Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has announced a new model that appears to have one of the best camera systems on the market – but it won’t be sold in the US and probably not in India either.
On February 25, the new Xiaomi 14 Ultra and standard model Xiaomi 14 smartphones were presented at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain. They had already been launched in China, but the Barcelona rollout marked their international debuts.
The 5G-compatible Xiaomi 14 Ultra features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor made by Taiwan’s TSMC using 4-nm process technology, a Leica-designed camera system with 50MP (megapixel) image sensors made by Japan’s Sony and a 6.36-inch display.
Tech news website Mashable calls it a “photography monster.” The Verge regards it as “a contender for the best camera phone of 2024” while noting that it is “going global – minus the US.” India Today writes “Xiaomi 14 Ultra looks great… but it is not coming to India.” It will, however, be sold in Europe including the United Kingdom.
The limited international distribution is generally attributed to Xiaomi’s product strategy and local market characteristics but the company has run into political trouble in both the US and India.
In January 2021, the US Department of Defense named Xiaomi as a “Communist Chinese Military Company.” But Xiaomi contested the decision and the US District Court for the District of Columbia voided the designation in May the same year.
In India, Xiaomi’s assets have been frozen, its funds seized due to alleged violation of foreign exchange regulations and its offices raided for alleged tax evasion. In response, Xiaomi accused Indian officials of threatening its executives during investigations.
That is unfortunate for camera geeks in both countries. From Barcelona, Ankita Garg of India Today writes:
“I couldn’t test much of its camera capabilities because of limited hands-on time with the device at the global launch, but my initial impression is that it can take some stunning photos in daylight and impressive portraits with lots of details, good background blur and well-balanced dynamic range. It would be great if Xiaomi decides to launch it in the Indian market later this year.”
Leica and Xiaomi tied up in July 2022 to combine the German camera maker’s image processing and quality tuning and computational imaging technology with Xiaomi’s smartphones.
According to market research organization IDC, Xiaomi ranked third worldwide in cell phone sales (after Apple and Samsung) in the fourth quarter of 2023 with 12.5% of the market.
The Leica-Xiaomi partnership superseded a similar agreement between Leica and Huawei that was derailed by US government sanctions, which temporarily collapsed Huawei’s cell phone business.
But Huawei has recovered, launching its popular Mate 60 Pro 5G model last August and overtaking Apple to regain the top spot in the Chinese market in the first six weeks of 2024. Xiaomi ranked third with a market share of 14%, according to local sources.
Detailed specs of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra include:
- a Leica quad-camera configuration with 50MP main, telephoto, periscope and ultra-wide still and video rear cameras;
- a 32MP front camera for selfies, also with video capability;
- Leica lenses;
- a Xiaomi imaging engine with motion and eye tracking, motion capture, lightning burst and ultra-wide telephoto night mode;
- a 6.36-inch TÜV Rheinland-certified AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) display;
- a power-efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor with an 8-core CPU and GPU from Qualcomm
Launched in October 2023, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is the latest mobile processor from Qualcomm. According to the company, its central processing unit (CPU) is 30% faster and 20% more energy efficient than its predecessor while its graphics processing unit (GPU) is 25% faster and more efficient. Its neural processing unit (NPU) is also massively improved.
Altogether, publicly available expert assessments indicate that the performance of Qualcomm’s AI engine in computational photography and other applications is comparable to that of its counterparts from Apple and MediaTek.
The 50MP LYT-900 CMOS image sensor from Sony is the newest and most advanced model designed specifically for smartphone imaging. It is also used in the recently launched Oppo Find X7 Ultra, another highly regarded Chinese camera phone.
The Find X7 Ultra’s specs are similar to those of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and image sensors from Sony. The Oppo HyperTone image engine was developed in partnership with Swedish camera maker Hasselblad. Oppo makes its own cameras and lenses.
WIRED comments: “Before I tell you how phenomenal the Oppo Find X7 Ultra camera is, I must point out that this phone is not officially available outside of China.” That’s convenient – for Apple.
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