Xiaomi is going full throttle with its flagship 14-series in India. By now, it’s very clear that the company wants to keep its focus on professional smartphone photography. We saw this with the Xiaomi 14, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and now the Xiaomi 14 Civi—while it’s the youngest sibling in the lineup, it’s far from inferior. Short for Cinematic Vision, the phone is dressed in the same Leica tuning that was previously exclusive to the big boys of the family.
Xiaomi 14 Civi
Rs 42,999
What Is Good?
- Compact, ergonomic form factor
- Good colour variants
- Excellent display quality, good speakers
- Leica cameras, versatile shooters
- Smooth performance
What Is Bad?
- Gets toasty
- Inconsistent camera output at launch
- Bloatware apps
- Charging speeds could have been faster
With the 14 Civi, the company wants to familiarise buyers in the upper mid-range segment with high-quality photos while also being encased in a cute and compact form factor.
All this is handled by the newly launched Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, which sits at the helm. At a starting price of Rs 42,999, it sits dangerously close to the Vivo V30 Pro, another camera monster backed by Zeiss. So, can the Xiaomi 14 Civi have a smooth sailing debut, or is it a rocky road up ahead? Let’s find out in this review.
Xiaomi 14 Civi Review: Pricing and Availability in India
The Xiaomi 14 Civi fills the gap in the sub-Rs 50,000 price segment. The phone is available in two variants on Flipkart and Mi.com. Many bank card offers will further help bring the price under the Rs 40,000 mark.
| Variants | Price in India |
| 8GB RAM + 256GB Storage | Rs 42,999 |
| 12GB RAM + 512GB Storage (Reviewed) | Rs ₹47,999 |
Xiaomi 14 Civi Review: Cameras
It’s good to see exclusive features such as Leica tuning trickle down to more accessible prices. The triple camera setup at the back is a versatile set of shooters. While its main focus is on portrait photography, it does considerably well in low-light scenarios as well.
| Cameras | Specifications |
| Primary camera | 50-megapixel (25mm), f/1.63 aperture, Light Hunter 800 image sensor, OIS |
| Secondary camera | 50-megapixel (50mm) telephoto camera, f/1.98 aperture, 2x zoom |
| Tertiary camera | 12-megapixel (15mm), f/2.2, 120-degree FOV, |
| Primary Selfie camera | 32-megapixel(26mm) primary camera, f/2.0, 2x Portrait |
| Secondary Selfie camera | 32-megapixel(18mm) primary camera, f/2.4, 100-degree FOV |
| Video recording capabilities | Up to 4K at 60fps |
Photos captured in daylight are rich in detail with a balanced dynamic range. The images appear vivid and punchy with the Leica tuning set to ‘Authentic’. While I enjoy neutral tones, most of my friends and colleagues prefer vibrant Leica tuning. There are ample details in the shadows, too, as you can see in the image below with multiple trees.
It takes great shots in most scenarios, but there are moments when it overexposes the photo. Hopefully, this can be fixed with an update. Once you’ve clicked the photo, you also have the freedom to apply the famous Leica filters from the gallery app.
The primary camera captures good low-light photos, provided it’s a dimly lit area. Photos have a fair amount of details, and grains are kept to a minimum. Human subjects are also captured brilliantly, but the camera tends to smooth out the facial details despite keeping filters and beautifications disabled. Compared to the camera-centric Google Pixel 8a, the Xiaomi 14 Civi captures more balanced shots. The telephoto and ultra-wide angle cameras are also reliable, allowing you to experiment with different perspectives.
In the standard portrait mode, you can click photos at 25mm and 50mm. Like other phones in this series, you can play with the master-lens system, which offers ‘Documentary’, ‘Swirly Bokeh’, and ‘Soft Focus’ modes. What left me in awe was the phone’s capability to produce photos consistently with immaculate edge detection. While that’s good, skin tones capturing human subjects can be mixed. This was very confusing as the phone captured exceptionally great photos in a studio environment, but it couldn’t deliver under natural light.
The dual selfie camera upfront is well-executed. The placement of the pill reminds me of the iPhone’s Dynamic Island. The cameras are versatile and can help you click group selfies. It automatically switches to the ultra-wide angle selfie camera so that more people can fit into the frame. These selfies have good skin tones and are detailed. Portrait mode also works well here.
Coined Cinematic Vision, the Xiaomi 14 Civi also offers video recordings up to 4K at 60fps. It also has a couple of handy features, such as Director mode, motion-tracking focus, and a teleprompter, which we also saw on Xiaomi 14 and 14 Ultra.
Xiaomi 14 Civi Review: Design and Display
My love for small form factor smartphones stems from the HTC Desire C. I spoke at length about this in my Pixel 8a review as well, and I am delighted that Xiaomi remains one of those companies that hasn’t completely made away with it. Sure, it’s not as compact as the youngest sibling in the Pixel 8 lineup, but it’s definitely easier on the wrists — and I appreciate that.
| Weight | 177 grams |
| Thickness | 7.4mm |
| IP Rating | IP53 |
| Port and button placements | Bottom: USB Type-C port, microphone, SIM tray, and speaker grilles
Top: Secondary microphone, IR blaster, and secondary speaker grille Right side: Power button and volume rocker |
The Xiaomi 14 Civi is one of the most ergonomically sane devices I have used recently. The cherry on top is its lightweight body and equally distributed weight. It’s available in vibrant colours like Matcha Green and Cruise Blue. The plain-Jane but classic Shadow Black still steals the show with its simplicity. That said, Xiaomi says the Matcha Green colourway has a unique back glass pattern in the inlay — meaning your phone’s back panel will be slightly different than that of your friends.
It has curved edges on all corners that merge into the metal frame. Unlike its Ultra sibling, the camera module at the top is slightly offset to the left, but the serrated edges around it provide a satisfying fidget tool.
The in-display fingerprint sensor works flawlessly and is placed to my liking. While phones like Motorola Edge 50 Pro and Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus offer an IP68 rating, the 14 Civi comes with IP53. It’s not a dealbreaker, but the phone’s premium price warrants at least an IP67 rating or higher.
| Display | Specifications |
|---|---|
| Size | 6.55-inch Quad Curved display |
| Type | AMOLED |
| Resolution | 1236 x 2750 pixels |
| Refresh rate | 120Hz |
| Touch sampling rate | Up to 240Hz |
| Peak brightness | Claimed: 3000 nits, Tested: 1991 nits |
| Minimum brightness | nits |
| Display protection | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 |
| Other features | Dolby Vision, DCI-P3 Colour gamut, HDR10+, 68+ billion colors, Reading mode, and more |
It’s a gorgeous display that curves on all sides, further adding to Xiaomi’s premium experience. The panel has great viewing angles and does not register unwanted touches. The 120Hz refresh rate gives swipes and scrolls a smoother look, and the touch response is also great. The phone is more than adequately bright in outdoor usage.
The bezels on all sides are minimal, so the movie-watching experience is excellent. Netflix supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision output straight out of the box. Darker scenes while watching movies like The Batman and Day Shift were also produced well with good details.
The stereo speaker setup on the Xiaomi 14 Civi also works splendidly, offering good bass and distortionless sound even at the highest levels. It’s perfect for movies or a chill music session.
Xiaomi 14 Civi Review: Performance and Software
The Xiaomi 14 Civi uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC we saw on the Poco F6. It’s a perfect companion for daily usage and a few intensive workloads, but try gaming or running benchmarks and you might end up angering the cute and compact phone’s metal frames.
| Hardware | Specifications |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 |
| RAM | Up to 12GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage | Up to 512GB UFS 4.0 |
| Storage Test | 171660 |
| CPU Throttling Test | 84 per cent of its max performance |
| Geekbench 6 | Multi-core – 4816, Single core – 1903 |
| Software version | Xiaomi HyperOS based on Android 14 |
| Connectivity details | Dual SIM, Dual-band WiFi, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, NFC |
This downside comes with a smaller chassis because there’s no space for the heat to dissipate. The phone runs well without much fuss when scrolling through umpteen Cristiano Ronaldo highlight reels on Instagram or even watching a few TV shows. It has no problem with you juggling through your daily workspace. However, opening up the camera turns on the heat, making it very hard to hold the phone after about 10 minutes.
This was more common as soon as I headed outside. There were multiple moments when I had to put the phone back in my pocket just so it could calm down. Clearly, the Xiaomi 14 Civi isn’t able to handle the Delhi summers that much — us Civi, us. This is something I noticed with the Poco F6 which comes with the same chip. Xiaomi has mentioned an update will help with this scenario, but our unit did not receive any before press time. Despite all this heat, the phone still gave us good scores in the CPU throttling test.
The gaming scenario was somewhat similar—it’s able to keep things not so toasty in a cooler environment. It offers 90fps support on BGMI with consistent performance, which helped me get a lovely chicken dinner.
In terms of benchmarks, it does gain the upper hand over the Vivo V30 Pro and OnePlus 12R, but the Poco F6, Realme GT 6T, and the iQOO Neo 9 Pro keep it grounded.
The Xiaomi 14 Civi runs on HyperOS based on Android 14. I’ve given a deeper analysis of the software in my review of the Poco X6 Pro, so you can check that out. The crux of it is pretty much the smooth animations and excellent lock screen customisations. Despite the premium price, you still get a bunch of bloatware apps like Opera browser and Fitbit. While these can be uninstalled, some apps send notifications, which can be distracting. Xiaomi promises three years of software updates and four years of security patches.
Xiaomi 14 Civi Review: Battery and Charging
Due to its small and thin chassis, Xiaomi had to cater to a comparatively smaller battery with 4700mAh capacity. Despite that, the phone managed to last an entire day with a fluctuation of moderate to heavy usage.
In our PCMark battery test, the Xiaomi 14 Civi lasted about 12 hours and 22 minutes with the brightness set to 50 percent. This number is closer to that of the Poco F6, which has a slightly larger battery. The charging department is handled by a 67W fast charger, which takes about 43 minutes to charge from the dead fully. However, it’s worth noting the OnePlus 12R comes with a 100W charger, at a slightly lower price, but then again that lacks Civi’s camera chops, so you have to prioritise.
Xiaomi 14 Civi Review: Verdict
The Xiaomi 14 Civi is in a very interesting position in today’s market. While most phones are purely targeting performance, trying to be a one-trick pony, the Civi wants to set itself apart by trying to capture all the flags.
It manages to do most of it but is let down by poor heat management. That’s not to take anything away from the phone — it’s still a gorgeous and ergonomic phone with an excellent display that exudes premium vibes. Gaming is not its forte, but it can still give some good options for gamers. The cameras require a small update to fix minor inconveniences, but they produce reliable output. The portrait mode is great, but the V30 Pro can give more consistent results.
Overall, the Xiaomi 14 Civi is an excellent choice for people who want an easy camera phone on the wrist. It’s also great for users who want a phone that can handle productivity tasks well.
