This year’s Xiaomi T series is getting a massive upgrade, putting it closer to the brand’s flagship lineup.

The new Xiaomi 14T represents a significant upgrade from its predecessor, promising a compelling blend of features and performance at a competitive price, though it’s still considered an upper midranger, or premium midranger, or whatever you like to call it. Feature-wise, though? It’s now much closer to an actual flagship offering. And that’s a good thing.

Priced from P25,999, or roughly $464 converted, the Xiaomi 14T boasts two configurations with 12GB of physical RAM and 256GB or 512GB of non-expandable storage in the Philippines. So, does it deliver a compelling flagship experience, or does it leave us wanting more? Let’s find out in our full review.

@revuphilippines Our review of the #Xiaomi14T is up at https://www.revu.com.ph! But first, here’s a quick look at @Xiaomi’s latest smartphone on the global market. 🙌🏻 #Xiaomi14TSeries #Xiaomi #XiaomiPH #XiaomiPhilippines #XiaomiLaunch #RevuDotComDotPH @Xiaomi Philippines @monch @Alora Uy Guerrero ♬ original sound – Revu Philippines

Our Xiaomi 14T preview video

Back to basics

Nothing about the Xiaomi 14T’s design jumps out, but we’re pleased that Xiaomi has opted for a fingerprint-resistant matte finish on the Titan Gray variant we got. It’s a stark contrast to the smudge-prone glass back of the previous-gen model.

Xiaomi has also ditched the beveled camera module from last year, opting for a cleaner, square-shaped camera island with four rings. The subtle Leica branding on the rear-facing camera system adds a touch of sophistication, elevating the smartphone’s premium aesthetic and setting it apart from the company’s midrange offerings. Unfortunately, the Xiaomi 14T has a plastic back, reminiscent of its predecessor. The textured power button, on the other hand, is a nifty touch that we appreciate.

The front further reinforces the brand’s minimalist design philosophy. The AMOLED screen is flat, just like the edges and back of the phone. It’s still 6.67 inches, but the bezels are visually symmetrical, resulting in an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 93.6%. The display has a 1.5K resolution and boasts an adaptive refresh rate, topping out at a silky-smooth 144Hz.

Xiaomi claims peak brightness of 4,000 nits for HDR highlights and a full-screen brightness of up to 1,600 nits. There’s Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support, too. You get DC dimming, as well as high-frequency 3,840Hz PWM dimming that minimizes screen flicker at low brightness levels, reducing eye strain during extended use.

No surprises here: The Xiaomi 14T’s high-quality AMOLED panel is a delight to use. Whether you’re reading, gaming, or watching videos, the colors are vibrant, the text is sharp, and the brightness is sufficient for outdoor visibility. The in-display fingerprint sensor is also responsive and fast, making unlocking the device a breeze. For added peace of mind, the Xiaomi 14T scores an IP68 dust- and water-resistance rating, so you can use it without worry in various environments.

As expected for a smartphone in the sub-flagship category, this Xiaomi 14T series model boasts stereo speakers, with the secondary one tucked away in a discreet cutout on the top frame, acting as an earpiece, while the other is downward-facing. The headphone jack’s absence comes as no surprise in 2024, but a potentially handy addition is the IR blaster nestled along the top frame. This nostalgic feature allows you to control your nearby appliances and devices, adding an unexpected layer of convenience to the device.

The Xiaomi 14T delivers a decent audio experience, with rich bass and full-sounding tracks. While there’s a slight ringing of highs and vocals at maximum volume, it’s not overly noticeable. The Dolby Atmos tuning adds a sense of spaciousness to music, but doesn’t significantly impact the overall sound quality. Overall, the sound should be more than adequate for everyday listening. The inclusion of Hi-Res and Hi-Res Wireless audio certifications is also a welcome addition, particularly for commuters seeking the best possible sound quality from their earphones.

Flagship-grade performance

One of the main highlights here, of course, is the chipset. Xiaomi has equipped the handset with the MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra, an ARM-based SoC that is manufactured using TSMC’s 4nm process. It’s essentially a slightly souped-up variant of the regular Dimensity 8300, and includes eight Armv9 CPUs that boost up to 3.35GHz, delivering plenty of power for demanding apps when you need it.

On the graphics front, the Dimensity 8300 Ultra boasts the Mali-G615 GPU. MediaTek claims this six-core GPU is capable of ray tracing and can offer a performance boost of up to 248% compared to the previous-generation 8000 series chip.

Those are big claims, but thankfully, they’re backed up by some impressive benchmark runs. Equipped with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, the unit we reviewed put up these impressive numbers:

• Antutu Benchmark V10.3.4: 1,319,663
• Geekbench 6: 1,360 (single-core test); 4,024 (multi-core test); 8,532 (GPU Vulkan test)
• PCMark: 14,664 (performance test); 12 hours and 8 minutes (battery-life test)
• 3DMark: 8,588 (Wild Life); 826 (Steel Nomad Light); 3,333 (Solar Bay)

Looking at the numbers, the Xiaomi 14T’s performance is nothing short of impressive. In our Antutu benchmarks, the device easily crossed the million-point mark with the battery preset set to Performance mode, showcasing a notable leap over a Dimensity 8200 Ultimate-powered phone we tested a few months ago. This only reinforces MediaTek’s claims about the Dimensity 8300 Ultra’s superior capabilities, particularly in GPU performance.

But more importantly, its benchmarks reveal it’s more than capable of holding its own against Qualcomm’s current crop of top-end chips, with the exception of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and its variations. For the price, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a significantly better performer — at least, based on the apps we tested.

Benchmarks are great, but real-world performance is what truly matters. The Xiaomi 14T, with its latest HyperOS custom overlay on top of Android 14, delivers a smooth and responsive experience that’s hard to beat in its price segment. Apps launch instantly, scrolling through web pages is seamless, and games run flawlessly without succumbing to performance dips, even after long play sessions. The sufficient amount of RAM also provides plenty of headroom for multitasking.

On paper, the Xiaomi 14T’s gaming prowess is undeniable. We put it to the test with Honkai: Star Rail, easily one of the most demanding games available on the Google Play Store, and came away impressed by its performance. Our review unit averaged a steady 50 frames per second, with occasional bursts of 60 fps. This translates to a silky-smooth, visually stunning gaming experience that’s ideal for mobile gamers.

Meanwhile, the company’s IceLoop cooling system plays a crucial role in maintaining the device’s performance. This advanced heat-dissipation tech promises to be twice as efficient as traditional vapor chambers. And based on our testing, it seems to deliver on that promise. Our unit never throttled below 80% of its maximum performance after 15-minute runs in the CPU Throttling Test app. That’s quite an achievement considering its flagship-grade chipset.

The Xiaomi 14T’s ability to maintain optimal performance even under heavy loads is a testament to its effective thermal solution. This means you can enjoy extended gaming sessions without worrying about frame-rate drops or overheating issues, potentially making the smartphone a reliable companion for gamers and power users alike.

The Xiaomi 14T packs a 5,000mAh battery that easily lasts a full day of moderate usage. Even with heavy use, including social media, web browsing, video streaming, music listening, and gaming, the device still has plenty of juice left for the next morning. Lighter use can extend the battery life to two days.

Fast charging over USB-C is supported, too, with the bundled charger capable of delivering 67 watts of power. Sure, it’s not the fastest we’ve seen among smartphones in this segment, but the handset’s charging capabilities do translate to decent fast-charging times. Based on our testing, a full charging cycle from zero to 100% typically takes around 55 minutes.

To optimize battery health, Xiaomi has included software features like Optimized Charging. This function learns your charging habits and adjusts the phone’s charging patterns accordingly, potentially extending your unit’s battery health.

For users who want more control, there’s an option to stop charging at 80%, which can help prevent battery degradation in the long run. Such an option aligns with expert recommendations, as consistently charging your device to 100% can accelerate battery degradation over time. If you plan to keep your Xiaomi 14T for the long haul, we strongly recommend enabling at least one of these battery-optimization features.

A ‘portrait-optimized, cinema-grade camera’ in your pocket?

Now, onto the camera system — a crucial aspect for many smartphone users, including us. The Xiaomi 14T features a Leica-branded triple-camera setup on the back, headlined by a 50-megapixel Sony IMX906 main sensor with optical image stabilization. This versatile camera system also includes a 50-megapixel dedicated telephoto option and a 12-megapixel ultrawide, allowing for a variety of shooting scenarios. For selfies and video calls, there’s a 32-megapixel front-facing camera housed in a punch-hole cutout.

The primary camera shines in well-lit environments, capturing images with exceptional sharpness and accurate color reproduction in the Leica Authentic setting. The large sensor and OIS ensure bright and blur-free photos even in challenging lighting conditions. HDR mode effectively balances highlights and shadows, preventing common issues like blown-out skies and dark foregrounds.

The telephoto camera is a versatile addition, offering a 2x optical or 3.2x lossless-quality zoom for capturing subjects from a distance without compromising image quality. It’s particularly useful for portraits, as it allows you to get closer to your subject while maintaining background blur.

The telephoto comes with dedicated 35mm, 50mm, and 75mm modes that are optimized for portrait photography under Xiaomi’s Master-Lens System. The 50mm and 75mm modes produced particularly stunning results. The latter replicates the compression and perspective of a classic 75mm portrait lens, making it our go-to choice for headshots and upper-body portraits.

The ultrawide, meanwhile, is great for capturing landscapes and group photos. It offers a significantly wider field of view compared to the other cameras at the back, allowing you to capture more of the scene in a single shot.

Sample shots. We used built-in filters in some of these shots, because Xiaomi offers a lot of them! Nice one, Xiaomi

The Xiaomi 14T’s Night mode is effective at brightening low-light shots and recovering details in shadows. However, there’s a noticeable amount of noise and softness in the images, especially compared to some flagship smartphones. Additionally, our unit tends to overexpose bright light sources like streetlights or LED signs, which can negatively impact the overall exposure of the photo. While the Night mode is a useful feature, it’s not perfect and may require some adjustments in certain lighting conditions.

Still, we think the Xiaomi 14T’s main camera system is a strong performer overall. It’s capable of capturing high-quality photos in various scenarios, thanks to the combination of a large sensor, optical image stabilization, and versatile, portrait-optimized focal lengths. While it may not be as advanced as some flagship phones, it’s certainly more than enough for the average user.

The 32-megapixel front camera captures sharp selfies with detailed results and accurate skin tones. While there’s a slight tendency towards over-smoothing and face brightening, the overall quality is good. Portrait mode offers decent edge detection, especially in well-lit conditions with simple backgrounds.

For video, the Xiaomi14T can capture 4K footage at 60 fps or 1080p at 30 fps with Steady Video Pro stabilization. The video quality is impressive, with sharp details and stable footage, thanks to Sony’s high-quality sensor with OIS. The high-resolution telephoto camera also contributes to the impressive zoom quality in videos.

Notably, the brand’s flagship AI image processing algorithm, Xiaomi AISP — first seen in the Xiaomi 14 Ultra — now makes its debut in the Xiaomi 14T (and Xiaomi 14T Pro). This powerful algorithm includes MasterCinema, a new proprietary video format that lets you capture “cinema-quality footage” on your device.

Unlike traditional HDR formats that upsample SDR content, MasterCinema is designed for true HDR, accurately reproducing high-contrast scenes. Its neutral color profile adds versatility in various scenarios and lighting conditions, and it integrates seamlessly with the Xiaomi 14T’s Movie mode for enhanced cinematic effects. But while MasterCinema can make your videos look cinematic, to really take them to the next level, you’ll need to add some cinematic flair yourself.

All about AI

The Xiaomi 14T is packed with smart features that make your life easier. During the launch, Xiaomi proudly stated that it has partnered with tech giants like Google and Microsoft Azure to give its latest smartphone series an edge in both cloud-based and on-device AI capabilities and enhance a wide range of functionalities, from search and voice to text, image, and video.

One of the standout features of this device is its integration with Gemini Assistant. Google’s powerful AI assistant offers a range of capabilities, including natural language understanding, complex tasks, and contextual awareness. With Gemini Assistant, users can easily control their devices, access information, and get things done using voice commands. Basically, it can help you with almost anything. You can ask it questions, give it commands, and even search for information just by drawing a circle around objects in pictures.

The Xiaomi 14T has other cool AI tools like AI Notes, AI Recorder, and AI Interpreter to improve your productivity and help you with work, school, and learning new things.

AI Interpreter is a particularly powerful tool for language translation. It can automatically identify the languages being spoken, show the original text and the translated text side by side, and translate the text in real time. It supports 12 languages, including Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and Indonesian. This makes it a great tool for travelers and people who do business with people from other countries. Xiaomi is likewise planning to add more languages in the future via over-the-air updates, including Thai, Malay, Vietnamese, and Filipino.

And thanks to the Xiaomi 14T’s advanced AI Image Edit feature, you can edit your photos right on your device. No PC or third-party apps required. You can make your photos bigger with AI Image Expansion, and you can even remove stuff you don’t like with AI Magic Removal Pro — all while keeping your photos private, since these features operate entirely on-device. It’s like having a professional photo editor in your pocket!

Final thoughts

The Xiaomi 14T offers a significant upgrade over its predecessor at a competitive price, making it a compelling option in its price range. There aren’t many direct competitors that can match its combination of flagship-level hardware, impressive camera capabilities, and host of AI-powered features. It’s a solid choice for those seeking a high-quality smartphone without breaking the bank.

This is an excellent upper-midranger, and the only thing that keeps us from calling it a true flagship alternative is its plastic build and uninspired design. However, it’s hard to overlook the package as a whole.

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— Xiaomi Philippines (@Xiaomi_PH) September 26, 2024

How much the Xiaomi 14T and Xiaomi 14T Pro are in the Philippines and where they are available online

Xiaomi 14T specs

• 6.67-inch AMOLED display, 1.5K resolution, 144Hz refresh rate
• 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra 5G processor
• Mali-G615 MC6 GPU
• 12GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 256GB/512GB UFS 4.0 storage
• Triple 50-megapixel main, 50-megapixel telephoto, 12-megapixel ultrawide rear cameras with Leica Summilux lens
• 32-megapixel front camera
• Dual speakers
• 5,000mAh battery with 67-watt charging
• HyperOS based on Android 14
• Colors: Titan Gray, Titan Black, Titan Blue, and Lemon Green

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