Quick Summary
Xiaomi will soon unleash its latest flagship phones for 2024 and among them is expected to be a direct rival to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
The Xiaomi 14 Ultra could even come with a few features to make it an even more premium alternative.
Details and images of one of the Samsung Galaxy S24's key rivals have just leaked – and there could be an even more premium rival following hot on its heels.
The Xiaomi 14 Series is a direct rival to both the Galaxy S24 and to the iPhone 15, with a standard model and an Ultra version for power users. It's expected to launch at MWC, but some key details have already leaked – including the pricing.
According to Dealabs, prices start at €1,099 (about £940) for the standard phone and €1,499 (£1,281) for the Ultra. However, another leak on Chinese social media predicts a lower price for the standard model of around £880 – which is still slightly higher than the standard Galaxy S24.
But of course price isn't the whole story, and the specifications here are interesting – but for US and UK consumers, the OS may be a deal breaker.
Xiaomi has already announced that the OS will be Xiaomi's HyperOS, which is built around Android 14 but is a highly customised version of it. The goal of HyperOS is to be a single app across the firm's phones, cars and smart home products, but that may limit its appeal when it's up against the best Android phones.
Is the Xiaomi 14 Series a credible Galaxy S24 rival?
It's worth noting that the leaked specifications we've seen so far only apply to the Chinese models, and global versions may differ slightly. But the core specs here will be worldwide, and they're expected to include a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, LPDDR5x RAM and UFS 4.0 storage.
The Ultra appears to be the pick of the range, with a reported spec including 6.73-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, a 5,300mAh battery with 90W wired fast charging and 50W wireless, 12GB of RAM and at least 256GB of storage.
There may also be more phones incoming. Multiple rumours say that Xiaomi will be launching a more premium titanium version of the Ultra, and there may also be a Pro version to sit between the standard and Ultra versions: while no details of that have leaked so far there's been a Pro version in previous line-ups and it's widely expected to appear in the Xiaomi 14 Series line-up too. We'll learn more at MWC later this month.
