Xiaomi pulled the wraps off of its new flagship smartphone, the Xiaomi 14T phone in October, providing smartphone photography afficionadoes and tech enthusiasts with exceptional imaging capabilities, particularly in low-light settings. Measuring in at 160.4 x 75.1 x 7.80mm and tipping the smartphone scales at 195g, the 14T is one stylish and thin smartphone that feels every bit the flagship device. The Xiaomi HyperOS running smartphone is powered by MediaTek’s blistering Dimensity 8300-Ultra 4nm CPU that consists out of a Cortex-A715 core clocked up to 3.35 GHz, three Cortex-A715 cores clocked up to 3.2GHz, four Cortex-A510 cores clocked up to 2.2 GHzGPU, an Arm Mali-G615 MC6AI GPU, plus a MediaTek NPU 780.
This chipset is paired with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB worth of internal storage enabling snappy and smooth performance whilst navigating Android, running multiple applications, multitasking, mobile gaming, and speaking about gaming, Xiaomi has included its IceLoop cooling system to help ensure sustained high performance in demanding apps and mobile gaming titles.
Whilst consuming content you can marvel at your videos or mobile games on the gorgeous 6.67 inch 144Hz AI AMOLED display that keeps things very smooth thanks to its 144Hz refresh rate and amazingly detailed as a result of its 2712 x 1220, 446ppi resolution, not to mention incredibly colourful thanks to being OLED. This screen also gets super bright so you can easily use it outdoors in direct sunlight or within office environments with harsh lighting.
Accompanying the gorgeous visuals is really good sound thanks to Xiaomi’s Stereo speakers that feature Hi-Res & Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification along with Dolby Atmos compatibility.
Super sleek snapper set the standard
If content creation is more your thing as well as selfies, this is the cameraphone for you, boasting a Leica professional optical lens consisting of 50MP Leica main camera powered by Sony’s IMX906 image sensor, a 50MP Leica telephoto camera, as well as 12MP Leica ultra-wide camera (120˚ FOV). Leica’s collaboration also extends to two Leica photographic styles (Leica Authentic Look, Leica Vibrant Look)along with Leica filters, the Leica classic shutter sound when snapping photos, and even a Leica watermark.
Xiaomi adds its photographic capability muscles as well courtesy of features such as ProFocus (Motion tracking focus, eye tracking focus and motion capture). We found that this camera allows for really natural colours and skin tones in bright light as well as being capable of producing amazing stills and video white balance in bright light, lots of superb details in video and photos, and the camera boasts effective video stabilisation.
The only negative elements of the camera is that it introduces noise more often than not during bad lighting conditions like at night for instance like low-light videos.
Speaking of video, this smartphone can record buttery smooth 4K (3840×2160) video at 24 fps, 30 fps, and 60 fps, as well as slow-motion video in 1080p at 120fps,240fps,960fps whilst the 32MP selfie shooter (80.8˚FOV) takes really good looking selfies and can record 4K (3840×2160) video at 30 fps.
Making sure that you can still get through a working day even while snapping away is the 14T’s 5000mAh battery that can be topped up snappily using Xiaomi’s included 67W HyperCharge fast charger. Also onboard is dual-SIM capability, 5G for future proofing the mobile device, and IP68 Splash, Water and Dust Resistance.
Ultimately, Xiaomi’s 14T smartphone goes for a recommended retail price of R18999 from local retailers like Takealot, which is well worth it in our opinion to get our favourite smartphone for photography. Competitors at this pricepoint includes the Huawei Pura 70 (R17999), or the Samsung Galaxy S24 (R17999).
