Review | Xiaomi 14 Pro review: premium, energy-efficient smartphone with a powerful chip, flawless screen and capable Leica camera system for a good price

The Xiaomi 14 Pro resembles an iPhone in terms of shape, has one of the most powerful chips, and the brightest screen, on the market, and a Leica camera system

The new HyperOS software is a plus despite copying features from Apple iOS, and the price is nice – but will be higher when the 14 Pro is sold outside China

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The Xiaomi 14 Pro smartphone has some of the best hardware on the market, with a powerful new chip, stellar display and a Leica camera system. It is the first device to run on Xiaomi’s HyperOS software, and its pricing is attractive. Photo: Ben Sin

Published: 6:15pm, 11 Nov 2023

Xiaomi’s 14 Pro is the first phone to be powered by Qualcomm’s just-announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and the Chinese tech giant’s new HyperOS software, designed to run across Xiaomi’s entire portfolio of products like Huawei’s HarmonyOS.

Arriving earlier in the release cycle than usual, the phone has very polished and premium hardware and a Leica-backed camera system that is among the best in the industry. The phone is officially available only in China for now, with a global roll-out likely in January 2024.

Design and hardware

Android flagship phones have had a similar shape for the past half decade, with front and back glass panels that curve inward on the sides.

The Xiaomi 14 Pro brings very polished and premium hardware and a Leica-backed camera system that is among the best in the industry. Photo: Ben Sin

The Xiaomi 14 Pro changes things up with a boxier design featuring wide frames that resemble the iPhone’s chassis. But the screen still curves subtly, this time on all four edges.

This offers a happy medium – providing that reassuring “protected” feel of an iPhone while keeping the comfortable, curvy in-hand feel of Android devices.

Xiaomi’s new phone has a boxier design featuring wide frames that resemble the iPhone’s chassis. But the screen still curves subtly, this time on all four edges. Photo: Ben Sin

The 2.5K OLED screen sourced from Chinese electronic company BOE is brilliant, reaching a maximum brightness of 3,000 nits, the highest in the industry right now.

The 14 Pro comes with a triple-lens camera system, with the main lens using a new image sensor sourced from OmniVision. While the 1/1.3-inch sensor size is nothing to write home about, the camera lens has a physical shutter, giving it a variable aperture of between f/1.4 and f/4.0.