Xiaomi 14T Pro Review – Value King?

Xiaomi 14T Pro Unboxing

Kicking off the Xiaomi 14T Pro review with the unboxing, it comes in a packaging that is identical to the mainline 14 series, clad in white and complete with the Leica logo. It’s minimalist in nature and there isn’t much info listed around the box. Inside the box, we found the following items:

• USB-C to USB-C cable
• SIM ejector pin
• Protective case
• Documentations
• The Xiaomi 14T Pro itself

Xiaomi 14T Specifications

CPU	Mediatek Dimensity 9300+ 1 x 3.4 GHz Cortex-X4 + 3 x 2.85 GHz Cortex-X4 + 4 x 2 GHz Cortex-A720 4nm
GPU	Immortalis-G720 MC12
Memory	16GB
Storage	512GB
Audio	Stereo speakers 24-bit/192kHz Hi-Res & Hi-Res Wireless audio
Display	6.67” 20:9 2712 x 1220 (446ppi) 144Hz AMOLED, 68 billion colours, 4,000 nits peak brightness Dolby Vision, HDR10+, Gorilla Glass 5
Camera	50MP f/1.6, 23mm (wide), 1/1.31″, 1.2µm, PDAF, OIS 50MP f/2.0, 60mm (telephoto), 1/2.88″, 0.61µm, PDAF, 2.6x optical zoom 12MP f/2.2, 15mm (ultrawide), 1/3.06″, 1.12µm Leica lens, Ultra HDR, LED Flash, gyro-EIS, HDR, panorama, HDR10+, 10-bit Up to 8K @ 24/30FPS recording
Selfie camera	32MP f/2.0 wide angle camera, 0.64µm
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6E/7, dual-band Bluetooth 5.4 (supports A2DP, LE, LHDC) USB-C 2.0 Infrared NFC GPS (L1+L5), BDS (B1I+B1C+B2a+B2b), GALILEO (E1+E5a+E5b), QZSS (L1+L5), NavIC (L5), GLONASS
Build	Glass front, aluminum frame, glass back 6M13 aluminium alloy, 281 N/mm frame rigidity, 260 N/mm device rigidity (advertised values)
Battery	5000mAh 120W wired (PD 3.0, QC4) 50W wireless
Dimensions	160.4 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm
Weight	209g
OS	HyperOS based on Android 14
Color	Titan Gray, Titan Blue, Titan Black
Ingress Protection	IP68

Performance

Starting off our benchmark suite with Antutu v10, the Xiaomi 14T Pro had a pretty good score as it took the 2nd runner up spot, just below the original Xiaomi 14. This should put some worries to rest in case anyone thought the Dimensity 9300+ chip is far inferior compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Then on Geekbench 6, the Xiaomi 14T Pro is practically on par with current generation flagships, though I’m surprised it managed to beat some Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 devices in both single and multi core tests. I have a feeling it’s because of better efficiency but the next benchmark should help prove that theory.

Moving on to 3DMark, it seems to be lagging behind Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 devices with the exception of the foldable devices, which isn’t a surprise since this specific Dimensity chip has a weaker GPU compared to the Snapdragon-equivalent chips. With that being said however, it does have a better stability rating at about 72%, which means that it is more thermally efficient than most Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 smartphones.

Lastly on PCMark’s Work 3.0 benchmark, the Xiaomi 14T Pro isn’t particularly high, but it somehow outperformed the mainline Xiaomi 14 and a device running the newer Dimensity 9400 chip. It seems like the benchmark might not be exactly optimized for MediaTek chips but regardless, it’s still plenty of firepower for daily usage.

For those of you who are wondering about the battery life, the Xiaomi 14T Pro lasted 11 hours and 38 minutes (698 minutes) in PCMark’s Work 3.0 endurance test. This is with Dynamic Refresh Rate enabled, a feature that will provide an optimized viewing experience without killing off battery life. This should still be plenty for most users as it can easily give you a full day’s worth of use unless you’re heavily gaming on it for several hours non-stop.

As for the charging speed, this is what I managed to get with the Xiaomi 14T Pro, using my own 100W GaN charger, starting from 2%:

• 15 minutes = 71% battery life
• 26 minutes = 100% battery life

Camera

The camera performance of the Xiaomi 14T Pro is certainly great but not without its drawbacks. The main camera itself works excellently with great details and vibrant colors, though the focus and shutter speed can get rather sluggish in darker areas. The ultrawide camera however produces notably softer details, blander colors, is generally a little slow and lacks autofocus, making it a bit cumbersome to use.

As for the telephoto camera, it can perform almost as well as the main camera but the lack of OIS means that you need extra steady hands to get usable results. It also won’t focus on objects that are rather close so no pseudo-macro shots here. Selfies are decent at best but nothing much to shout about.

The Good

There are a number of good reasons to consider getting the Xiaomi 14T Pro. For starters, you get a premium design with IP68 water and dust resistance. It’s a similar design to the original Xiaomi 14 sans the glass camera housing. It’s built using an aluminum chassis with a glass back, which feels great on hand, but it’s not any aluminum as they opted for a high-strength 6M13 aluminum alloy for enhanced rigidity.

The display is also pretty good, especially when you consider the price, as it’s a 6.67-inch OLED display with 144Hz refresh rate and support for Dolby Vision as well as HDR10+. I’m surprised to see 12-bit color depth here as well. It’s also really bright with a peak brightness of 4,000 nits, and it has Gorilla Glass 5 for added protection. Sure, the industry has moved past to Victus and newer versions of Gorilla Glass but I’m personally fine with this as it allows them to keep costs on the lower side while still providing adequate protection.

The stereo speakers are also pretty good as it’s adequately loud and quality is pretty decent to boot. It’s not superbly rich but it’s enjoyable enough and when you pair it with its stellar display, it makes for quite a great multimedia device for movies and mobile games. For a more enjoyable experience, you can always opt for Bluetooth speakers or your favorite pair of earbuds.

It also boasts an excellent array of connectivity features. This includes Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, and Infrared. The latter is my personal favorite because it allows you to use the smartphone as a universal remote. This is not limited to just TVs either as you can use it for your air conditioner or anything that support Infrared provided that the app has the right signal for it.

I personally love the fact that Xiaomi opted for a 256GB minimum storage for this model. With expandable storage becoming a rarity in smartphones for a while now, 128GB isn’t going to cut it and users will often find themselves upgrading sooner than necessary as a result. This means that for its starting price of RM2,599, which is already an excellent price given the overall package, you get pretty decent storage capacity and If that isn’t enough, there are 512GB and 1TB variants as well to consider.

Lastly, while there are many out there who aren’t big fans of HyperOS, one thing I would praise Xiaomi for is that it comes with 4 OS upgrades and 5 years of security patches guaranteed. If the UI is not to your liking, you can always opt for a 3rd party launcher but the updates isn’t something you can change. Consumers who opt for this are typically those wanting to get as much value as possible for long-term use and this shows that the company is aware of their audience, which is great.

The Bad

Of course, it has its share of drawbacks. For starters, there is no charger included in the box. This is a bit of a disappointment given the mainline Xiaomi 14 comes with a speedy 90W charger but I suppose they needed to do this for better product differentiation as well as to keep costs lower for this model. On the plus side if you have your own charger, this thing is capable of charging absurdly fast.

Next up, while it’s great that it has a 144Hz refresh rate, you don’t get to fully utilize in a lot of apps as well as the system menus. There’s a lack of support for it so as a result, it’s a bit of a waste to have it since you won’t be using it as much as you would like. With that being said however, just set the refresh rate settings to default and let it dynamically adjust accordingly so you get to enjoy higher refresh rates without taking a big toll on energy efficiency.

Lastly, and this shouldn’t be a surprise, is the bloatware. There is a suite of Mi apps, ecommerce apps, and social media apps pre-installed in the device. Arguably, a number of these apps are used by the general public but if you typically rely on your own set of apps and most of them happen to not be among the ones included, it will feel like an eyesore and / or bring about the worry of these apps collecting data on you / your usage.

Xiaomi 14T Pro Verdict

The Xiaomi 14T Pro is yet another great smartphone that focuses a lot on value as you get a whole lot for what you’re paying. While the mainline series is a proper flagship with pricing that is on the lower side of its caliber, this is very close to a typical 2024 flagship but at a much lower price point. It does have its quirks but if your concern is price-to-performance ratio, it’s hard to find something that can top this.

At the end of our Xiaomi 14T Pro review, I award this flagship smartphone with our coveted Gold Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Xiaomi Malaysia for sending us this smartphone for the purpose of this review.