Xiaomi 14 review: New top model and fastest compact Android smartphone

The Xiaomi 14 runs Xiaomi’s new HyperOS operating system, which is based on Android 14. According to the manufacturer, the HyperOS kernel is a combination of Linux and the Vela IoT platform. What sounds like a major development leap (and may well be one under the hood) turns out to be rather unspectacular in practice. Aside from minor adjustments to the appearance and menu structures, HyperOS looks exactly like the previous MIUI user interface. There are virtually no differences in terms of operation, so users do not have to adapt.

Xiaomi plans to provide its smartphone with OS upgrades for 4 years. Android security patches are scheduled to be rolled out over a period of 5 years. However, it is currently unknown how often this will occur each quarter. The Android security patch on our test device is from December 1, 2023, and thus still up to date (version 1.0.28.0.UNCCNXM).

In addition to simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Tibetan and Ugurian, the Chinese Hyper-OS ROM only knows English as the system language. Thanks to DRM certification for Widevine L1, the Xiaomi 14 can run web streams in HD quality.

The Google Play Store is not included by default on the Chinese model, but it was easy to install on our test device because the Google framework and associated services are already running in the background. This can be done, for example, via Xiaomi’s GetApps app store.

Users are advised to get a keyboard such as the Google Gboard from the Play Store. Three keyboards come preinstalled on the smartphone, namely Baidu IME, Sogou Keyboard and iFlytek IME, which are optimized for Chinese users and therefore hardly usable for QWERTZ/QWERTY users.