IN PICS | Xiaomi 14 Showcase: 7 Things To Know About The Most Leica-ble Camera Phone

A Premium, Compact Build — The Xiaomi 14 has a premium look and feel. It comes with a flat Gorilla Glass Victus front, a slightly curved Gorilla Glass back with a large, square camera unit with Leica branding, and a metal frame with straight sides that curve slightly. At 152.8 mm tall, it is compact or an Android flagship, much smaller than the OnePlus 12 (164.3 mm), although not as small as the iPhone 15 (147.6 mm). At 193 grams, it is a little heavy but feels very solid and looks smart. It has an IP68 rating, so it can survive a fall in the water. [All image credits: Nimish Dubey and Akriti Rana]

Cameras From Leica — The USP of the Xiaomi 14 is its Leica camera setup. The phone has three 50-megapixel cameras on its back, all made in collaboration with the legendary Leica. The main sensor is a Light Fusion 900 image sensor with a large f/1.6 aperture and OIS (although it is not a one-inch sensor as seen on the Xiaomi 13 Pro), and the others are a telephoto sensor with 3.2x optical zoom and OIS and a 50-megapixel ultrawide sensor. There is also a 32-megapixel sensor in front for selfies, but the real photography magic is at the back.

A Lot To ‘Leica’ Here — The Leica association with the Xiaomi 14 is not limited to branding on the cameras. The phone comes with a number of interesting Leica features. Users can choose to shoot in either the more realistic Leica Authentic Look or the more saturated and poppy Leica Vibrant Look. The phone also features Leica filters (including black and white ones) and comes with Leica's master lens system that lets you shoot in four special modes and at different focal lengths. Round that off with a special Leica Summilux floating telephoto lens and you have a very versatile camera setup, courtesy Leica.

Ticking The Flagship Boxes — The cameras might be its main highlight, but the Xiaomi 14 is a flagship in all senses of the word. The phone comes with a brilliant 6.36-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a resolution of 2,760x1,200 pixels and 120Hz refresh rate with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+. It is impressively bright at 3,000 nits too. Powering the phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, the same seen on the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the OnePlus 12. LPDDR5X RAM, UFS 4.0 storage, and stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos round off a flagship-py spec sheet.

Powered By HyperOS, And Fast Charging Too — The Xiaomi 14 runs on Android 14 and is the first phone with Xiaomi branding in India to come with its much talked-of HyperOS out of the box. HyperOS comes with a cleaner interface, consumes fewer resources and is supposed to run more smoothly than MIUI, Xiaomi's previous UI. Combined with that processor and RAM, this should make the Xiaomi 14 a very speedy phone. It also comes with a 4,610mAh battery, which charges at 90W with a wired charger and 50W wirelessly. The packaged 120W charger claims to recharge the phone fully in 31 minutes.

A Premium Price Tag — The Xiaomi 14 will be launched in India on 7 March. Its price, however, remains a bit of a mystery. Our sources tell us that the phone will come in a single very high RAM and storage variant and is likely to be priced at around Rs 75,000, although a few insist it will be priced closer to Rs 65,000, making it a OnePlus 12 rival. That would make it more affordable than the Xiaomi 13 Pro that was launched last year at Rs 79,999. It is still rather premium pricing, though — more than twice Xiaomi's best-selling Redmi Note 13 Pro+.

A Compact Camera Champ? — Its price is likely to play a huge role in the fate of the Xiaomi 14 in the Indian market, but from what we have seen, it does have the potential to emerge as a great option for those who want a compact phone with great cameras. The phone looks good and ticks most spec boxes, and if priced around Rs 75,000 could be a pain in the neck for the likes of the Pixel 8, the OnePlus 12 and even the Galaxy 24. If it does, it could give Xiaomi a significant presence in the premium segment of the Indian smartphone market.