Xiaomi 14 Civi Review
The Xiaomi 14 Civi is a pretty ‘Leica’able smartphone that combines a unique design, an impressive display, solid performance, and versatile camera capabilities to bring you a flagship-akin experience at a relatively affordable price. Its lightweight and slim profile make it an attractive option for those who prioritise aesthetics and ergonomics. The cameras, while inconsistent at times, are some of the best you can find in this price range with the typical Leica look that sets it apart from competitors. However, it may not be the best choice for power users seeking a phone with a long battery life, as the device tends to underperform in this regard when compared to popular options such as the OnePlus 12R.
2024 has been a remarkable year for the Indian smartphone market. Various smartphone OEMs have introduced a new series of phones to their portfolio, that were previously unavailable in India. Notable launches include the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro (review), Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and the Realme GT 6T (review) and GT 6; all of these had predecessors that didn’t show up in India. Joining the fray is the Xiaomi 14 Civi, marking the debut of the Xiaomi Civi (Cinematic Vision) series in India. Xiaomi has priced the phone competitively as they know Indian customers resonate with value-for-money devices.
Priced starting at just ₹43K, the Xiaomi 14 Civi is equipped with a powerful Snapdragon 8 series processor, a Leica camera array, and and a specced-out LTPO display. It competes with other high-end smartphones such as the OnePlus 12R (review), Nothing Phone (2) (review), and Vivo V30 Pro (review). Will the Xiaomi 14 Civi establish its presence in the competitive Indian smartphone market? Let’s find out.
The design of the Xiaomi 14 Civi is immediately striking. The Xiaomi 14 Civi is available in three distinct-looking colours. The most attractive of all, the Matcha Green colour variant, has a mix of vegan leather and glass-like textures, while the Cruise Blue and Shadow Black colour variants have a matte glass back finish. The pattern on the glass portion of the rear panel is unique on each phone.
The model I reviewed was the Shadow Black variant, which, while classy, simply doesn’t have the immediate appeal of the Matcha Green variant.
Weighing in at just 177 grams, the Xiaomi 14 Civi is incredibly light, especially when compared to heftier flagship phones that go past the 200-gram mark. At 7.4 mm, it is also one of the slimmest phones in this segment. Its slim profile and curved edges enhance comfort, while the compact, well-integrated camera module maintains a sleek appearance.
The vegan leather back and brushed side frame add to its premium feel. The build quality, complemented by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for protection, ensures durability despite its slim design. The frosted matte glass back is also resistant to fingerprints, unlike the likes of the OnePlus 12R which picks up a lot of fingerprints and smudge marks.
The phone’s slim body incorporates an IR blaster and Dolby Atmos-enabled stereo speakers but there’s no 3.5 mm audio jack. There’s an optical in-display fingerprint sensor that’s super speedy and accurate. However, the vibration motor is quite weak; the Nothing Phone (2)’s vibration motor is much better.
The 6.55-inch four-sided micro-curved screen of the Xiaomi 14 Civi is a visual treat. The LTPO AMOLED display supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ with a P3 colour gamut, delivering vibrant and sharp visuals. The 1.5K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate provide a smooth and immersive experience, whether you’re watching videos, playing games, or scrolling through social media.
Unlike the OnePlus 12R which only switches between 60/90/120 Hz, the Xiaomi 14 Civi’s display can go all the way down to 1 Hz when static, which enhances battery life.
The slight curvature around the edges minimises distortion and adds to the premium feel. With narrow bezels, the display offers an expansive and enjoyable viewing experience. The display is bright enough on sunny days as well, I got a reading of over 1,300 nits under direct sunlight and the phone peaks at 3,000 nits of brightness when playing HDR content.
Powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, the Xiaomi 14 Civi is equipped with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage. This setup places the phone in the flagship category, with the 8s Gen 3 chipset delivering performance comparable to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, though its limited 4MB of L3 cache might impact demanding tasks.
In synthetic benchmarks, the Xiaomi 14 Civi consistently outperformed the OnePlus 12R, which uses the higher-clocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and the Nothing Phone (2) with its Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. It also beat out the Vivo V30 Pro with the Dimensity 8200 SoC. The Xiaomi 14 Civi scored an impressive 1,412,453 points in AnTuTu and achieved exceptional Geekbench scores of 1977 in Single-Core and 5109 in Multi-Core benchmarks. Additionally, it scored 14,582 points in PCMark Work, showcasing its proficiency in productivity tasks.
While the phone did not undergo our usual suite of GPU benchmarks, it performed smoothly in daily use, handling multitasking, app launches, and general navigation efficiently. Gaming performance is satisfactory, with titles like Genshin Impact and PUBG Mobile running well. The phone adopts a conservative performance strategy to manage thermals effectively, throttling to 91 per cent of its peak performance during a 15-minute CPU Throttling Test.
The Xiaomi 14 Civi ships with Android 14, overlaid with Xiaomi’s HyperOS. Xiaomi has promised three years of OS updates and four years of security updates, which, while not as extensive as those offered by Samsung or Google, are respectable. HyperOS is feature-rich with extensive customization options and some AI features, but it includes considerable bloatware, placing it behind NothingOS and Stock Android in terms of pre-installed apps. However, the OS comes with a bunch of useful features such as a Dynamic Island-like pop up, teleprompter mode in the camera app, and more.
The camera system on the Xiaomi 14 Civi has received a significant upgrade, incorporating Leica algorithms for enhanced image processing. The main camera is a 50MP Summilux lens, accompanied by a 50MP 2x telephoto lens and a 12MP ultrawide camera.
Up front, there’s a dual camera setup with a 32MP main selfie camera and a 32MP ultrawide camera. The selfie camera clicks detailed photos with good dynamic range in ideal lighting, and the ultrawide selfie shooter is excellent for group selfies.
The main and ultrawide cameras deliver good detail and low noise levels even in low light. However, the Leica colour science tends to push for exaggerated tones and deeper shadows, creating an oil painting-like effect that some might find overly saturated. The ultrawide shots do have crushed shadows in tricky lighting though, so the dynamic range is as strong on this lens.
Portrait shots, while vibrant, can smooth out textures more than some might prefer. In fact, I found portraits to be very inconsistent on the phone; some looked exceptional with the contrast-heavy look while some just looked overexposed and excessively smoothed out. There were times when the issue of overexposing shots even cropped up in non-portrait images on the primary camera, so Xiaomi could work on the HDR abilities of the phone. I hope this can be smoothed over with an OTA update.
The 2x telephoto camera has very similar colour science as the primary colour and the photos come out looking rich and detailed in daylight and lowlight.
Despite this, the cameras on the Xiaomi 14 Civi are some of the best in the segment. It wins in terms of detail retention, low light performance, and portrait bokeh over phones such as the OnePlus 12R and Nothing Phone (2). The Cinematic Vision mode offers various video settings, including a widescreen aspect ratio and subject tracking. The video quality is commendable, especially with the option to apply Leica filters across modes.
The Xiaomi 14 Civi’s 4700mAh battery pales in comparison to the 5,500 mAh battery on the OnePlus 12R. While it comfortably lasts through a day of moderate use, I felt a lot more battery anxiety on this phone than I ever did with the OnePlus 12R and even the Nothing Phone (2). In our 4K video loop test, the Xiaomi 14 Civi only lasted 798 minutes, which is a little over 13 hours.
The 67W fast charging capability is also not impressive. It fully charges the battery in about 47 minutes, which is quite mediocre.
The Xiaomi 14 Civi is a pretty ‘Leica’able smartphone that combines a unique design, an impressive display, solid performance, and versatile camera capabilities to bring you a flagship-akin experience at a relatively affordable price. Its lightweight and slim profile make it an attractive option for those who prioritise aesthetics and ergonomics. The cameras, while inconsistent at times, are some of the best you can find in this price range with the typical Leica look that sets it apart from competitors.
However, it may not be the best choice for power users seeking a phone with a long battery life, as the device tends to underperform in this regard when compared to popular options such as the OnePlus 12R. Additionally, those who prefer a cleaner UI may be better off considering the Nothing Phone (2) or the Pixel 8a.
