On July 4, 2022, Xiaomi cooperated with Leica Imaging for the first time to launch the Xiaomi 12S series, among which, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, which debuted Sony's 1-inch ultra-large bottom sensor IMX989, became the most eye-catching one at that time. Although this is not the first time Xiaomi has launched a super-sized flagship with the Ultra suffix, the partnership with Leica completes the last piece of the puzzle in its premiumization - the image.
Source: Xiaomi) After this, the Xiaomi 13 series and the Xiaomi 14 series have brought countless surprises to the market. According to Xiaomi's official news, the Xiaomi 14 series, which was officially released at the end of last year, achieved sales of one million units in just one month. The Xiaomi 14 has also become the most successful product line in Xiaomi's premiumization strategy. Although the Xiaomi 14 series has achieved remarkable results, true rice novice enthusiasts are still looking forward to the rumored Super Cup, which is the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.
According to digital blogger @WisdomPikachu, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra has entered the final stage of preparation and is expected to be officially released after the year. In the face of the flagship competitor of the crazy scroll image, what is the competitiveness of the Xiaomi Super Cup?
Image source Weibo @ Wisdom Pikachu).
According to the latest revelations from digital bloggers @Digichat.com and @Wisdom Pikachu, the Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and is equipped with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS40 flash memory, these are also the standard three-piece sets of flagships in 2024, and each manufacturer is similar in its performance tuning, so Xiaolei will not go into too much detail.
Image dimension,According to the leaks,Xiaomi 14 Ultra adopts a 50 million pixel quad camera scheme,The main camera is Sonylyt900Sensor,Equipped with F1.63-f4.The configuration of more than 0 stops of variable aperture, ultra-wide angle and two telephotos is not yet **, and it is likely to be an improved version of the IMX858 on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra.
Image source Weibo @ Digital Chat Station).
In terms of battery life, the Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra comes with a 5180mAh battery that supports 90W wired fast charging and 50W wireless fast charging, which is at a decent level.
There is no exact information yet about the specifics of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra's screen. But according to **,2K resolution should not run,And there will also be the same isodepth quad micro curved screen as Xiaomi 14 Pro,On this basis,If it's Samsung's E7 screen,It will be a lore。
In terms of appearance, the design of the Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra will not change much compared to the previous generation, mainly due to its complex image configuration. In order to accommodate such a large camera module, most brands have opted for a center camera layout, with the exception of Samsung's sword. In terms of feel, the Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra will be a big improvement over its predecessor. In addition, the Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra also adds a new version with a glass body, which is no longer limited to plain leather.
In summary, it can be seen that the processor, screen, and appearance updates of Xiaomi 14 Ultra are all regular iterations, although the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen3 chip has been significantly enhanced, and a more advanced image sensor has been usedHowever, the overall configuration does not seem to be particularly far behind the 14 Pro.
The core highlight of Xiaomi's previous Ultra models is its imaging capabilities.
Everyone should remember that in 2023, Xiaomi 13 Ultra won the endorsement of top star Zhang Songwen, allowing Xiaomi to quickly strengthen the label of "image". Unlike many celebrities who endorse A mobile phones with iPhones, Zhang Songwen used Xiaomi 13 Ultra as a royal mobile phone, created a large number of exquisite ** and shared them on Weibo. Winning Zhang Songwen and Leica has greatly contributed to Xiaomi's successful high-end at the brand level. 
Source: Zhang Songwen Weibo).
However, today all flagship phones are rolling images. With the support of AI large models, image chips and other technologies, computational photography is advancing rapidly, and mobile phones are upgrading from portable recording devices to professional visual creation equipment. In 2024, there will even be a trend of "image industrialization" in mobile phone imagingOn this point, Lei Technology has an in-depth interpretation in the article "Apple's Spring Festival short film "Little Garlic", hiding the trend of "mobile phone image industrialization". At a time when the image flagships of various manufacturers are extremely involuted,Will the Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra be able to stand out in such a Smash Bros. At the very least, the Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra faces the following tough rivals:
1. OPPO released the image super flagship at the beginning of the year - Find X7 Ultra.
The Oppo Find X7 Ultra's main camera also uses the Sony LYT900 sensor. In terms of telephoto, the previous generation Find X6 Pro uses IMX890, which is a super-large bottom periscope scheme at the main camera level, which is aggressive enough, butFor the first time, the Oppo Find X7 Ultra uses a dual periscope telephoto solution, with the 3X focal length still the same as the previous generation, and the 6X focal length using 1 251-inch IMX858 sensor, but F4The aperture of 6 is a bit unsatisfactory, and although the small aperture is a little lacking in imaging in low light, it can be regarded as making up for the lack of ultra-telephoto in the previous generation.
OPPO's image foundation has always been in the first echelon, and it has been back and forth with other companies in terms of computational photography algorithms, coupled with the blessing of tidal architecture, as well as the blessing of "Hasselblad joint research and development", OPPO Find X7 Ultra has a firm foothold in high-end images.
Photo source: oppo).
2. vivo's new generation camera flagship X100 Pro+ (Ultra).
vivo new generation of camera flagship X100 Pro+ (Ultra) has been**(some bloggers named it "Thanos"), and its main camera was revealed to be Sonylyt900 sensor, but it seems to be more radical than OPPO in the choice of telephoto scheme. The vivo X100 Pro+ (Ultra) option uses 200 million pixels and a size of 1 1The large bottom of 5 is a single periscope telephoto scheme, and the native focal length is given to 43x (that is, a focal length of about 100mm), such a periscope lens is really a great leap forward.
In addition, vivo also has a blue heart model supported by the "blue technology" technology system, a blue crystal chip technology stack, and a self-developed image chip, which can escort image performance. Xiaomi has Leica, OPPO has Hasselblad, vivo has Zeiss, and each has its own hard power.
Photo source: vivo).
In front of the two strong opponents of the OPPO Find X7 Ultra and the Vivo X100 Pro+ (Ultra).The Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra is not so aggressive. The difference between the main camera and other manufacturers is that the ten-stop physical variable aperture, the telephoto is still the same as the previous generation, using the upright plus periscope scheme, the advantage of this is that there is enough space for the 5x periscope lens, but the 3x upright medium focus will inevitably have to make compromises.
The Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra's image approach is somewhat similar to that of the Oppo, except that the Xiaomi prioritizes the image quality of the periscope telephoto, while the Oppo prioritizes the image quality of the mid-focus, making a compromise on the 6X telephoto. If the sensor of Xiaomi's generation has not been replaced, but has only been polished on the basis of the original, it can only be done elsewhere, such as dual telephoto macro, variable aperture, and photography kits similar to those on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, etc.
Photo source: Xiaomi).In fact, for a long time in the past, whether it is day or night scenes, mobile phone photography has generally pursued to make the picture brighter, so the dark details and picture brightness can be used to identify the quality of mobile phone photography. However, this industrialized algorithmic routine is actually contrary to the essence of the art of photography. (Of course, as mentioned above, the industrialization of mobile phone images is the trend of the times, and it is the strength of the iPhone that can become a visual creation tool.)
On the other hand, Xiaomi at the launch of the 13 ultra, the host has said that he wants to abandon the digital flavor in mobile phone photography, and the so-called digital flavor is the one mentioned above:Excessive algorithm intervention leads to the lack of real picture。It is foreseeable that after the "mapping ability" of large model technology becomes stronger, such "algorithm intervention" will only be more, deeper, and more intelligent - it will not be as simple as taking a picture of the moon to generate a crater.
But Xiaomi seems to want to "go to the algorithm" like Apple. After cooperating with Leica, Xiaomi has established its own unique imaging concept for the first time, and no longer blindly follows trends. It has shifted from catering to the traditional aesthetics of photography to guiding the aesthetics of the massesandEmbarked on the road of focusing on shadow tone, and paid more attention to expressing the sense of space and three-dimensionality in the real world, which is a hole card for Xiaomi to play differentiation.
Source: Xiaomi) Since the first generation of Ultra launched in 2020 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra series, Xiaomi Ultra has now entered the fifth generation. Looking back at the Xiaomi 10 press conference, Lei Jun proposed for the first time to build Xiaomi into a high-end brand, and the cost performance was handed over to Redmi. Since then, there have been a series of ridiculous statements from netizens Mi Chonggao, a critical year.
The market has proven time and time again:It is relatively easy for high-end brands to go to the masses, and Tesla and Apple have verified this, but it is difficult to do the opposite. The reason is not only the brand mentality, but also the corporate strategy is inextricably linked, such as the brand is not high-end enough, there is no premium, no profit, and it is difficult to carry out large-scale, long-term R&D investment. If there is not enough investment in technology, innovation will become a source of water, and high-end will become a castle in the air.
However, Xiaomi has reversed the bias of the outside world. Judging from Xiaomi's impact on the high-end in the past five years, from the beginning of the difficult steps, to the Xiaomi 13 series of sales exceeding 5 million since its release, and then to the Xiaomi 14 exceeding one million sales in the first month of its release, Xiaomi has indeed stepped into the door of the high-end flagship camp.
The birth of the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra broke the mobile phone imaging pattern at that time, and the subsequent Xiaomi Mi 12S Ultra played the co-branded card with Leica, stimulating the mobile phone market that was lying flat at that time like a catfish. and then to the Xiaomi 13 Ultra that won Zhang Songwen, Xiaomi's road to the top seems to be more stable,Compared with Xiaomi 12S Ultra, it has less uncertainty and more calmness, and it makes Leica's shadow play with ease, and it also completely binds Xiaomi and Leica together, and Leica's own high-end image halo should also be given to Xiaomi.
Source: Xiaomi) is a truly high-end product, and the use of top-of-the-line hardware is the most basic requirement. In addition to being ruthless enough, it also needs to be innovative enough, as well as to create a high-end brand image and style. Huawei has achieved high-end with Porsche, and Cialis (formerly Xiaokang Automobile) has moved towards the high-end car market with Huawei. And Xiaomi and Leica have joined forces to create a flagship with its own style, which is also the most critical step for it to go to the high-end.
However, Xiaomi's high-end is far from being a "big success". Xiaomi won the market,A more scientific way to say it is the mid-to-high-end, or the high-end is in the middle market. When Xiaomi celebrates the good sales of the 5K+ 14 series, Apple, Huawei's high-end flagship is approaching 10,000 yuan, so it looks at Xiaomi's high-end has a long way to go, and the burden on Xiaomi 14 Ultra is still very heavy.