Xiaomi has been hyping its Ultra line of super-expensive flagship phones in India for years, but fans haven’t been able to get their hands on them yet. The wait is finally over, because the Xiaomi 14 Ultra has just come out. This over-the-top beast is going after the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s title as the best Android premium phone. Let’s see how these two giants compare.
Software and How it works
What about the software? Xiaomi’s new HyperOS is an update to MIUI that is built on Android 14. It has been highly optimized to run as smoothly as butter, making it one of the smoothest Android apps available. Even though Samsung’s One UI 6.1 has come a long way, we still think it’s not quite as refined as that.
Samsung really shines with its environment that is driven by AI. When you use the Galaxy S24 Ultra, all of Samsung’s products work together perfectly, so you can stay connected without any problems. It also comes with the popular S Pen pen, which gives you even more options.
Video Cameras
In this case too, Samsung and Xiaomi are going in two very different directions. With its crazy high-resolution 200MP main camera and pixel-binning technology, Samsung is putting all of its eggs in one basket.
The other cameras are pretty basic. They have the same 10MP 3x zoom and 12MP ultrawide camera that came with the S23 Ultra last year. When you replace the old 10MP 10x zoom camera with a new 50MP camera with a better resolution, the zoom range is cut in half to 5x. This is the biggest improvement.
Xiaomi didn’t get too crazy with the number of megapixels on one camera. It has four different cameras, all of which have the same 50MP quality. Sony’s brand-new 1-inch LYT-900 sensor, which is one of the best small camera sensors, makes the main camera better.
Also, Sony’s great IMX858 50MP cameras are used in the ultrawide, 3.2x zoom, and 5x periscope lenses. And to make things even better, the camera settings and editing were done by the legendary Leica.
Layout and Design
Xiaomi and Samsung have very different ideas about how things should be designed. This year, the Galaxy S24 Ultra keeps things simple and clean by having a display that doesn’t curve at all. It has a new titanium frame, but that didn’t help it weigh less than 232g.
At the same time, Xiaomi said “hold my beer” and went way too far. It has a big camera lens and a leatherette back finish that is only available on some colors. Even though the screen is flatter all around, all four edges still curve a little, giving it a cool “floating” look.
Both of these are really powerful under the hood. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip from Qualcomm is the newest and best, and both phones have a huge 5,000mAh battery. But Xiaomi takes charging to a whole new level. The 14 Ultra can be fully charged in 33 minutes at a scorching 90W. When compared to this, Samsung’s 45W charging seems really slow.
Which phone should you buy? The Xiaomi
14 Ultra or the Galaxy S24 Ultra?
In the end, it’s up to you to decide which of these top giants you like better. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra has better core specs, like faster charging and a quad-cam system that might be more useful in different situations. And in India, at Rs 99,999, it’s a lot cheaper than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which costs Rs 1,29,999.
The S24 Ultra, on the other hand, has Samsung’s unmatched software skills and tight ecosystem integration. It also has the always-useful S Pen built right into the frame. If you already have a bunch of gadgets from Samsung, it makes sense to stick with the Korean giant.
But no matter which Android model you choose, you’ll get a device that is incredibly powerful and packed full of cutting-edge tech and high-end features.