Xiaomi 14 review

An upgraded 50MP triple-camera setup

The Xiaomi 14 is likely one of the best-equipped compact flagships when it comes to photography. It offers a substantial upgrade over its predecessor by swapping out all three cameras for better ones.

• Wide (main): 50 MP OmniVision OVX9000 Light Fusion 900, f/1.6, 23mm (wide), 1/1.31", 1.2µm, dual pixel PDAF, Laser AF, OIS, OIS; 4320p@24fps, 2160p@60fps
• Telephoto: 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1, f/2.0, 1/2.76", 0.64µm, 75mm (telephoto), PDAF (10cm - ∞), OIS, 3.2x optical zoom; 2160p@60fps
• Ultrawide: 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1, f/2.2, 1/2.76", 0.64µm, 14mm, 115˚ (ultrawide); 2160p@60fps
• Front camera: 32MP OmniVision OV32B, f/2.0, 1/3.14", 0.7µm (wide); 2160p@30/60fps

The new OmniVision OVX9000 sensor for the main camera is something we see for the first time. It's especially large, and Xiaomi dubs it Light Fusion 900 (you may have seen it translated as Light Hunter 900 in leaks). Unlike the Xiaomi 14 Pro, though, this one does not come paired with a variable aperture lens. Certain sources suggest that the OmniVision OVX9000 is a customized version of the OmniVision OV50H, a sensor that we've encountered on the IQOO 12 and, most recently, the Honor Magic 6 Pro.

Xiaomi is promising that the Xiaomi Imaging Engine ensures a consistent tone across the cameras as white balance and exposure settings are derived from the always-on main camera.

Daylight photos

Main camera

The main camera delivers flagship-grade image quality during the day. It has everything - sharpness, fine detail, wide dynamic range, accurate color reproduction, and consistent outdoor and indoor performance.

Main camera daylight samples

Portraits: Normal • Potrait mode

2x zoom

The 2x zoom mode shares the same rendition as the standard 1x zoom mode, but since it's a crop from the main sensor, the 2x zoom samples are okay-ish, maybe even unimpressive. To be honest, we expected more from a flagship-level 2x zoom crop - the photos we got are sensibly softer and sometimes even fuzzy in challenging lighting conditions.

2x zoom daylight samples

3.2 telephoto camera

The 3.2x telephoto camera produces excellent photos and stays consistent in various environments. The images are clean and detailed, they are noise-free, and they offer a wide dynamic range.

Xiaomi also did a pretty good job at matching the telephoto's post-processing with the main camera's. Whether you use the main camera or the telephoto, you will get similar-looking images both in terms of quality and rendition.

3.2x telephoto camera daylight samples

We can't say we are fans of the Portrait mode, though. The photos seem rather soft and rough around the edges.

Portrait mode: Off • On

On the other hand, we are delighted with the macro mode. Since the telephoto camera can focus from as close as 10cm, you get nice and detailed closeup shots, even in more challenging conditions.

Macro samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera is good, as far as ultrawide cameras go. We always expect more from these shooters, especially on flagship models, but we are often somewhat disappointed.

The camera here produces rather soft-looking images and leaves a bit more to be desired in terms of colors and fine detail. The ultrawide photos look muted, and you can find some brighter-than-usual highlights and darker-than-usual shadows, suggesting a more limited dynamic range.

Ultrawide camera daylight samples

Taking the ultrawide inside shows the glaring issues with the snapper. The photos are even softer, with some minimal noise if you look close enough and with crushed shadows. A bit of brightness boost wouldn't have hurt.

Low-light photos

Main camera

The Xiaomi 14 seems pretty generous with the Night mode and often prefers to use it. Either way, the difference between the standard Photo mode and the Night mode is almost non-existent. In both cases, you will be getting clean, sharp and detailed photos. We are impressed with the level of detail in the shadows as well as the adequate handling of highlights and light sources.

Main camera low-light samples

2x zoom

The 2x zoom mode produces somewhat usable images but with considerably lower detail, inferior sharpness and lower contrast, compared to the standard 1x shots.

2x zoom low-light samples

3.2 telephoto camera

The 3.2x telephoto, on the other hand, impresses with excellent nighttime rendition. It matches the main camera's overall quality - clean-looking samples with great detail and dynamic range. You might want to turn off the automatic camera switch toggle in the settings menu as the software will sometimes choose to crop from the main sensor rather than use the telephoto camera in low-light scenarios. We find it strange, given that the telephoto camera outputs better-looking images than the main one when cropping.

3.2x telephoto camera low-light samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide samples during the night are surprisingly decent as far as ultrawide cameras go. You do get the occasional blown-out highlights, but only on high-contrast scenes and when the Night mode decides to take the back seat.

Ultrawide camera low-light samples

Selfies

In stark contrast to the Xiaomi 14's camera capabilities, the selfie camera doesn't stand out in any way.

The selfies from the 32MP camera have the distinct look we've seen on other Xiaomi phones. They appear natural, with brightened skin, and the dynamic range is on point. But overall, they are a bit soft and with pale colors.

Selfies

Video recording

The handset supports recording 8K videos of up to 24fps with its main camera and 4K@60fps using its auxiliary cameras. Steady Video mode with enhanced EIS is also available, and now there's a Steady Video PRO mode. All these modes cap at 1080p@30fps. HDR/Dolby Vision recording and Pro mode are also on the list, while an array of 4 microphones enable directional audio recording. The microphones are placed on the front and back of the device. And although the Dolby Vision recording isn't particularly new feature, Xiaomi highlights the fact that the built-in video editor supports Dolby Vision edits. The Movie mode, on the other hand, is now improved with better-looking bokeh videos and more precise automatic rack focus switching.

Regarding quality, the Xiaomi 14 is right up there with the very best. There's really nothing to complain about. Despite the rather challenging lighting conditions, the 4K video with the main camera has a wide dynamic range, well-developed shadows, good contrast and no noise. Sharpness and detail are both excellent, while colors are natural.

The 3.2x telephoto camera is capable of recording some very nice videos, too, and although not as sharp as the main camera, the footage still looks great. Dynamic range is excellent and exposure is accurate. However, the detail rendition strikes us as being a bit artificial-looking.

The ultrawide takes surprisingly good 4K videos. The sample below is quite nice - wide dynamic range, accurate color reproduction, nice contrast, no noise and well-developed shadows.

The low-light 4K video taken with the main camera is also very good - it has above-average dynamic range and level of detail, even in the darker parts of the scene.

Video sample playlist