Cheaper Flagship

Review: Xiaomi 14T Pro - Professional and Affordable

With a price tag well below most other flagships, Xiaomi 14T Pro combines features that still make it attractive.

Erik Mörner

Published 11 November 2024 - 11:11 Modified 24 January 2025 - 16:59

You can't have everything, but in Xiaomi's 14T series, we find most of what you as a mobile buyer need today and a little more. Xiaomi's T series, which is usually released in the fall, focuses on a lot of value for money, while the spring launch takes the role of introducing new groundbreaking technology.

With the Xiaomi 14T Pro, you get expensive cameras, where we find a good portrait mode, much thanks to the collaboration with Leica, there is 5x optical zoom and in addition to that, wide-angle. Overall, cameras also provide fine, natural color reproduction, good dynamics in the images, and nice pictures even in poorer light where color shifts and detail richness are evident from the darker to the lighter parts of the image.

In most of the phone's features, Xiaomi has lowered the ambitions, so you don't get the same top performance in the camera, or in pure performance in the phone, but you get enough in many respects for the user experience to be sufficiently good. Especially considering the price. If we compare with Xiaomi's own more expensive flagships, or for that matter the competitors', they end up at almost double the price tag compared to the Xiaomi 14T Pro, and then it is clear that you get more for every penny here than in more expensive phones.

Fast and Bright

The screen in Xiaomi 14T Pro is an OLED display with support for an active lock screen, so you can see the time, notifications, and so on even when locked without draining too much battery. The screen itself is 6.67 inches with both good brightness and a fast refresh rate so that the phone feels quick when you use it. You get performance in the form of the challenger Mediatek's Dimensity 9300 Plus, and it doesn't quite reach the more established Snapdragon's top chip, but it's not far off. In short, the Xiaomi 14T handles most things you can think of.

The interface that Xiaomi has made for Android is called Hyper OS, and despite the new name, much of the system is the same as we've seen in recent years and is in need of a refresh. Many times the system can be messy and neglected.

New AI Package

In its system, Xiaomi now includes a package with various AI tools. Some of them we haven't seen before, even in the manufacturer's previous, more expensive models. It is perhaps primarily about Google's Gemini, which is available in all other Android phones, but also now Circle to Search, the ability to hold down the home button to search for information about what is currently displayed on the screen. This service was first introduced in Samsung's S24 series at the beginning of 2024, then also came to Google's own Pixel phones and is now making its way here as well. The idea is that you should be able to get more information without having to switch between different apps as before, but instead get the answer directly in the same view. You just hold down the home button and circle what you want more information about on the screen.

Upload 25-35 portraits of yourself and get an AI model that resembles you and can be placed in different environments.

In addition to the collaboration with Google, Xiaomi also has some of its own AI tools included with the 14T Pro. One such tool is the ability to create AI-generated images in the photo gallery. This is a feature that was introduced earlier, but is now available here and, for example, in the Xiaomi 14 Ultra from earlier this year. The process involves selecting 25-35 pictures of yourself. These should be half-body or portrait photos showing you from different angles and in different outfits. This turns out to be a challenge to achieve. I gather older pictures of myself, but when I upload them to the service, only 5 are approved, so I have to keep searching and never get a clear indication of exactly what the system prefers in some pictures over others. It does say that the face should not be obscured (for example, with sunglasses), but even pictures that I think should be clear enough are rejected, so I have to continue with trial and error. Eventually, I manage to gather enough. Then the phone starts creating the model and says it will take about an hour and 45 minutes, so it's just a matter of waiting. At least it's possible to switch apps and use the phone for other things in the meantime. When it's done, I can then get images created with my figure at a ball, in a field of grain, on a beach, in the mountains, or whatever I can imagine. You can randomize images or write instructions. However, these instructions are followed to a limited extent. The AI improvises freely and is rarely completely predictable. When I write "happy," for example, I get four images where I'm holding a coffee cup, or almost holding it, because in one of the images the coffee cup is floating freely in the air. When I instead write "coffee" as an instruction to the AI, I get images of myself in a hat and flannel shirt.

Also Useful

Some of the other AI services that have been integrated probably have greater potential to actually provide utility. We have speech-to-text interpretation in the voice recording app and direct translation between about ten languages directly in the call app. Here, the interface is a bit cluttered and the function falters a bit, so that I instead get what I just said dissolved in my ear, and it is sometimes difficult to hold a real conversation, but if the person I am talking to really makes an effort, it can work. Then at least I have a printout on both languages of what has been said on the phone's screen. Unfortunately, the person I am calling does not have that support. Swedish is not available as a language, but Mandarin, Polish, English, French, German, and Thai are, for example.

In addition to this, there are AI features in both Google Photos for photo editing and in Xiaomi's own photo app.

Despite this, it is rather the consistent, high quality in screen, media, screen, and cameras rather than the AI services that make the Xiaomi 14T Pro an appealing product.

An alternative:

The sister model Xiaomi 14T is another 2000 kronor cheaper and is similar, but with, for example, slower battery charging and somewhat simpler performance and cameras.

Camera example:

The images cannot compete with Xiaomi's or competitors' best, but they go a long way with fine color reproduction and a natural color scale even in poorer light.