In depth evaluation of Xiaomi 14 Pro: a product that is flagship and moderate enough

As the latest digital flagship, Xiaomi 14 Pro has caused a new round of hot discussion on the high-end of Xiaomi among the industry and consumers by virtue of its significant sales improvement. Now, half a year has passed since the release of Xiaomi 14 Pro. Today, let's talk about this mobile phone.

one Basic parameters of Xiaomi 14 Pro

First of all, as usual, let's take a look at the parameter configuration of this mobile phone.

two Keep the family style design language, but also have the high-end pursuit of Xiaomi

Xiaomi 14 Pro continues the style of previous generation products in design.

First of all, the Deco area of the lens on the back of the fuselage adopts a rounded rectangular design, but the Xiaomi 14 Pro added the decoration of Paris studs on the top of the metal ring, which was supposed to be the finishing touch. However, the market feedback shows that users, including some rice noodles, do not buy this change, believing that it has destroyed the original integrated beauty, Compared with the smooth transition design of the camera module and the body of the Xiaomi 13 Pro, the new design is not harmonious enough.

Xiaomi 14 Pro on the left

Turning to the front of the mobile phone is also a highlight of this Xiaomi 14 Pro design - full depth micro curved screen.

The official said that it (full-length deep micro curved screen) not only has a continuous and smooth vision and a magical sense of suspension, but also has the visual experience of a straight screen and the feel of a curved screen, which can be said to be the form of ending the battle between straight and curved screens.

But after I got started, I thought it was the opposite. Although the "full depth micro curved screen" combined the look and feel of the straight screen with the feel of the curved screen, it could not completely get rid of the touch feeling of the straight screen frame and the pain points of the complex coating and high maintenance costs of the curved screen. If the Xiaomi 14 Pro can learn from the arc frame design of Huawei Mate 60 series, it may further reduce the impact of these drawbacks. Therefore, at least at the present stage, it is not appropriate to call Xiaomi's full-depth micro curved screen "the form of ending the battle between straight and curved".

On the screen material, Xiaomi 14 Pro uses Xiaomi's Longjing glass material to provide better scratch resistance and fall resistance.

In terms of body material, the ordinary version of Xiaomi 14 Pro is made of glass. Compared with the previous generation of ceramic backplane, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. The Xiaomi 14 Pro Titanium Special Edition has made great efforts on the body, not only covering the front and back with high-strength glass, but also mixing high-quality pure titanium alloy and high-strength aluminum alloy on the frame structure. This combination has greatly improved the structural firmness while ensuring the lightweight of the phone, giving the phone a higher sense of quality and uniqueness.

In general, compared with the previous generation of products, Xiaomi 14 Pro has improved and perfected the design details while continuing the family style design, which strongly demonstrates Xiaomi's unremitting pursuit and persistent innovation of aesthetic attainments and fine craftsmanship in the process of creating high-end flagship products.

three The sequelae of Series 11 still exist, and the performance is slightly mediocre

Performance tuning has always been a highlight of Xiaomi mobile phones. However, since the Xiaomi 11 series, it seems that Xiaomi has turned to a more stable and cautious approach in its new product performance release strategy, which is also reflected in the Xiaomi 14 Pro model.

In terms of hardware core, Xiaomi 14 Pro is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3 mobile platform, LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.0 flash memory technology. This combination undoubtedly constitutes the flagship configuration standard of the current Android camp.

In terms of running score, we conducted three rounds of Angu rabbit V10 and GeekBench 6 running score tests on Xiaomi 14 Pro, and selected the best performance in the three tests as the reference index. The specific results are as follows:

An Tu Tu has just exceeded 2 million points, GeekBench 6 single core 2116 and multi core 6641 are basically the conventional level of Snapdragon 8Gen3, and do not show the overwhelming advantage of Xiaomi's "performance monster" level.

As for the game performance, the measured data in the high intensity scene of the Original Spirit shows that after 30 minutes of continuous operation in the map of Xumi City, Xiaomi 14 Pro has achieved a stable average frame rate of 59.6 frames with the powerful performance of Snapdragon 8 Gen3, which can easily cope with the high load demand of the game.

In terms of endurance configuration, the Xiaomi 14 Pro is equipped with a 4880mAh battery capacity. Considering its 6.73-inch body size and 75.3mm body thickness, this battery capacity is not prominent in flagship mobile phones released at the same time, which is difficult to meet the expectations of some users.

In terms of fast charging specification, Xiaomi 14 Pro is equipped with a combination of 120W wired and 50W wireless fast charging, which to some extent makes up for the shortage of battery capacity.

four The image specification seems to be concessive Ultra, but the actual experience is improved

In terms of image system, Xiaomi 14 Pro and Leica, a century old optical giant, have jointly created a set of top image solutions. By introducing Leica's professional color science and technology standards, the mobile phone's image capability has reached a new height.

However, it is interesting to note that the main camera of Xiaomi 14 Pro uses a new customized light and shadow hunter 900 sensor. Compared with the Sony IMX989 one inch big bottom sensor used on the previous generation of Xiaomi 13 Pro, the sensor area of the light and shadow hunter 900 has shrunk to 1/1.31 inch. Many people think that Xiaomi is giving way to the subsequent release of Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

The explanation given by Xiaomi is:

The advantage of large aperture is When the shutter speed and ISO are constant, the larger the aperture, the higher the light input. Xiaomi 14 Pro When the sensor size is reduced, it is equipped with a larger F1.42 aperture, which is about a gear higher than F1.9 aperture of 13 Pro.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the actual equivalent focal length of the IMX989 on the Xiaomi 13 Pro is about 21mm. In order to better fit the 23mm focal length used by users in daily life, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is actually output in the form of cutting in the ordinary photographing mode. At this time, the effective use area of the sensor is about 1/1.1 inch, as shown in the following figure:

To sum up, Xiaomi 14 Pro has adopted new technologies and specifications in the main camera. Although the sensor size is slightly less than 1 inch of Xiaomi 13 Pro (actual 1/1.1 inch output), it has improved in pixel fusion technology and focusing ability. At the same time, Xiaomi 14 Pro also introduced a Leica SUMMILUX lens and a larger aperture, Therefore, it can be considered that Xiaomi 14 Pro has improved its main camera compared with Xiaomi 13 Pro.

five Conclusion: a product that is flagship and moderate enough

In general, Xiaomi 14 Pro is absolutely a good product. From the family style design language, to the steady upgrade of performance configuration, to the in-depth cooperation and technological innovation of the image system, every step has left the footprint of Xiaomi to the high-end market.

However, when we look at the whole mobile phone market and then look at the Xiaomi 14 Pro, as the "big cup" of the Xiaomi 14 series, the product positioning of the Xiaomi 14 Pro is quite awkward. In order to maintain a clear hierarchy of the product line, Xiaomi 14 Pro must find a balance between the standard version and the Ultra version. On the one hand, the Xiaomi 14 Pro needs to maintain enough attraction to be different from the standard model in charge of transportation, showing the improvement of "Pro" level; On the other hand, avoid excessively approaching your own "Ultra" configuration to avoid positioning confusion.

Under this strategy, the Xiaomi 14 Pro is not as aggressive as some of its competitors' "Pro" versions (such as vivo X100 Pro) in certain aspects. At the same time, it may also compete indirectly with other standard models (such as one plus 12) due to the close price range and configuration. Therefore, when planning the "Pro" version of the digital series, Xiaomi needs to more accurately grasp the market segmentation needs and clarify its differentiated competitive advantages. This may mean that it is still necessary to refine innovation and user experience, or provide unique value-added services to ensure that the "Pro" version can clearly reflect its high-end positioning and "Pro" value. Or consider market feedback to assess whether the current "Pro" series needs to be cut or merged.

Make the product more interesting, make the results more direct, and only do the evaluation content you care about most!