Xiaomi is turning the Mobile World Congress (MWC) into its own festival in 2024. Like last year, the Chinese are opening it unofficially on Sunday, one day before the actual trade fair, exactly in the same place where Samsung presented its flagship for years. Now Xiaomi is far from being Samsung. But perhaps in the long term they also want to become a company that offers a variety of products and interprets the concept of mobility broadly.
The Chinese have brought more to their stage presence than their new smartphone flagship. On the stage of the congress center in the east of Barcelona, two smartphones, two watches, a tablet and a sports band took the stage together with Xiaomi boss William Lu. From Monday onwards, the focus at the trade fair stand will be on an electric car: Xiaomi SU7.
Everything about technology was put into it
The masses of people interested in Xiaomi are likely to be most interested in the new smartphone flagship. Along with the Magic 6 Pro, which Honor presented in Barcelona on the same day, and Samsung's S 24 Ultra, which is only a few weeks old, the 14 Ultra is the best that the Android device market currently has to offer. Like Samsung with the S 24 Plus, Xiaomi offers a model with the 14 that is still top, but not as expensive and does not have everything technically possible. That's exactly what the 14 Ultra does. The prerequisite for complex hardware and software in a smartphone is the latest generation of the processor unit. That's why both Xiaomi devices contain the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 from Qualcomm.
As has been the case in the industry for many years, the Chinese also send their cameras forward in order to get the most attention from the audience. Xiaomi has had an ally for this discipline for two years. In addition to lending its name, Leica is working with Chinese engineers to develop a camera for a smartphone that will attract amateur photographers. They call the result of the joint project Summilux-Optik.
This cannot be overlooked. The back is dominated by a powerful, circular module in which the camera with four lenses and the double LED light are embedded. The technical details indeed promise sophisticated images with flexible options. The focal length of the four different lenses ranges from 12 millimeters for the ultra wide angle to 120 millimeters for the periscope module. The aperture of the main camera opens continuously from f/1.63 to f/4.0. The image sensor is one inch in size. All lenses have a resolution of up to 50 megapixels. As with its predecessor, the software is characterized by the fact that it allows the captured light to appear in different styles that the user can select. Of course, there is also a professional mode in which many parameters can be set manually.
A bit of Leica feeling
The photography kit for 200 euros seems attractive and exciting at first glance, but perhaps negligible in everyday use. If you attach this handle to the lower end of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, the smartphone turns into a camera if you hold it horizontally. Since it, like the smartphone, consists of a leather-like surface and an aluminum frame, it should give the impression that you have a Leica camera in your hand. This feeling should only arise for those who have never held a Leica camera in their hands.
With the photography kit you take photos like with a compact camera with a two-stage shutter release, you can gently zoom in or out with a lever, there is an extra button for videos, and a small wheel leads directly to certain settings. Because there was probably still room to spare, Xiaomi installed a battery with a capacity of 1500 milliamp hours, which complements that of the smartphone. At 5000 milliamperes hours it's already pretty generous.
The images can be viewed on the large Amoled screen with a diagonal of 6.73 inches, which has a resolution of 3200 x 1440, has a refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hertz that adapts to the content and achieves a brightness of 3000 nits. Alternatively, the new Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro, which has a size of 12.4 inches, can also serve as a monitor for purposes such as image editing. Like other manufacturers, Xiaomi has adapted its Hyper OS operating system so that the exchange between devices can be as easy as possible. The new SU7 electric car can also be seen as such a device because its software is also based on Hyper OS.
Converts into a compact camera
While the Xiaomi 14, with a price of 1000 euros for 12 gigabytes of RAM and 256 gigabytes of internal storage, is probably close to the pain threshold for many potential buyers, the price of the 14 Ultra is probably putting some customers off. The Chinese charge 1,500 euros for their flagship, with 16 gigabytes of RAM and 512 gigabytes of internal storage. Anyone who pre-orders will receive the photography kit as a bundle for 200 euros for a certain period of time.
This is attractive because without this attachment, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra ultimately only fits into the upper class segment of the Android competition, which scores with similar top features in terms of camera, screen or battery. Xiaomi only sets itself apart from the competition by transforming the smartphone into a compact camera. The question remains who needs it.
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