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A few small but meaningful upgrades to the camera system, tweaks to the build and display, and the mandatory chipset refresh - we can't be mad at the Xiaomi 14 Ultra for its short list of changes, when last year's model was already one of the best cameraphones in existence.
Indeed, the 14 Ultra doesn't stray too far from its predecessor. The main camera had a 1-inch sensor and dual-aperture lens on the 2023 model, the 2024 one uses a newer 1-inch sensor and makes that a truly variable aperture (with intermediate steps). The zoom cameras (two of them, as seemingly required to be called an Ultra), meanwhile, bring close focusing to the table and the longer of them also gets a slightly brighter lens.
On the outside, Xiaomi has replaced the Corning-branded glass of the old model with an in-house concoction that should be more durable (asterisks, of course), and the non-leather leather has also been improved. There's a new aluminum alloy used for the frame in the International version, while China also gets a titanium option on top of that. Sounds like a win.
Improvements in the display section are hard to spot, but there's a promise for slightly more brightness (hardly a gamechanger), while the new Snapdragon is the new Snapdragon - better than the old one, more or less the same across all 2024 models.
Xiaomi has chosen not to mess around with battery capacity or charging speed on the global variant (Chinese version does get an extra 300mAh), and we think we could have used a bump in longevity - maybe we'll get that from elsewhere.
Little has changed in the presentation and the 14 Ultra comes in the usual black thick cardboard box with simple Xiaomi lettering and a red Leica badge to add a splash of color. The internal packaging is all made of paper, so that's a win.
The contents include a 90W charger (same as last year's) and a proprietary USB-A-to-C cable to go with it. Xiaomi has also bundled a translucent plastic snap-on back cover to protect the Ultra out of the box. It's on the cheap side, but something is better than nothing, plus the phone itself is supposedly more durable than the previous iteration. Let's see what that's about.
how do to say you are pro photographer when you chasing depth of field at f1/4? it just make everything sharper. you should select f1/1.63 for that
One major problem that can't be fixed post, for most photos, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DEPTH OF FIELD and you can't fix that by stopping down to f/4 (smallest aperture) And every photo needs at least basic editing but I LOVE doing that, on my pho...
Hopefully, only some batches had it. A guy did lots of photos in Alps and no issue. I did exactly the opposite as I returned the Vivo and bought 14U. I hesitated and waited first, but it was for 999€ in white color, so it was a great deal. Vivo is gr...
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