Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Does It Live Up To The Note Series Legacy?

Xiaomi’s new Redmi Note 14 Pro series has officially landed in India, bringing two smartphones to the spotlight: the Redmi Note 14 Pro and Redmi Note 14 Pro+. The Note 14 Pro comes with the Dimensity 7300 Ultra chip, a 3D curved AMOLED display, and a 5,500 mAh battery. While we’ve already seen phones powered by the Dimensity 7300 in India, this is the first device to feature the Dimensity 7300 Ultra.

The Redmi Note 14 Pro steps into the crowded mid-range segment, where competition is fierce. But can it carve out its own niche with its ultra-slim design, curved display, and that new so-called Ultra chip? Is it the all-rounder that budget-conscious buyers have been waiting for?

To answer these burning questions, we’ve spent some time with the phone, exploring every corner of its features and performance. In this review, we’ll share our hands-on experience, breaking down whether the Redmi Note 14 Pro truly lives up to the hype—and if it’s the right choice for you. Let’s find out.

Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Specifications

Here are the specifications of the Redmi Note 14 Pro:

• Display: 6.67” OLED, 120 Hz, 3000 Nits peak, 1220 x 2712 pixels, 446 PPI, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
• SoC: MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultra (4x 2.5 GHz, 4x 2.0 GHz, Mali-G615 MC2)
• RAM: 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM
• Storage: 128/256 GB UFS 2.2  
• Cameras: 
  • Main: 50 MP Sony LYT600, 1/1.95-inch, f/1.5, OIS, PDAF, 26mm, 4K24/30, 1080p30/60/120
  • Ultra-wide: 8 MP IMX355, 1/4.0-inch, f/2.2, 15mm, 1080p30
  • Macro: 2 MP f/2.4
  • Front: 20 MP 1/4.0-inch, f/2.2, 25mm, 1080p30/60
• Speakers: Stereo, LHDC
• Battery and charging: 5,500 mAh, 45W wired 
• IP rating: IP68
• Biometrics: Under display optical fingerprint scanner, 2D face unlock
• Weight: 190g

Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Unboxing

The Redmi Note 14 Pro comes in a typical Note series box with the phone’s name prominently written on the top. Inside the cardboard box, you’ll find the phone at the top, a slim and opaque back case, a 45W adapter, a USB-A to USB-C cable, some documents, and a SIM ejector tool. 

Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Design & Build

The first thing you notice when holding the Redmi Note 14 Pro is its slim profile. Despite having an 8.4 mm thickness, its curved display and rear panel make it feel much sleeker. Compared to the flat design of the Note 13 Pro, this curved design stands out. 

Another major upgrade is the inclusion of IP68 certification, something missing on the Note 13 Pro. This means the phone can survive in water up to 2 meters deep for 24 hours. While I didn’t test it for that long, I did rinse the phone after it got messy during meals, and it handled it perfectly without any issues. Make sure to avoid salt water, though.

I received the phone in Midnight Black, which reflects light subtly—not overly flashy. The good part? No fingerprints or smudges show on the rear panel. The camera module is a squircle (which looks odd), housing four raised rings—three for the cameras and one for the flash. It’s not the kind of design that would appeal to everyone. 

The front features a curved AMOLED screen with a small punch-hole camera at the top. The bezels are slim, except for a slightly thicker bottom bezel—common in this price range. The screen and rear panel are framed by a thin metal band. 

On the right, you’ll find the volume rocker and power button, placed well, while the left side is clean. The top edge houses a secondary speaker, microphone, and IR blaster, while the bottom has the SIM tray, microphone, USB 2.0 Type-C port, and primary speaker.

Overall, the phone’s build quality feels solid for its price. The metal frame, IP68 rating, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the screen are all really great additions. 

Also, despite the 5,500 mAh battery, the phone weighs just 190 grams, making it comfortable for prolonged use without feeling heavy. However, it is a bit slippery in hand, but can be resolved if you use the included case. Oh, and the case is slim and doesn’t add bulk to the phone, which is a plus.

Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Display

The Redmi Note 14 Pro features a 6.67-inch 3D curved AMOLED display with a 1.5K resolution (2712 x 1220 pixels) and a pixel density of 446 PPI. It offers a typical brightness of 500 Nits, HBM of 1200 Nits, and peak brightness up to 3000 Nits. Even under direct sunlight, the screen remains bright enough to read text comfortably outdoors.

The display supports Dolby Vision and Adaptive HDR10+, but HDR videos on YouTube didn’t look as vibrant as you’d expected. Speaking of which, there are three color profiles you can choose from:

• Vivid: Automatically adjusts colors based on the content. Usually has bright and vibrant colors.
• Saturated: Even more boosted colors.
• Standard: It has accurate whites, but other colors appear muted.

For those particular about color accuracy, the Advanced settings offer P3 and sRGB profiles. However, when compared side-by-side with an iPhone 16, the shadows and colors on the Redmi screen appeared overly bright. 

While the price difference between the two is significant, none of these profiles offer balanced tones but rather tend to over-brighten colors. I’m not sure if this is a hardware issue or a software issue, but Redmi needs to address this soon.

The display supports a 120 Hz refresh rate, but in the default mode, it only activates at 120 Hz while scrolling through the phone’s UI. On apps like YouTube and Instagram, it drops to 60 Hz, even when scrolling. 

Under the Custom settings, you can choose between 60 Hz or “up to 120 Hz.” Switching to “up to 120 Hz” allowed Instagram to scroll at 120 Hz, but YouTube still remained at 60 Hz. Even in gaming, the refresh rate didn’t exceed 60 Hz.

Overall, the display is decent for the price but isn’t flawless. The colors appear slightly boosted, the refresh rate is inconsistent, and it falls short of being the best option in this segment.

Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Speakers and Haptics

The Redmi Note 14 Pro features a dual stereo speaker setup, with one speaker on the top and the other at the bottom. The audio output is loud enough to fill a room. The bass is decent, and the volume is sufficient for casual listening. 

However, the speakers lack crispness. While voices are clear, the finer details of background instrumental music don’t stand out as much. For a mid-range device, though, this isn’t a major complaint.

The haptics are responsive, especially during typing or using the fingerprint sensor, which reacts quickly. However, the vibration isn’t as strong as one might expect.

Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Software

The Redmi Note 14 Pro runs on HyperOS 1.0, based on Android 14, which is surprising since the Android 15 stable for several other devices is already out and Google’s also released the Android 16 Beta. As for HyperOS 1.0, while it doesn’t stray too far from MIUI, it brings a few refreshing changes.

You have all the lock screen customization, which, by the way, look incredible. Then, the multitasking features and the theme store for extensive customization. However, there are still things lacking with HyperOS. Things like icon customization, status bar customization, and more are missing.

While the UI feels polished and offers extensive customization, app transitions and switching between apps felt slightly sluggish and jittery. This is not the experience I was expecting given this is a Redmi Note. That said, HyperOS also brings AI features like AI Image Cutout and AI Erase Pro, which can be useful.

On the downside, bloatware is a significant issue. The phone comes preloaded with several unnecessary apps, including games, ShareMe, Snapchat, Spotify, and Voice Access, cluttering the experience. 

Overall, the software experience has been a mixed bag. Redmi needs to quickly address the sluggishness when switching apps. And most of the bloatware can be uninstalled, yes.

Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Performance

The Redmi Note 14 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultra chipset, built on a 4 nm process. It features 4x Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.5 GHz and 4x Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0 GHz, paired with the Mali-G615 MC2 GPU. It supports LPDDR4x RAM and offers up to 256 GB of UFS 2.2 storage.

Day-to-Day Performance

In daily use, the phone performs well. After a week of testing, tasks like social media scrolling, gaming, and multitasking across multiple apps ran without noticeable lag. 

While the Dimensity 7300 has been seen in more affordable devices like the Moto Edge 50 Neo, CMF Phone 1, iQOO Z9s 5G, this is the first phone with its Ultra variant. 

However, I could not figure anything Ultra about this chipset. The entire configuration of the Ultra moniker is the same as the non-Ultra Dimensity 7300. So, don’t let the so-called Ultra moniker mislead you.

Benchmarks

Anyway, comparing this to the Redmi Note 13 Pro, the performance is an upgrade. The Note 13 Pro scored 580,250 on AnTuTu, and the Note 14 Pro scored a slightly better 640,845. You can the other benchmark results below:

Gaming Experience

The device isn’t for serious gaming but it does handle light titles like BGMI and Call of Duty Mobile fine. On Very High graphics and frame rate settings in CODM, it delivers an average of 40 FPS. 

Setting the frame rate to Max and graphics to High, the phone achieves a consistent 60 FPS. However, extended gaming sessions result in the device getting warm, leading to frame drops.

For a mid-range smartphone, the performance is decent. It handles everyday tasks and moderate gaming well, but doesn’t do well when it comes to heavy games like Genshin Impact. Also, the thermal management could’ve been better during prolonged use.

Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Cameras

The Redmi Note 14 Pro packs a triple rear camera setup that includes a 50 MP 26mm, an 8 MP 15mm, and a 2MP macro. Here are the detailed specifications:

• Main: 50 MP Sony LYT600, 1/1.95-inch, f/1.5, OIS, PDAF, 26mm, 4K24/30, 1080p30/60/120
• Ultra-wide: 8 MP Sony IMX355, 1/4.0-inch, f/2.2, 15mm, 1080p30
• Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4 
• Front: 20 MP OmniVision OV20B 1/4.0-inch, f/2.2, 25mm, 1080p30/60

Main

The Redmi Note 14 Pro does away with the 200 MP 1/1.4-inch large sensor in favor of a newer 50 MP 1/1.95-inch sensor with a slightly larger aperture at f/1.5. Anyway, the camera captures good quality images in daylight. The photos are detailed, with vibrant colors, especially greens, though sometimes the camera boosts them slightly. 

The dynamic range is good, most of the time. However, you might notice some noise when zooming or in shaded areas. In low light, the camera performs decently, delivering good colors but introducing some noise. During evening shots, however, the color accuracy suffers, and noise becomes more noticeable.

2x Zoom

At 2x zoom, the camera retains color accuracy but loses details. The dynamic range isn’t as good, and shadowed areas tend to become very dark. Likewise, in low light, the light control could be worked on.

Ultra-wide Camera

The 8 MP ultra-wide camera doesn’t match the primary camera’s color rendition. The dynamic range is weaker, and there’s noticeable noise in the images. In low light, the details drop significantly, with noticeable grains and excessive distortion in the photos.

Portrait Mode

The portrait mode does a good job of blurring the background, and you can zoom in 2x (in-sensor crop) into the subject to reduce distortion. And of course, you can also take portraits at 1x. Here, the skin tones are kept natural, which is a positive, and other colors are captured well. However, the edge detection needs work and the HDR isn’t great either.

Selfie Camera

The 20 MP front camera is actually a step down from the 16 MP selfie camera on the Note 13 Pro. The previous one had a larger 1/3” sensor, which allowed for more light and better images. This one’s a 20 MP 1/4” sensor—so that’s slightly smaller. The aperture remains the same at f/2.4.

Nonetheless, the 20 MP delivers decent selfies in daylight, but it heavily beautifies the skin, smoothing out imperfections, which may not be ideal for everyone. Indoors, the selfies are good but you’ll find details missing when zoomed in.

Overall, the camera on the Redmi Note 14 Pro’s main camera performs well in daylight conditions. The ultra-wide and selfie cameras are serviceable, though not outstanding. 

Redmi Note 14 Pro Review: Battery Life and Charging

The Redmi Note 14 Pro comes with a 5,500 mAh battery and supports 45W TurboCharge fast charging. While the battery capacity has been increased, the charging speed has taken a step back compared to the previous model. The Redmi Note 13 Pro featured 67W fast charging, but this version only supports 45W.

In terms of charging, the device takes about 1 hour 15 minutes to fully charge from 0 to 100%, using the included charger. Despite the slower charging speed, the battery backup is impressive. 

After running benchmark tests, using the camera, watching videos, and browsing social media, there was still 26% battery left by the end of the day. For moderate users, this phone can easily last over a day on a single charge.

Review Verdict: Should You Buy the Redmi Note 14 Pro?

Smartprix Rating: 7.5/10

Design and Build: 9/10

Display & Speakers: 7.5/10

Software: 8/10

Haptics: 7.5/10

Performance: 8/10

Cameras: 7/10

Battery Life & Charging: 8.5/10

The Redmi Note 14 Pro is a device that comes with a share of both upgrades and downgrades compared to its predecessor. Some clear upgrades include the addition of the IP68 rating, a more durable build, Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and a larger 5,500 mAh battery. 

The bit more powerful Dimensity 7300 Ultra chipset also adds a bit more performance to the device. However, there are a few downgrades to consider, too: the cameras and the charging speed.

In terms of competition, alternatives like the iQOO Z9s Pro, Motorola Edge 50 Neo, OnePlus Nord CE4, and the POCO X6 Pro offer similar features, so if you’re in the market for a new device, it’s worth considering these options alongside the Redmi Note 14 Pro. Ultimately, the decision is up to you—whether it suits your needs depends on what you prioritize in a phone.

First reviewed in December 2024.

---