A smartphone model called to surpass all its rivals in the photographic section. Among other things, because a firm as recognized as Leica It is responsible for intelligent image processing. That's how he is Xiaomi 14Ultra: a mobile phone that revolutionizes photography, made in China for the whole world.
The big brands have invested a lot of effort in improving the hardware of camera of your mobile devices, but not all have dared to use accessories or physical controls to obtain truly professional results. That is the big difference that Xiaomi makes, and will probably be the key to the success of this model, along with its interesting price.
Designer
From an aesthetic point of view, the 14 Ultra is a natural evolution of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, presented to society last year. This new generation of phones maintains the back of vegan leather, inspired by Leica's iconic M series cameras. In addition to being beautiful, this leather is very practical, as it protects the device from bumps and scratches.
The central structure is made from a single block of aluminum, which gives it an additional point of rigidity and resistance. To highlight the presence of the large circular piece that houses the cameras (the true protagonists of this smartphone).
There are two colors available: white and black (the titanium version will only be marketed for the Chinese market). Apart from this, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra has water and dust resistance IP68K to which a protector is added Xiaomi Shield Glass.
Its dimensions are 161 x 75 x 9,2 mm, while the weight of the phone is 229,5 grams.
Screen
The front panel of the 14 Ultra has been named by Xiaomi as a "integral liquid screen", which is just a more subtle way of saying that the glass is slightly curved on all four sides. In essence, it is a compromise between flat glass and curved edge panels.
The highlight of this screen is that it presents the High quality LPTO AMOLED technology, with a size of 6,73 inches and a very detailed resolution of 3200 × 144. The refresh rate is 120 Hz and the maximum brightness for HDR content is 3000 nits. It emits enough light to be perfectly visible when sunlight falls directly on it.
Performance and battery
If we talk about the most outstanding technical characteristics of this model, it should be noted that Xiaomi has doubled the performance of the 14 Ultra, all thanks to the processor Snapdragon 8 Gen3 working with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage (the only option outside of China).
The manufacturer assures that this configuration allows, together with the characteristics of the screen, to fully enjoy the gaming experience. And without overheating problems. It is also more than enough to perform the rest of the daily functions, fluidly and without interruptions.
The battery capacity is 5.000 mAh, on par with the best Android phones. However, its duration is an enigma. The charging speeds They are 90 W via USB-C and 80 W in wireless mode. The figure of 30 minutes for a full charge puts this phone ahead of some of its rivals, such as the Pixel 8 Pro or the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Camera: the jewel in the crown
Special mention for the most iconic and important section of this phone: its photographic equipment. Just with a brief look outside we already discovered that the flagship element of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is the quad-lens camera setup:
- 50 MP, 23mm, f/1.6-f/4.0 main with OIS +
- 50 MP, 12 mm, f/1.8 ultra wide angle with macro focus +
- 50 MP, 75 mm, f/1.8 telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, OIS +
- 50 MP, 120 mm, f/2.5 Telephoto with 5x optical zoom, OIS
All this panoply is concentrated behind glass developed by Leica. The smartphone offers several image processing modes. For example, Leica Vibrant helps us increase the saturation to obtain a more aesthetically pleasing image, while Leica Authentic It offers more muted tones with the idea of ​​​​achieving a more natural appearance. These are just some of the tools with which any user who invests some time can obtain professional quality images.
To the four rear cameras we must add the 32 MP, f/2.0 front camera. Other related features include a two-stage shutter button, a zoom lever, customizable command dial, and a separate video recording button.
Software and Artificial Intelligence
The Xiaomi 14 Ultra is one of the first phones that have it installed Xiaomi's new HyperOS. This is a version of Android 14 more focused on connectivity between devices. Visually, it is a MIUI with a slightly modified style.
It is worth highlighting the fact that the software will include lots of AI features, such as live subtitles for video calls or image editing. In addition, Xiaomi guarantees four years of Android updates and five years of security patches.
Finally, in the section of connectivity It should be noted that it has ultra-fast WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, infrared port and USB type C connector.
Price
For now, we can only be guided by the prices with which the Xiaomi 14 Ultra has gone on sale in China, although it is expected that they will not be very different from those we will see in Spain.
The 12 GB + 512 GB version, which is the one that will reach the rest of the world, is sold there for 7.000 yuan (about 900 euros). Chinese buyers will be able to opt for a simpler version with 256 GB of storage for about 830 euros and a larger one, 16 GB + 1TB, for about 1.000 euros at the current exchange rate. You can also purchase the titanium version for around 1.135 euros.
If it finally goes on sale for 900 euros, we can talk about a great price. It is normal for a mobile phone with these characteristics (a powerful screen, an extremely fast processor, a large capacity battery, top-of-the-line photography equipment) to overcome the barrier of one thousand euros.