For years, Xiaomi has been teasing its Ultra line of over-the-top flagship phones in India, only to leave fans hanging without an actual release. Well, the wait is finally over with the newly launched Xiaomi 14 Ultra. This maxed-out beast is gunning straight for the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s crown as the Android flagship king. Let’s take a look at how these two titans stack up.
Design and display
When it comes to design philosophy, Xiaomi and Samsung are on opposite ends of the spectrum. The Galaxy S24 Ultra keeps things clean and minimalist, going full-on flat with zero display curvature this year. It also rocks a new titanium frame, though that didn’t help cut down on the hefty 232g weight.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi said “hold my beer” and went completely over-the-top. The 14 Ultra flaunts a massive camera module and a unique leatherette back finish (on some colors). And while the display is flatter overall, it still curves slightly at all four edges for a neat “floating” effect.
Under the hood, these two are packing some serious punch. Both run on Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with a huge 5,000mAh battery. But Xiaomi takes charging to insane levels – the 14 Ultra juices up at a blistering 90W for a full top-up in just 33 minutes. Samsung’s 45W charging looks downright sluggish in comparison.
Software and performance
On the software side, Xiaomi’s new HyperOS is an evolution of MIUI based on Android 14. It’s highly optimised for buttery smooth performance, easily one of the most fluid Android skins out there. Samsung’s One UI 6.1 has made strides too, but still can’t quite match that level of refinement, in our experience.
Where Samsung shines is its AI-powered ecosystem. With the Galaxy S24 Ultra, you get deep integration across Samsung’s entire product lineup for a seamless connected experience. Plus, you get the added flexibility of the beloved S Pen stylus built right in.
Cameras
Samsung and Xiaomi are again taking two very different approaches. Samsung is going all-in on one crazy high-res 200MP main sensor that uses pixel-binning tech to capture insanely bright and detailed shots.
For the other cameras, it’s keeping things simple – a decent 12MP ultrawide and the same 10MP 3x telephoto as last year’s S23 Ultra. The biggest upgrade is swapping out the old 10MP 10x zoom cam for a higher 50MP resolution shooter, but cutting the zoom range in half to 5x.
Xiaomi hasn’t crammed in a ridiculous megapixel count on one sensor. Instead, the 14 Ultra rocks four separate cameras all of the same 50MP resolution. The main camera gets a boost with Sony’s brand-new 1-inch LYT-900 sensor, which is one of the most capable mobile camera sensors.
The ultrawide, 3.2x telephoto, and 5x periscope lenses all utilise Sony’s excellent IMX858 50MP sensors too. And to sweeten the pot, imaging legends Leica handled the camera tuning and processing.
Xiaomi 14 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Which one to buy?
At the end of the day, choosing between these flagship titans comes down to personal preference. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra offers better core specs like superior charging speed and an arguably more versatile quad-cam system. And at Rs 99,999 in India, it significantly undercuts the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s hefty Rs 1,29,999 sticker.
But the S24 Ultra brings Samsung’s unmatched software chops and tight ecosystem integration to the table – plus that ever-useful S Pen tucked into the frame. So if you’ve already bought into Samsung’s galaxy of gadgets, sticking with the Korean juggernaut makes sense.
No matter which Android flagship you opt for, one thing’s for sure – you’re getting a mind-blowingly powerful device crammed with cutting-edge tech and premium experiences.
Read more : Indian Express
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