Xiaomi has announced the latest additions to its T series of phones, featuring Leica-branded lenses and AI innovations, and its first flip phone, the Xiaomi MIX Flip
The T series sits below the flagship Xiaomi 14 range, which includes the top-end Xiaomi 14 Ultra – which we named as the best all-rounder smartphone for photography.
Xiaomi 14T Pro key features
- Triple Leica Summilux-branded camera set-up
- Main camera, 50MP, 23mm equivalent, f.1.6, OIS
- Telephoto, 50MP, 60mm equivalent, f/2
- Ultra-wide, 12MP, 15mm equivalent, f/2.2
- Front (selfie) camera, 32MP, 25mm equivalent, f/2
- Light Fusion 900 1/1.31″ sensor
- 8K video at 30fps
- LOG capture at up to 4K resolution, with 24 or 30fps options
- 6.67-in, 446 ppi display
- Available in metallic blue, gray and black
Designed as an ‘affordable’ flagship, the Xiaomi 14T Pro is an attractive and well-specced phone with improved low-light and night performance. The new wider aperture main camera lets in 32% more light than its predecessor; note that only this main camera is optically stabilised, however.
Via a mixture of native focal lengths and zoom modes, you can shoot at 15mm, 23mm (1x), 46mm (2x), 60mm (2.6x) and 120mm (5x).
The sensor is the same Light Fusion 900 unit found on the Xiaomi 14 series (though not the flagship 14 Ultra, which features a one-inch chip developed with Sony). Image capture speed is also 1.5x higher than on the Xiaomi 13T series, with the company claiming its other computational photography improvements reduce noise and boost dynamic range.
Pricing and storage options
- Xiaomi 14T Pro 12GB+256GB – £649
- Xiaomi 14T Pro 12GB+512GB – £699
- Xiaomi 14T Pro 12GB+1T – £799
Xiaomi 14 T series: ramping up the AI, with some help from Google
Given the intense competition in the Android handset market it’s not surprising to to hear that Xiaomi is also piling on AI features to help with photography. The Xiaomi 14T Pro and 14T include Google’s Circle to Search feature which enables you to find out more information about an item of interest in a photo or video by circling it with your finger, or tapping.
The Xiaomi 14T series also comes with Google’s Gemini App, described as a personal AI assistant. At the press launch in Berlin, a Google representative showed how easy it was to ask Gemini for the best times to take photos (just after sunrise and before sunset), good locations in Berlin for sunrise shots (the city’s East Side Gallery) and how to get there.
Gemini then generated an AI image of the East Side Gallery at sunrise to help you decide whether it’s worth getting up at stupid o clock the next day.
While it might seem odd that Google is appearing at the launches of new phones from Android rivals, it’s in the big G’s interest to make Android systems appear more cutting edge when it comes to AI than the Apple iPhone.
Xiaomi’s phone operating system, HyperOS, also comes with new AI tools. For photographers, the most interesting ones are AI Image Expansion, which can contextually generate extra ‘parts’ of an image to improve composition, for example, and AI Erase Pro, which you can use to remove distracting objects.
For video recording, AI Film helps with advanced scene recognition, composition suggestions, and music synchronisation. It makes it easy to pull together a quick movie from still images in your photo library and add music, for example, and is quick and fun.
Xiaomi 14T
The Xiaomi 14 T, meanwhile also comes with a three camera set-up (50MP main, 50MP telephoto, 12MP Ultra Wide) but incorporates a Sony IMX906 1/1.56″ sensor – so users won’t get quite the same benefits in terms of high dynamic range and noise reduction. The Xiaomi 14T main camera is also f/1.7 rather than f/1.6 and lacks optical image stabilisation.
- 50MP main camera, f/1.7, 23mm equivalent focal length
- 50MP telephoto camera, f/1.9, 60mm equivalent focal length
- 12MP ultra-wde camera, f/2.2/ 15mm equivalent focal length
- 6.67-inch screen, 2712 x 1220 resolution, 446 ppi
- Available in grey, blue, black and lemon green.
Pricing and storage options
Xiaomi 14T 12GB+256GB – £549
Xiaomi 14T 12GB+512GB – £599
Xiaomi Mix Flip
Also announced today is the European availability of Xiaomi’s first flip phone, the MIX Flip. It offers a dual camera set-up and the latest AI features.
- 50MP main camera, f/1.7, 23mm equivalent focal length, OIS
- 50MP floating telephoto camera, f/2, 47mm equivalent focal length, supports 9cm macro photography
- 32MP, f/2 selfie camera
- Light Fusion 800 sensor, 1/1.55″ size
- 4.01″ outer display, 1392 x 1208 resolution, 460ppi
- 6.86″ inner display, 2912 x 1224 resolution, 460ppi
- Enables image and video capture from 45-120 degrees
- Available in black and purple.
- Includes AI features found on 14T series phones.
- £1099 for 512Gb storage.
Xiaomi 14T series – first impressions and sample gallery
The Xiaomi 14 is currently my main phone and I’ve learned to appreciate the quality Leica optics and clever computational photography features, so I found myself instantly at home with this new Xiaomi 14T series.
The Xiaomi 14T Pro in particular makes a lot of sense, as you get a relatively fast, optically stabilised main camera plus a more versatile optical zoom, as well as useful extras like IP68 water and dust resistance and fast wireless charging. We’d pay the £100 extra and go for the Pro model, which is actually very good value when you compare it to rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy S24.
While the tie-up with Google and the Google Gemini personal assistant is interesting, I was more impressed by simpler AI features, such as the ease with which you can make quick video shorts from stills in your photo library by using the new AI Film features.
As a keen portrait photographer, the addition of an exposure compensation wheel to Portrait mode is another nice extra, giving you the kind of control over creative exposure effects you get when shooting raw. (which is also very easy on Xiaomi phones). The Leica Portrait Mode is classy too, doing a good job of digitally replicating attractive bokeh.
With each new phone release, Xiaomi seems to go from strength to strength and the Xiaomi 14T Pro in particular is a very likeable and convincing mid-range flagship phone for photography. It is keenly priced too, and we suspect many customers will choose it over the pricier Xiaomi 14 (which will probably get upgraded at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona next March, but we don’t know for sure.)
Watch out for a comprehensive review of the new Xiaomi 14T series phones soon, but initial impressions are very positive!
Xiaomi 14T Pro sample gallery
