Xiaomi 14 CIVI First Impressions | The Flagship Killer is Back!

Xiaomi has officially dropped a new smartphone in India, in a somewhat forgetting segment. The Xiaomi 14 CIVI arrives in the country's flagship killer space, where it will compete against the likes of the Vivo V30 Pro, Oppo Reno 11 Pro 5G, and OnePlus 12R.

However, what makes the Xiaomi 14 CIVI unique is the fact that it is being marketed as a no-compromise sub-50K smartphone. In our first impressions of the Xiaomi 14 CIVI, we will take a brief look at the phone to see if it does have the makings of a "true flagship killer".

Design & Build

At first glance, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI feels like a more compact smartphone, despite its 6.5-inch display. This is primarily down to the slim and light design, with the phone weighing just 177 grams and measuring a mere 7.44mm thick.

The Xiaomi 14 CIVI comes in Cruise Blue, Matcha Green, and Shadow Black shades. The Matcha Green model features a Nano-tech Vegan Leather finish, which each model boasting a unique back glass pattern in the inlay. Our variant came in Shadow Black, which features a matte AG glass back that is resistant to fingerprints but does attract some smudges.

While the green and blue models look stylish, the black variant looks more elegant. Despite its light weight, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI opts for a metal frame, giving it a premium feel. Additionally, the display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

The phone is extremely comfortable to use thanks to the light build and the new floating quad-curve display. The only downside here is the lack of water resistant, although the 14 CIVI does offer resistance to dust and splashes of water.

Display

Xiaomi has outfitted the 14 CIVI with a 6.55-inch Quad Curved AMOLED display with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support. The screen sports a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. The Xiaomi 14 CIVI is easily visible across various lighting scenarios, this is primarily down to the screen's peak brightness of 3,000 nits.

Moreover, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI also features several eye certifications - TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light, TUV Rheinland Flicker Free, and TUV Rheinland Circadian Friendly. The display has good viewing angles and reproduces vibrant colors with deep blacks and good levels of sharpness. The nearly non-existent bezels also ensure maximum screen real estate.

Performance, Battery, Software, Misc

For performance, Xiaomi has opted for the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, which gives you more than enough power for multitasking, video editing, or running games on high graphics. To further improve performance, you also get up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage.

I was able to run a few tests on the Xiaomi 14 CIVI and the results were quite impressive in Geekbench (1853 - Single Core Score & 4988 Multi-core Score) and AnTuTu (Overall 1,4619, 901 Points). Moreover, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI ran Call of Duty: Mobile and Diablo Immortal without a hitch, delivering high frame rates with vibrant graphics.

The Xiaomi 14 CIVI also has a heat dissipation system but we are yet to test out how well the phone performs after long gaming sessions. While there are phones that offer similar performance at a more affordable price tag, Xiaomi aims to offer a better overall package by making considerable improvements in the camera department.

On the software side, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI runs Android 14-based HyperOS out of the box. Xiaomi has committed to three years of Android OS updates and four years of regular security updates with the handset. Xiaomi's flagship killer also packs hybrid stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, 5G, dual-SIM support, and more.

For a smartphone that is as sleek and light as the Xiaomi 14 CIVI, it sure packs a sizeable battery, incorporating a 4,700 mAh cell. Under moderate usage, the battery is more than sufficient to get you through a full day. Moreover, the 67W adapter in the box can fully power-up the Xiaomi 14 CIVI in around 50 minutes.

Cameras

The Xiaomi 14 CIVI has not one, not two, but five cameras in total, two on the front and 3 on the back. What's more is that these cameras were co-developed with Leica, so it appears that the benefits of that partnership are now trickling down.

The three rear cameras on the Xiaomi 14 CIVI consists of a 50 MP Hunter 800 primary sensor with a large f/1.63 aperture and OIS support, a 12 MP ultrawide lens with a 120-degree FOV and an f/2.2 aperture, and a 50 MP telephoto-portrait shooter with an f/1.98 aperture and 2x optical zoom.

The main camera captures detailed shots in daylight with vibrant colors. The ultrawide camera maintains the same color consistency with the main shooter but at the cost of some detail, although edge distortion is minimal. The 50 MP telephoto shooter enables more flexibility for portrait shots, while Xiaomi has also added a few Lecia filters to enhance portrait photography.

At night, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI's main camera adds light and detail to shots with the aid of night mode, although results on the ultrawide were a mixed bag. Up front, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI features two 32 MP Samsung GD2 selfie cameras, allowing you to fit even more subjects into the frame.

The primary 32 MP selfie camera features an f/2.0 aperture, a 78-degree FOV, and has Autofocus, while the 32 MP ultrawide front shooter boasts an f/2.4 aperture and a 100-degree FOV but loses out on Autofocus. The rear cameras can record 4K video at up to 60fps on the back, while the front cameras are limited to 4K at 30fps.

The rear camera system on the Xiaomi 14 CIVI can also record 4K HDR video at 30fps and Ultra Night Video in 4K resolution at 24fps. In our brief experience with the device, it was safe to say that the cameras experience here was significantly better than the OnePlus 12R.

Moreover, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI's cameras also offers a ton of flexibility over the impressive quality. However, there are some chinks in the armor, particularly in the two ultrawide lenses. Stay tuned for our full Xiaomi 14 CIVI review for an in-depth look at camera performance.

Our Xiaomi 14 CIVI First Impressions

With a price tag of Rs 42,999 the Xiaomi 14 CIVI doesn't come cheap. But the key here is how much of those premium aspects does the Xiaomi 14 CIVI sacrifice to maintain that flagship killer moniker. And the answer is 'very little'!

Despite its ergonomical design, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI features a premium build, the display is vibrant with excellent protection, and the battery is quite large given the phone's sleek form factor. Then there's performance, which is akin to the best Android phones of 2023. Moreover, the new SD8s Gen 3 chip also features major improvements in AI performance.

And even though the camera performance here doesn't quite match up to the vanilla Xiaomi 14 (Review), the brand has been successful in mimicking that fun flagship experience on the CIVI with the combination of quality hardware and software magic. Stay tuned for our full review for an in-depth look at the Xiaomi 14 CIVI. But for now, it has gotten a whole lot tougher to recommend any other phone at this price.