Xiaomi 14 Civi review

You don't need a spyglass to tell you that Xiaomi is bringing Leica camera science to the masses. After all the Civi in the name stands for Cinematic Vision. With a robust camera module, the Civi can click photos just as well as its more expensive siblings.

It won’t give Apple, Vivo X series and Google sleepless nights but between OnePlus, Samsung, Vivo and Oppo, we're drowning in choices. All of which have fantastic camera systems as well. The Xiaomi 14 Civi comes with a 50MP main with 50MP telephoto and 12MP ultrawide around the back and an interesting dual camera up front. There’s a 32MP main selfie and a 32MP ultrawide camera for including more friends in the group shot.

Once the Leica sheen fades, the Civi seems a tad bit regular to anyone who doesn’t understand the Leica colour science. The triple cameras are as dynamic as the 14 series but in terms of colour and saturation, the Civi tends to push for exaggerated tones. The Leica colours have an oil painting-like look which makes them very pleasing and attractive (somewhat typical Leica) but compared to other smartphones, it scrubs out the details.

Leica Portraits tend to smoothen a lot of the textures from your subject as well, especially faces. Compared to the Google Pixel 8a, the Xiaomi 14 Civi is not even close in terms of details, texture, tone and shadows. Xiaomi is aware that the Civi camera tends to add warmth and vibrancy to the photos and portraits and hence, it’s a deliberate decision and one that I understand. Although, the podgy details are something we’re not convinced of.

The colours are a bit overcooked with eye-popping saturation and deeper shadows. There are moments of brilliance from the camera but only if you like your photos the way Xiaomi and Leica see it. The underlying tone is that you can get great shots from the Xiaomi 14 Civi but it’s always a vivid palette.

Cinematic Vision also boils down to video chops which now have plenty of modes and settings. Movie mode shoots in a widescreen aspect ratio of 2:4:1. You can adjust the amount of blur and also have subject tracking for your videos. Although, it can add a bit of jitter when you’re moving too fast in this mode. I think because the frame rate is capped and you can’t change the resolution and frame rate in this mode. Regular video recording will give you a lot more flexibility and up to 4K@60 too.

The fantastic Leica filters work across all modes in the camera and you can even add them later from the Gallery app. Something the Vivo lacked in even the high-end smartphones.

The dual front cameras don’t get any of the Leica love (read as filters) in photos and videos. The 100° FOV lets you bring a lot of your friends into the frame. In low light or video, it can get a bit noisy and yes, for video the 14 Civi uses a cropped aspect ratio for stabilisation. Regardless, we like this selfie camera. It does apply skin smoothening and the bokeh effect has a shimmering effect while moving your head in videos. You can’t apply bokeh for stills here which we think should’ve been here.

That brings us to the third pillar of Civi’s branding — performance. Technically, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor is as good as the last-gen flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 which you’ll find on the iQOO Neo 9 Pro in this price range. However, the slim dimensions of the Xiaomi 14 Civi are not good at keeping the heat away. It’s not for gaming or crushing benchmarks. It’s for folks who juggle work on Slack and Outlook and envy influencers on Instagram for earning twice as much. The Xiaomi 14 Civi could turn envy into opportunity with its fantastic front cameras and video chops but if you throw video editing at it, it might bake your hands. The slim profile lacks proper cooling chops, which may make this a fantastic daily driver for regular folks who are not creators or gamers.

Compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the 8s on the Civi is only half as powerful on benchmarks. Albeit, that’s also half the story. You’ll never see it struggle for daily tasks but if you keep the camera on for too long, the heat might throw a wrench in your smooth life.