Xiaomi’s latest premium mid-ranger offers a flagship-feeling experience that seriously impresses
Verdict
The Xiaomi 14T Pro is a testament to the benefits of making well-thought-out improvements without going overboard. Buoyed by a much-improved build, a seriously impressive display, and performance that puts even the most premium flagships in a spot of bother, the Xiaomi 14T Pro sits comfortably near the top of a growing tree of mid-range phones, even if it’s hampered by a lack of global availability.
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Pros
- +Superb display
- +Impressive gaming performance
- +Sleek design
Cons
- -Overheated in certain use cases
- -Rear panel attracts fingerprints
Xiaomi 14T Pro: two-minute review
The era of AI phones has well and truly arrived, and the Xiaomi 14T Pro proves that mid-range phones don’t have to miss out on all the fun. As with previous generations of T Pro models, Xiaomi hasn’t skimped on the hardware included in this latest edition, meaning the door is more open than ever for accessible, and affordable, AI exploration.
Unlike many of the latest phones, however, Xiaomi hasn’t put all its focus into AI, and it’s for the better. Straight out of the box, you can see some of the new thought that’s gone into the 14T Pro’s design, with the phone sporting a clean aluminum frame and what Xiaomi describes as a “3D curved back”. These changes, partnered with a traditionally large (if now a tad less obvious) camera bump, give the 14T Pro a superbly premium feel and weightiness in the hand.
Get it loaded up and frankly, AI is the last thing you’ll be thinking about. Xiaomi’s HyperOS is smoother than ever, and the continued priority given to the phone’s display and processing capabilities means you’d easily be fooled into thinking you’re handling a much more pricey device than it is.
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Xiaomi’s ventures into AI are much more measured than we’ve seen from the likes of Google and Samsung, and, in fairness, what you’re given here is a pretty good starting point if you’re looking to AI-ify your day-to-day life. While Xiaomi has, of course, added Android-wide features such as Circle to Search and Gemini to the 14T Pro, it has taken positive, if potentially cautious, steps in its own direction in terms of what’s offered uniquely on its devices. Rest assured, though, that the Xiaomi 14T Pro is a more than capable scalpal with which to enter the AI world.
Whether your focus is on AI or some of the other more necessary advancements Xiaomi has made in recent years – I’m looking at you, wireless charging – then you’re unlikely to be disappointed with the Xiaomi 14T Pro. In fact, as ever, you’ll likely find yourself seriously impressed with just how much can be packed into a device whose price tag doesn’t even come close to those of its flagship competition.
Xiaomi does, however, continue to limit the markets in which it operates (by choice or otherwise), which does a disservice to the Xiaomi 14T Pro. Lacking availability in America leaves a market gap that the likes of Samsung or OnePlus can quite happily fill, and while the price of the 14T Pro is impressively cheap for a phone of this quality, there are plenty more premium options out there for, in some cases, only a fraction more money.
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Xiaomi 14T Pro review: specifications
The Xiaomi 14T Pro boasts some impressive specs given its price tag. Take a look at the full breakdown below:
Xiaomi 14T Pro specs
| Dimensions: | 160.4mm x 75.1mm x 8.39mm |
| Weight: | 209g |
| Display: | 6.67-inch CrystalRes AMOLED |
| Resolution: | 2712 x 1220 |
| Refresh rate: | Up to 144Hz |
| Peak brightness: | 4000 nits |
| CPU: | MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ |
| RAM: | Up to 12GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage: | Up to 1TB, UFS 4.0 |
| OS: | HyperOS with Android 14 |
| Cameras: | 50MP main, 50MP telephoto, 12MP ultra-wide |
| Selfie camera: | 32MP |
| Battery: | 5000mAh |
| Charging: | 120W wired, 50W wireless |
| Colours: | Titan Gray, Titan Blue, Titan Black |
Value score: 4 / 5
Xiaomi 14T Pro review: design
- New aluminum frame with 3D-curved back
- Smaller camera bump than previous models
- Some fingerprint issues
The Xiaomi 14T Pro takes a notable step up in terms of design versus its predecessor, but that doesn’t make it flawless. Coming in three colors – Titan Grey, Titan Blue, and Titan Black – you’d almost expect the phone to be built from titanium, right? Well, despite pre-launch rumors hinting at such an upgrade, there is, in fact, no titanium on the Xiaomi 14T Pro, which, while disappointing, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
All three colors look positively premium, and with the aluminum alloy frame and 3D-curved back, the phone possesses a flagship-like feel in the hand, much like the Google Pixel 8, which isn’t bad company to be in whatsoever. One thing I did find in testing, however, was that while the back of the phone is indeed lovely, it was an absolute fingerprint magnet. I mainly used the phone in the case that comes with it, but my Titan Gray test model became covered in fingerprints the moment it left that case, which is somewhat of an annoyance when frankly the phone is otherwise rather pleasing to the eye.
The biggest improvement in terms of design comes to the phone’s camera bump. The best Xiaomi phones are known for their cameras, mainly due to the brand’s partnership with Leica (which we’ll come to later), but also due to the sheer size of their camera bumps. In reality, the Xiaomi 14T Pro is no different; the bump covers over 50% of the width of the phone and, by rough maths, over a third of the length, from its position in the top left of the back panel. Despite this, the bump is a huge upgrade from prior models, with this year’s cameras not only protruding less far from the rear of the phone, but also being housed in a color-matched bump.
Gone are the days of a large, garish black block on the back of your device. Instead, you get a lovely, Lego brick-esque square in a color that matches your back panel seamlessly. What’s more, the reduced depth and increased width of the bump means you experience very little wobble should you choose to use your phone without a bump-eliminating case or any case at all, which is a nice (if a tad niche) benefit.
Design score: 4 / 5
Xiaomi 14T Pro review: software
- HyperOS with Android 14
- Steady but well-thought-out steps into the world of AI
Every phone right now seems to be throwing all its eggs in the AI basket, but Xiaomi seems to be taking a more measured approach to its AI rollout. Despite this, there are still some fundamental qualms I have with Xiaomi’s approach that tarnish the near-premium experience the rest of the phone provides. While the days of being greeted by tens of preinstalled apps on Xiaomi devices are long gone, it seems that Xiaomi isn’t quite ready to give up on them entirely.
On loading up the phone, you’re not only greeted by the array of on-device tools and features, which I’ll get to in a second, but you’re also met with apps such as AliExpress, TikTok, WPS Office, and LinkedIn. Plus, in the same app folder, you’re bombarded with a host of recommended apps and games that aren’t yet installed but could be downloaded from the Mi Store via a shortcut, which overall seems a tad messy and unnecessary in an otherwise impressively clean layout.
Pre-installed qualms aside, there’s very little to take offense to about Xiaomi’s HyperOS or the tools that come installed with the Xiaomi 14T Pro. Instead, this is where we start to see Xiaomi’s slow and steady approach to introducing AI come into its own. First and foremost, your digital assistant comes preset to Google Gemini rather than Google Assistant, and, while it wasn’t available during our review, Circle to Search will also be rolling out to these devices.
Outside of what Google adds to the device, Xiaomi’s app offerings have become evermore positive since the launch of HyperOS. The biggest benefactor for mobile users of the HyperOS upgrade was the Gallery, which not only saw a number of small feature improvements to improve efficiency and add easy access to auto-generated folders and media types, but also gave prominence to Xiaomi’s Best Take feature, which can analyze multiple similar photos and tell you which of the shots is, you guessed it, the best.
The general theme of HyperOS was always to improve the interconnectivity of Xiaomi devices, which essentially boiled down to making everything look clean, work efficiently, and interact seamlessly with each other, no matter what device you were using. The downside of having the nicest user experience on Android, however, is that HyperOS hides some of its best features in the depths so as to not look overly messy – which is made more baffling by the array of apps you’re shown on receiving the device.
One of the best examples of this is Xiaomi’s AI Subtitles feature, which you can use to translate conversations either in-person using the microphone, or even to translate films and TV shows by configuring it to translate system audio. Pretty cool right? The issue is, to find this feature, which worked impressively well in testing, you need to go into the depths of the settings menu, apply for beta access (as it is yet to be fully released), and then add a shortcut to your home screen.
Xiaomi is, however, remaining steady with its AI releases, and we’re expecting AI Recorder and some AI Film features to arrive in the near future. One thing’s for sure, though: this is the most polished HyperOS we’ve seen since launch and the Xiaomi 14T Pro is, arguably, the perfect example of this software given just how smoothly you can access everything, from settings in the updated Control Center to your favorite photos via improved image searching.
If the slow, steady, and simple approach does one thing very well for HyperOS and the Xiaomi 14T Pro in particular, it’s the extent to which simplicity is combined with effectiveness throughout its apps and interfaces. Whether you’re using the Control Center to control your music or the redesigned weather app to check the forecast, there is little to no excess in terms of what you’re shown, and yet you can quickly access anything you might need. When partnered with the Xiaomi 14T Pro’s hardware, this gives you a seriously impressive mobile experience.
Software score: 4 / 5
Xiaomi 14T Pro review: cameras
- Leica partnership continues to impress with standard shooting
- Some strange variations in light capture and vibrance
If there’s one thing the Xiaomi 14T Pro is supposed to excel at, it’s photography, but right now I’m constantly flitting between loving it and hating it. Since Xiaomi brought its Leica-partnered camera systems to its T series with the 13T and 13T Pro, it has probably set the bar for mid-range photography. With these latest phones, however, it seems to play jump-rope with this bar a little too much, with some features seriously pushing the mark, and some falling annoyingly beneath.
Take, for example, close-up photographs. There’s no denying that the results I was able to achieve were extremely positive, especially when you consider that the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, aka the best camera phone from the brand, offers similar close-up performance. However, I often found myself resorting to standard camera modes rather than the usually more effective portrait mode to take the best shots, as I was having difficulty getting the right levels of focus and exposure otherwise. This isn’t a major issue, but if one mode can get into focus in less than half the time that another can and produce equal – if not better – results, why wouldn’t I use that?
Xiaomi’s partnership with Leica brings into focus several features that supposedly enhance your shooting capabilities. The first of these you’ll likely encounter is the shooting styles: Leica Authentic, and Leica Vibrant. Shooting with the 50MP wide lens is the best opportunity to see the variations in style in action, as the results can be starkly different. Something that became immediately apparent using the Xiaomi 14T Pro was that, whether you chose Authentic or Vibrant, you were guaranteed an immense amount of color. In either mode, shooting in wide made each color almost excessively saturated, with greens of grass making England seem much more beautiful than it was in reality, and, in fairness, making a much more visually appealing scene out of something that was otherwise rather grey. All in all, superb photos, but not necessarily the most honest to the colors in the scene.
Cameras score: 4 / 5
Xiaomi 14T Pro review: performance
- Dimensity 9300+ chipset benchmarks seriously well
- Impressive performance in intense gaming scenarios, if a tad hot
As it doesn’t come from Snapdragon or Apple, the Xiaomi 14T Pro’s Dimensity 9300+ chipset could be easily overlooked, but, if our testing is anything to go by, there’s a seriously impressive bit of kit powering this phone, and I struggled to find any scenarios that put this in any doubt.
In our benchmark testing, the Dimensity 9300+ scored only just under the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in single-core testing, and above the S24 Ultra in multi-core, so I wasn’t joking when I said it could hold its own. Whether it’s the focus on simplicity and efficiency behind HyperOS, sheer performing power, or, most likely, a combination of both, I struggled to create any scenario that caused a genuine performance impact, so you don’t need to worry about killing the 14T Pro off with Chrome tabs or your daily Wordle.
The sheer amount of RAM available on the Xiaomi 14T Pro could also play a big part in these benchmark scores, with the device having up to 12GB physical LPDDR5X RAM onboard, plus the option to extend this by up to a further 12GB using the device’s internal memory. For the majority of the testing period, I ran the 14T Pro with 6GB of Memory Extension as Xiaomi calls it, meaning it totaled 18GB of available RAM at any time with the model I was reviewing, but, in all honesty, that’s probably as much as anyone would need, so having a further 6GB of extension available is just an added bonus.
In gaming scenarios, most notably with the likes of Call of Duty Mobile and Mortal Kombat, I saw very little in terms of performance drops or impact post-session, with the phone able to comfortably play these more graphically intense titles at maximum settings without impacting my ability to smoothly demolish my foes. One thing to note, however, is that the phone was playing games while running at between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius – or 100 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, if that’s your preferred unit of measure. Not exceptionally hot, but hot enough that even with a case on you could tell there was some serious work happening under the hood. Either way, the lack of any performance drops no matter the circumstance puts the Xiaomi 14T Pro in strong company in terms of performance.
Performance score: 4.5 / 5
Xiaomi 14T Pro review: battery
- 120W wired HyperCharge continues to impress
- Wireless charging finally available with 50W wireless HyperCharge
For me, perhaps the best upgrade available on the Xiaomi 14T Pro is the arrival of wireless charging. What for many phones has seemed like a reasonably standard feature for several years now has long been missing from Xiaomi’s mid-range phones, but now it has arrived with truly Xiaomi-worthy power capabilities.
With 50W wireless charging, the Xiaomi 14T Pro instantly puts the cat among the pigeons in terms of wireless capabilities across both Android and Apple devices. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, for example, only offers 15W wireless charging, also for a 5000mAh battery, so this is a serious step in the charging game for Xiaomi, whose flagship phones were, frankly, already among the best available from a charging perspective.
The Xiaomi 14T Pro continues to offer Xiaomi’s 120W HyperCharge when wired, meaning you can get a full charge in around 20 minutes, though Xiaomi is yet to confirm any official charge times. Partner this with a 50W wireless charging alternative, and a 5000mAh battery, and you needn’t worry about regularly charging the 14T Pro.
Regular day-to-day use saw me comfortably get multiple days’ worth of runtime from the 14T Pro, while more intense use from gaming saw a battery drain of roughly 10% per hour, which, when you consider the strain of maximum graphics settings and online gameplay, is seriously impressive. Nice work, Xiaomi.
Battery score: 4.5 / 5
Should you buy the Xiaomi 14T Pro?
Buy if…
- You love a beautiful display
While the resolution is a tad strange, there’s no denying that the display on the Xiaomi 14T Pro is one of the most enjoyable to use for day-to-day mobile tasks, gaming, and, streaming.
- You never want to worry about charging again
Xiaomi’s offering of both 120W wired charging and 50W wireless charging on a phone with a 5,000mAh battery and some serious efficiency features means you’ll never be left wanting for battery life.
- You want serious gaming performance
In our tests, the Xiaomi 14T Pro handled even some of the most intense games with ease, and without completely wiping out your battery after one round.
Don’t buy if…
- You want an infinite array of AI capabilities
While a whole host of AI capabilities are available from Xiaomi, with more to come too, it’s still behind some competitors in terms of the variety and amount of AI-oriented features available.
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