Xiaomi 14T review

All the focal lengths you need

There's little to no change in the camera hardware compared to the Xiaomi 13T. The dedicated 2x zoom camera gets a new, slightly bigger sensor and the selfie camera gains extra pixels and is now 32MP. The main sensor has been swapped out for a Sony IMX 906, but carries the same specs as its predecessor.

The main 50MP and the ultrawide shooter remain the same.

• Wide (main): 50MP Sony IMX 906, f/1.7, 1/1.56", 23mm, 1.0µm PDAF, OIS; 2160p@60fps
• Telephoto 2x: 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 (S5KJN1), f/1.9, 1/2.76", 50mm, 0.64µm; 2160p@60fpss.
• Ultra wide angle: 13MP OmniVision OV13B (OV13B10), f/2.2, 1/3", 15mm, 1.12µm; 2160p@30fps
• Front camera: 32MP Samsung KD1 (S5KKD1), 1/3.44", 0.64µm-1.28µm), f/2.0, 25mm, fixed focus; 4K@30fps

The 32MP selfie camera promises more detail on paper, compared to the 20MP one from last year, but images still come out 32MP unbinned, which is a decision we still can't understand.

Having largely the same camera hardware and similar Dimensity 8300 SoC, we don't expect dramatic changes in the overall photo and video quality. It's important to note, however, that the 14T comes with Leica-branded Summilux lenses and the system supports the universal Ultra HDR standard for JPEGs like some Samsung and Pixel phones do. Photos taken with the 14T will pop with HDR in the native HyperOS gallery and on other people's galleries that support the Ultra HDR standard.

Just like on numerous other Xiaomi phones, the 14T and 14T Pro have two main presets that are applied to all photos you take - Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant.

Leica preset: Vibrant • Authentic

The latter tends to produce pictures with livelier colors, while the Leica Authentic applies a subtle vignette effect, adds a bit of extra contrast and goes for more conservative color reproduction.

The rest of the photo samples you see are taken with the Leica Vibrant preset.

Daylight photos

Main camera

The Xiaomi 13T offered nice stills with its main camera, but the 14T takes things up a notch. Whether outside or inside, the main camera's stills are excellent. They offer a great level of detail, great sharpness and wide dynamic range.

Main camera samples

The post-processing likes to boost contrast and colors, but none of this impacts the quality negatively - quite the opposite. This approach makes pictures look more lively, while the shadows are a tad darker than usual without losing detail. The camera handles high-contrast scenes perfectly.

The portraits look pretty nice too.

Portraits: Normal • Portrait mode

The dedicated 50MP mode produces photos that look good on the screen, but zooming in reveals that the fine detail is quite smudged and reminiscent of watercolor painting.

50MP main camera samples

2x zoom camera

The 2x zoom samples are also excellent. We often say that dedicated 2x zoom cameras are somewhat pointless since cropping out of a big main sensor, which most phones have nowadays, produces similar results. But this time around, the 2x camera seems to add a bit of value. The samples look extra sharp, detailed, with excellent highlights/shadows balance and no noise, even inside. Overall, rendition and processing are pretty much the same as the main camera.

2x zoom camera samples

The Portrait mode shows only focal lengths instead of crop factors. You get 23mm, 35mm, 50mm and 75mm.

2x Photo mode vs. Portrait 3mm: 2x • 50mm

We are pleasantly surprised by the 4x samples too. Manufacturers usually include those crop zoom toggles just for the sake of it, but the 4x crops, in this case, are quite impressive. The pictures below are clean and look great even though they are a bit softer than the 2x zoom photos.

4x crop zoom samples

Portrait mode, 75mm

If we need to get nit-picky, we did notice that the noise-reduction algorithm can sometimes act up and smear away fine detail on far-away objects, like trees. Take a look at the last 2x and 4x samples.

Ultrawide camera

Ultrawide cameras always provide inferior quality compared to its standard and telephoto counterparts and the 14T's ultrawide snapper is no exception. But in the context of ultrawide cameras, it's more than decent. Expect a slightly narrower dynamic range, less detail and generally softer pictures, though. Colors are more constrained too. Then again, compared to other ultrawide solutions, the quality is quite good.

Ultrawide camera samples

One thing that stood out for us is how good is the distortion correction algorithm.

Low-light photos

Main camera

When the auto Night mode is switched on, the system uses it in most scenarios. In fact, all the shots we took seem to have been produced in Night mode. The camera app snaps the stills quickly, so you won't experience any slow-downs.

Main camera samples

Quality-wise, the pictures are solid. There's plenty of detail across the whole scene, sharpness is good and noise is virtually non-existent. The dynamic range is wide, and we can see a nice balance between the highlights and shadows. The dark parts of the scene look naturally dark, while the highlights and light sources are not blown out. There's a slight tendency to go for a warmer color temperature, though.

2x zoom camera

Even though it's a zoom camera, the shooter produces nice-looking stills that are adequately sharp, detailed and have wide dynamic range. The post-processing algorithm has added heavy sharpening across the whole frame, but it's noticeable only upon closer inspection. The rather warm color temperature is persistent in the zoom samples too.

2x zoom camera samples

The 4x crop zoom samples are largely unimpressive, which is expected - they look upscaled from a lower resolution. It's a bit too much to ask from this sensor in low-light conditions. The samples are generally with a more limited dynamic range; they are softer and resolve fewer details. Interestingly, the stills look pretty clean, with no apparent noise.

4x crop zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

The low-light ultrawide shots are decent, as far as ultrawide stills go. Compared to the main camera, they are softer and with poorer dynamic range. Still, in the context of ultrawide cameras, the Xiaomi 14T does very good.

Ultrawide camera samples

Selfies

Although largely unimpressive, the selfies show noticeable improvement over the last generation. Still, sharpness isn't amazing, but the level of detail is good. That's mostly because the system outputs unbinned 32MP shots instead of binned 8MP stills. We also noticed that the 14T is generous with the contrast, while the colors are somewhat muted. More challenging lighting conditions result in a significant loss of sharpness.

Selfies

Video recording

The Xiaomi 14T can record 2160p videos at up to 60fps with its main camera, but the telephoto and ultrawide shooters are limited to 2160p@30fps. The selfie camera can do 4K videos at 30fps as well.

There's the usual selection between the h.264 codec for wider compatibility and the more efficient h.265 option. HDR10/HDR10+ recording is also available from the menu or the viewfinder. The Master Cinema toggle, on the other hand, enables recording in HLG log format for you to grade and process after the fact. Additionally, there's a Director mode, offering a lot of manual control plus the option to combine several compatible phones into a multi-cam setup.

While the 4K videos are stabilized, the camera app offers two more advanced stabilization modes - Steady and Steady Pro videos. Both offer action camera-like stabilization, but the resolution is limited to 1080p.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

Starting with the usual 4K footage from the main camera. There's little to complain about. The video is exceptionally sharp, has an excellent dynamic range, lively colors and is free of noise. Color temperature might be a bit off and tends to go for a warmer hue.

The 2x zoom video is slightly softer but still more than decent. Dynamic range is on point. To match the main camera's look, a little bit of extra contrast wouldn't have hurt.

Surprisingly, the ultrawide camera provides solid 4K footage. Even the edge softness isn't as bad, and we can even go as far as saying the clip is sharp. It's no main camera level, surely, but it's pretty good for an ultrawide camera.

The low-light footage out of the main cam isn't amazing, but in the context of midrangers, it's quite good. The color temperature is a bit on the warmer side too, while sharpness could see some improvement too.

And while the Night mode video is limited to 1080p resolution, it doesn't appear to be any less sharp. There is no improvement to dynamic range and the highlights are even more clipped but at least the noise is cleared.

As far as stabilization goes, it's on point, and it's perfectly fine at 2160p@30fps.