Xiaomi's latest flagship handset has launched in China ahead of an expected Mobile World Congress appearance in Barcelona next week. The 14 Ultra's headline feature is a Leica main camera with a new Sony 1-inch sensor.
The camera tech in the Ultra steals the show here, championed by a 50-megapixel main based around Sony's LYT-900 1-inch-type image sensor and sporting a fast F1.63 aperture, a 23-mm-equiv focal length, and optical image stabilization.
The telephoto, the periscope and ultra-wide that complete the Leica camera quad in the rear circular bump each feed light to a 50-MP Sony IMX858 sensor, the same credentials as the phone's predecessor. The imaging setup now boasts the company's new Artificial Intelligence Signal Processor chip for computational photography using four large models, and video shooting up to 8K/30fps is possible, along with 1080p slow-mo at up to 1,920 frames per second and 4K time-lapse photography.
Processing brains shape up as Qualcomm's latest flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which is kept cool courtesy of a dual-path vapor chamber. The smartphone can be optioned with 16 GB of high-speed RAM and 1 TB of UFS 4.0 storage.
Out front is a Dolby Vision OLED display that measures 6.73 inches from corner to corner and comes in at 3,200 x 1,440 pixels, benefits from a 120-Hz variable refresh rate and 3,000-nit peak brightness, and there's support for the wide DCI-P3 color gamut.
A high-strength aluminum-alloy mid frame is said to provide a significant boost to bending resistance, with a titanium option on the way, and there's improved drop resistance too, together with sealing against dust/water ingress to IP68 standards.
Wi-Fi 7 and 5G connectivity are cooked in, there's Bluetooth 5.4 with support for aptX HD, aptX adaptive and LDAC audio decoding, plus a USB-C port that's reported capable of theoretical data transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps. The handset comes with a generous 5,300-mAh silicon-carbon battery that can handle 90-W cabled fast-charging for a top-up to 100% in just 35 minutes and 80-W wireless as well.
International availability is expected to be announced at MWC 2024, but Chinese pricing starts from 6,499 yuan. Official sales in the US are unlikely. There's also a Leica Pro grip available that provides extra juice as well as tactile controls.
Product page: Xiaomi 14 Ultra
