Pro camera or high-end smartphone? Xiaomi 14 Ultra review

If you want to do two things really well at the same time, you usually fail at one of them. With the 14 Ultra, Xiaomi has brought a professional camera to market and conveniently attached a high-end smartphone to it. The question is whether the combination works. Up front: the price missed the mark.

Price

The recommended retail price (RRP) is €1,449 and clearly too high. Xiaomi sets the bar extremely high for itself with that. If I pay a high-end price, I want high-end in every area.

Display

The 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED display is razor-sharp, has 120 Hz and reaches up to 3,000 nits at its peak. For comparison: the S24 Ultra manages up to 2,600 nits, the iPhone 15 Pro Max up to 2,000 nits. The bezels are thin and disappear into the slight curve at the edge. For the display, we can definitely tick the box for high-end. A screen protector is preinstalled from the factory, which looks exactly the same after a few weeks. The ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner and face unlock work reliably and quickly.

Performance and software

It has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with Android 14, as befits a flagship. Everything runs super smooth, and apps switch quickly and without stutter. The interface is Xiaomi HyperOS. I have nothing to complain about there; the menu structure is a matter of taste.

Here come the weaknesses:

• Updates: There are four years of operating system updates, so through Android 18, and five years of security updates. Samsung and Google redefined high-end with seven years. Personally, five years is enough for me, but for a premium price I want premium. Xiaomi is also much slower with the rollout. In mid-May I had the March security update installed. That is more low life and is not acceptable for €1,500.
• No eSIM: I find that especially impractical if you travel a lot outside Europe.
• Bloatware: Nearly all apps are preinstalled. That includes useful ones like Spotify, but also a lot of junk that you first have to delete. That doesn’’t give a premium feel.

Battery and charging

With the 5,000 mAh battery, the device is state of the art again. I get 7 to 9 hours of screen-on time, so easily two full workdays. If you use your smartphone less, you get two and a half days. A clear plus: a 90-watt charger is included in the box. With it, the 14 Ultra charges from 0 to 100% in about 35 minutes. Which manufacturer still includes a charger?

Build quality

The frame is made of matte aluminum. In the six weeks I have used the device, it hasn’‘t picked up any scratches or dents. The back is faux leather with a slight texture, which gives good grip and feels high-quality. There, too, I have no scratches after several weeks without a case; how it looks in months or years remains to be seen. What bothers me is that the faux leather doesn’’t quite reach the frame and an aluminum edge remains. That looks patched together, but it is a matter of taste.

Despite the huge camera, the weight is 229 g, 4 g less than the S24 Ultra with its titanium frame and glass back. The camera module is not subtle, but appropriate for a pro camera. I use the camera bar as a support for my index finger. On a table, the device wobbles little because the module spans almost the entire width.

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Camera

The special thing is the collaboration with Leica. The four Leica lenses of the main camera, each with 50 megapixels, take by far the best photos I have ever seen on a smartphone. Every shot is a hit, and the pictures look like they are from a studio. The 32-megapixel front camera takes really good shots, but not quite as good as the main camera. I am not a photography expert, but you can make a lot of settings to make photos and videos even more perfect.

There is also the Photography Kit for €200 extra. It is worth it if you take a lot of photos or videos: the smartphone is easier to hold and operate, you can use rings as color accents on the back, and filters can be attached to the case. Without the lower part, it is a cool case.

Verdict

Xiaomi has managed to combine a professional camera and a high-end smartphone in one device. There are compromises: the missing eSIM, bloatware and sluggish security updates. For me, these are not dealbreakers, because the powerful processor, the battery life with the charging speed and the outstanding display matter more to me. The RRP is too high, but there are already cheaper offers online. You also save yourself the photographer for family celebrations and weddings. I can recommend the Xiaomi 14 Ultra without reservation, especially for everyone who wants to take their smartphone photography to the next level.