography, you’ll do it – don’t deny. That is, if you buy your phones solely by looking at their technical specs. Many tests are about to be conducted, and we’ll see just how good the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is on the photography front. Until that happens, feel free to drool over these camera specs:
- LYT-900: 1x main camera (23mm), 1-inch sensor, f/1.63 to f/4.0 (variable aperture)
- IMX858: 0.5x ultra-wide (12mm), 1/2.51-inch sensor, f/1.8
- IMX858: 3.2x (75mm) optical zoom, 1/2.51-inch sensor, f/1.8
- IMX858: 5x (120mm) optical zoom, 1/2.51-inch sensor, f/2.5
And, surprise-surprise, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra also doubles as a smartphone, apart from being a high-end mobile camera.
Users can expect a larger 6.73-inch display, the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, and enhanced battery capacity at 5,300mAh, supporting juicy 80W wireless charging capabilities. The Ultra version distinguishes itself with a unique quad rear camera array, featuring a 1-inch sensor (LYT-900) for the main camera with a variable stepless aperture from f/1.6 to f/4.0, dual telephoto lenses for 3.2x and 5x (this one is a periscope) optical zoom that double as macro cameras, and an ultra-wide camera with a 122-degree field of vision. That’s wide!
Both smartphones share a commitment to high-quality construction and design, with the Xiaomi 14 sporting an aluminum frame and flat glass front, while the Ultra opts for a more luxurious feel with its “nanotech vegan leather” back and an “all around liquid display” that curves subtly at the edges.
Additionally, Xiaomi offers a complimentary screen repair within the first six months of ownership, underscoring their confidence in the durability of these devices.
And, let’s end on a familiar note:
The battle between the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is inevitable, but let’s take a look at another Android champion from China – the one that also offers a quadruple-camera setup and utilizes the LYT-900 sensor for its main camera.
Enter the Oppo Find X7 Ultra:
- LYT-900: main camera, 1-inch sensor, f/1.8
- LYT-600: ultra-wide, 1/1.95-inch sensor, f/2.0
- IMX890: 3x (65mm) optical zoom, 1/1.56-inch sensor, f/2.6
- IMX858: 6x (135mm) optical zoom, 1/2.51-inch sensor, f/4.3
It’s interesting to see how the physically smaller sensors on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, paired with the brighter lenses, will compete with the Find X7 Ultra’s bigger sensors, but darker lenses (the smaller the “f/” number is, the more light a lens lets in – hence, “brighter”).In digital photography, in general, you want big(ger) sensors with bright(er) lenses for gathering as much light as possible. This, however, changed a bit with the introduction of computational photography and now AI is taking over the baton. Small sensors are capable of doing some very intriguing stuff.
The camera performance on the Oppo flagship is tweaked in partnership with the legendary Swedish brand Hasselblad, and Xiaomi is relying on the German gods from Leica for their camera systems.
By the way, the 14 Ultra’s lenses are dubbed “Summilux”. The name Summilux is used by Leica and Panasonic Lumix to designate camera lenses that have a maximum aperture of less than f/2, typically f/1.4, but greater than f/1.0. The lens has been in production since 1959 and carries on to the present day.
Talking about legendary stuff!
It’s also interesting to see the “Leica LYT-900 vs Hasselblad LYT-900” battle between the two flagships, as software tweaking will play a major role here, apart from the different optical elements in the lenses.
