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Table of Contents
Introduction and Unboxing
The Xiaomi 14T Pro has arrived exactly 1 year after its predecessor and there are quite a few things that have changed. In the box you’ll find the device itself, a rubber black case and a charging cable, but the first noticeable change is that there is no longer a charging block bundled in.
I don’t have the Indian price at the time of writing this review, but leak suggests that the price has jumped up by around 50,000 which points to a starting price of around Rs. 75,000.
Other than the price changes they’ have also scrap the 8 GB ram variant so you’ll be getting 12 GB of RAM paired alongside either 256 GB, 512 GB or 1TB of storage.
That slight price increase is more than welcome since there are quite a few upgrades and with that we’re going to be doing this review a little differently to what we usually do mainly focusing on all the changes.
Design and Build
First up we have design and with that a few new colour options, there’s Titan black, Titan blue and Titan grey. I have the Titan grey variant and I’m just glad they didn’t call it titanium grey because while the colour is inspired by titanium, that’s not what’s used. Instead, the side rails are made from high strength aluminium which is actually a huge upgrade since the 13T Pro had plastic frames.
The frames are now flatter, they have a matte finish and the device is slightly thinner. The power button now has a texture to it which makes it easier to find. Unlike previous Xiaomi’s T- series phones the flat frames are the same all around the phone and while the corners are bit rounded, they’re not quite as rounded as what you’d see on the latest Pixels and iPhones.
It honestly just feels more solid in the hand now and it feels just as premium as what you’d expect from an iPhone or a Pixel. It’s just a lot more comfortable to hold since there are slight curves on its edges which are now more subtle and are the same all around instead of just the sides matching each other.
The camera module has also changed to look more similar to the rest of the Xiaomi 14 lineup and the camera Island matches the colour of the glass back plate, but the glass used on the back it isn’t specified. The front is still Protected by Gorilla Glass 5. I would have liked to have seen Gorilla Glass Victus here.
We still have an IP68 water certification on this guy, but it’s now even more water proof since it can now be submerged 2 metres deep instead of the usual 1.5 metres for 30 minutes. The fingerprint scan is still optical. But the bezels are now a lot and I mean a lot thinner, the chin is almost the same thickness as the sides and top bezels.
Display
The screen is pretty much the same, it’s still a 6.67 in AMOLED display with the same resolution and the same 144Hz refresh rate. But unfortunately, there is still no LTPO technology in this phone, however they are now using the new C8 Plus panel material.
Touch sampling rates has jumped up to 2160Hz which is just ridiculous, PWM dimming has increased to 3840Hz, so it’s now easier on the eyes. High brightness mode is 1,600 nits and Peak brightness now sits at 4,000 nits which is actually higher than the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.
Software
The 14T Pro now ships with HyperOS out of the box which is skinned over Android 14 unlike last year’s model which shipped with MIUI14. HyperOS is getting better and it feels more optimized the more I use it. We still have large folders and all of Google’s apps are pre-installed.
Xiaomi have now been working closer with Google so Gemini is now standard and there are a lot more AI features on the way such as Circle to search. Software updates are not groundbreaking but we should still see 4 years of major updates and 5 years of security updates.
Battery and Charging
The battery capacity is still 5,000 Mah and wire charging is still 120W which is still very fast. But the most important thing this year is that for the first time ever in a top tier T-series device there is now wireless charging and not just any wireless charging we have 50W wireless charging in this phone which is a really big deal for fans of the series.
Hardware and Performance
The 14T Pro sticks to the same LPDDR5X RAM modules but memory extension now goes up to 12 GB and it uses the same UFS 4.0 storage, but now Xiaomi is giving you extra storage for free. You get an extra 8 GB if you pick up the 256 GB version, an extra 16 GB for the 512 GB and an extra 32 GB for the top-of-the-line 1 TB model.
One of the main reasons customers buy Xiaomi’s T-Series devices is because they ship with the latest flagship MediaTek chips instead of the latest that Qualcomm has to offer and the 14T Pro ships with the brand new Dimensity 9300 Plus CPU.
Just like with the regular 9300 chip there are no efficiency cores here instead we get four main cores and four performance cores. This plus variant is only different in one of its main cores which now sits at 3.4 GHz instead of 3.25 GHz, so you’ll be getting similar performance to the Dimensity 9300 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. But based on my recent battery drain test the latest MediaTek chipsets have become more efficient than the latest from what Qualcomm has to offer.
The Dimensity 9300 Plus is no doubt a big upgrade compared to the 9200 Plus we saw in the 13T Pro. But the 9400 is about to launch like next month, so you won’t exactly have the latest chipset for very long. But in all honesty, chipsets release so frequently that you can’t really keep up and even if you do I doubt you’ll notice much of a difference.
For context the 13T Pro felt just as smooth as the 14T Pro and while benchmark scores have increased, gaming performance is more or less the same. The biggest difference would come down to efficiency and consistency, but even then, how much are you really going to notice on the daily usage.
Another notable upgrade is the new Xiaomi 3D Ice Loop cooling system which supposedly dissipates heat easier and I didn’t notice the device ever feeling too hot while gaming.
But other components are identical with the same Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, Wi-Fi 7, dual 5G, IR Blaster and USB 2.0 Type-C Port. I guess they have to leave USB 3.0 speeds for their main top tier flagships. Haptics feel better though more in line with the 14 Ultra but dual speaker loudness and quality are pretty similar.
Cameras
We’ve covered pretty much everything except for the cameras and cameras is pretty much the main reason why anyone actually upgrades their phone.
Well, the good news is that Xiaomi have actually stepped up their camera game with the 14T Pro. A very welcome surprise is an upgraded 32 MP selfie camera. Its field of view isn’t as wide as before, but image quality is much better and Edge detection is fantastic. It’s decent at taking selfies at night too though you’re going to want to use the flash for more detail.
You can record a 4K 30 FPS selfie video on the brand new Xiaomi 14T Pro which is actually a pretty big deal considering the 13T Pro was limited to full HD resolution. Though you can still record full HD at 60 FPS using this device. Unfortunately, 4K video is capped at 30 FPS and just to let you guys know on a very windy day the microphone sounds a bit funny.
Having 4K selfie video on the 14T Pro is a big deal even if it’s capped at 30 FPS, but unfortunately bokeh video is still limited to 1080P and even though selfie video at night is not groundbreaking it still seems to be a bit better than what we’ve seen in the past.
The selfie camera isn’t the only thing that’s been upgraded. Xiaomi is still working closely with Leica and this time they’ve added quite a few new modes to the 14T Pro. As introduced with the 13T Pro the 14T Pro still offers different Leica modes. Vibrance is more Vivid and honestly just looks more pleasing while Authentic gives you a more organic image. Vibrance really makes colours pop though and is Probably what most users would stick to.
Unlike the 13T Pro the 14T Pro adds some 14 Ultra features like Leica Portrait and Master Portrait. Leica Portrait gives you that gloomier DSLR look, but I prefer Master Portrait for a brighter, more rounded finish. Also, like the 14 Ultra there is now a Master Cinema mode which allows for 10bit Rec. 2020 video though its bokeh mode is limited to full HD resolution. There’s also HDR 10 Plus video when using the main camera and the telephoto camera Produces some incredible close-up video.
The main camera has seen a rather large upgrade as it now uses the exact same camera, we saw on the flagship Xiaomi 14 that being a 50 MP Light Fusion 900 camera with a large 1/1.31-inch size sensor and a wide f/1.6 aperture.
You can still take native megapixel photos, but binned down images are more balanced and things come out with plenty detail when zooming in by two times with the main camera. Due to its larger aperture light intake has improved when taking snaps at night, but light noise handling still needs some work.
960 FPS slow motion video is still around, but it’s still limited to the main camera and steady video is also here to stay, but it’s still crops in and it’s still limited to full HD resolution. Thankfully the sensor doesn’t really need it as it’s more than stable when shooting 4K 60fps regular video and is surprisingly stable when recording 8K video too. Again, only the main camera can shoot videos in 8k.
Recording in 8k at night isn’t quite as bright as filming in 4K, but things are more detailed with less grain. We still have 4K night mode video and while it certainly brightens things up, it sacrifices a bit of detail. It’s not the best main camera in the world, but it’s most likely the best in this price range.
I could Probably say the same about the new telephoto camera which has thankfully also been upgraded. It’s now a 1/2.76 inch sized 50 MP ISOCELL JN1 sensor with the same f/1.9 aperture, but it now has a further 2.6 times optical zoom range. Native snaps aren’t quite as good as bin shots but overall, this telephoto camera is a lot more capable than last years.
5 time zoom is now more detailed and while further zoom ranges tend to struggle a bit, you can still zoom up to 30 times which is a lot further than last year’s 20 times range. This new sensor keeps things brighter at night and light noise handling is superb especially at 5 times. I was also quite impressed with 10 and 30 times digital zoom shots at night.
The telephoto takes some pleasing video to maxing out at 4K 60 FPS producing a very smooth stable and detailed video. But things aren’t quite as smooth at night and light noise isn’t handled the best when recording video with the telephoto camera. It would have been nice to have seen the Xiaomi 14’s floating telephoto here but, all in all the 14T Pro’s new telephoto sensor is streaks better than the one that we saw in the 13T Pro.
Unfortunately, the ultrawide camera hasn’t changed at all, it’s still the same 12 MP shooter with a 15 mm focal length offering a 120° field of view. It’s not as classy as the 50 MP Ultra wide cameras we see on the other Xiaomi 14 series devices, but it still gets the job done rather well during the day. At night however it drops the ball in terms of detail and light noise handling.
Just like with the main camera the ultrawide also offers a steady video mode option, but it also crops in and it’s also limited to 1080p 30fps. There’s a 1080p 60 FPS option when shooting regular video which comes out just as stable, but 4K video is still capped at 30 frames per second and just like with last year’s device there’s a lot to be desired when recording ultrawide video at night.
Verdict
The Xiaomi 14T Pro has seen quite a few upgrades over its predecessor. It now has metal frames, better waterproofing, a better design, much slimmer bezels, a brighter display, they have finally added in wireless charging and the camera system has seen a very nice upgrade.
I would have liked to have seen a better ultrawide camera inclusion of Gorilla Glass Victus, a USB 3 port and an LTPO display, but honestly if they included all the flash of features that we see in the more expensive Xiaomi 14 series devices then there would be no need to release a T-Series device at all.
Xiaomi have had to make specific compromises in order to get the price down as low as possible and for this price Xiaomi have absolutely nailed it with the 14T Pro.
As always let me know what you think about the Xiaomi 14T Pro in the comments below.
