Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 5G Review: Solid But Samey Budget Phone

Another year, another unwieldy roster of mid-range smartphones from Xiaomi’s budget Redmi brand. The Note 14 5G is the awkward one of the bunch, as it hasn’t officially been released in the UK or the US, although you can get hold of one from Amazon.

Having tested the Redmi Note 13 5G at around this time last year, however, I was curious to see how Xiaomi has taken things forward in 2025.

At first glance, very little has been added, but this is a proven formula. Take a good OLED display, add a solid (if unspectacular) design, throw in a competent main camera, and back it all with the kind of memory options that would make certain flagship lines blush.

Has Xiaomi even attempted to advance said formula? Yes, but perhaps not to the extent necessary in an increasingly competitive budget phone field.

Design & Build

• Slightly bigger and heavier than before
• Solid plastic build
• Improved IP64 rating

I reserved some faint praise for the Redmi Note 13 5G’s slimmer, lighter design, but the Redmi Note 14 5G has evidently piled on a few pounds over the Christmas period. At 162.4 x 75.7 x 8mm, it’s a fraction bigger in every direction.

Meanwhile, a weight of 190g represents a not inconsiderable gain of 15g. This latter figure, and that extra thickness, can perhaps be justified by a larger battery (which we’ll get to), but I’m not sure why the phone’s footprint needed to be any bigger.

This isn’t the same perfectly flat design as the Redmi Note 13 5G either, with a slightly rounded rear panel making it look a little less purposeful, but also improving its hand feel.

Otherwise, this is a typical budget Xiaomi design. It’s predominantly made of plastic, with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 to the front just like the previous model. An IP64 rating does represent an improvement over the IP54-rated Note 13 5G, however, meaning it’s a little more dust-proof.

Another design improvement is the inclusion of an in-display fingerprint sensor in place of the Note 13 5G’s side-mounted solution. It lends a more premium air to the phone, and works well.

The 3.5mm headphone jack makes a return to the top edge of the phone, as does Xiaomi’s signature IR blaster. Using the preinstalled Mi Remote app, you can use the Redmi Note 14 5G to control your TV or Hi-Fi system – a feature that I’ve often found to be surprisingly useful.

Screen & speakers

• Familiar 6.67in Full HD+ OLED display
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Stereo speakers

Xiaomi typically provides decent displays for the money with its budget sub-brands. The Redmi Note 14 5G doesn’t let the side down, but it doesn’t offer much that’s new either.

It packs another 6.67in AMOLED display, much like its predecessor, with the same 1080 x 2400 (FHD+) resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. This is no LTPO panel, so it’ll only drop to 60Hz when the situation calls for it.

Xiaomi cites a maximum brightness of 1200 nits in the automated high brightness mode (HBM), when things get particularly sunny, as well as a peak HDR brightness of 2100 nits. Both are a boost over the Redmi Note 13 5G, and the latter in particular enables HDR10+ support this time around.

With autobrightness turned off, I recorded a top brightness of 447 nits, which is a just a tad less than the Redmi Note 13 5G. It’s in those extreme scenarios where improvements have been made.

This screen doesn’t represent a huge advance over the Redmi Note 13 5G, but for less than £200/$300, you’re unlikely to find better.

One area in which Xiaomi has improved things considerably is audio. You get a proper pair of speakers this time around, together with Dolby Atmos support.

Audio quality isn’t particularly strong, with a certain tinniness and a pronounced lack of depth to the output. But the output is loud and clear, and you do notice that there’s proper stereo separation this time around.

Specs & Performance

• Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Ultra
• Performance fine, but you can get faster for the money
• 256GB of expandable storage

Xiaomi has equipped the Redmi Note 13 5G with a Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Ultra processor, which doesn’t represent a massive improvement over the MediaTek Dimensity 6080 of the Redmi Note 13 5G.

In our usual Geekbench 6 benchmark tests, the Note 14 5G scored a little better than its predecessor. An average multi-core score of 2267 represents a less than 9% increase on the Note 13 5G.

Our GFXBench GPU benchmarks tests yielded a more impressive 16% increase on average.

As performance improvements go, we’re talking more of a bump than a leap. It’s also not a massively impressive performer compared to its contemporaries.

For example, it’s nowhere near as impressive as the Moto G75 with its Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip, nor indeed the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G with its Exynos 1380. Even the Redmi Note 14 5G’s cousin, the Poco X7, performs a little better.

My test model came with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage, which continues a trend of Xiaomi supplying its cheaper models with a generous amount of memory and storage. This is flanked by 6GB/128GB and 12GB/512GB options – a rare case of the RAM allotment varying as much as the storage.

Whichever model you opt for, there’s a microSDXC slot for expansion purposes.

Camera

• Familiar 108Mp main sensor
• Low light performance improved by OIS
• Upgraded 20MP selfie camera

The theme of this review so far has been ‘small but welcome improvements’, and that continues to apply when you consider the Redmi Note 14 5G’s camera set-up.

For starters, while the pixel-dense 108Mp 1/1.67″ main sensor remains unchanged from the Redmi Note 13 5G, it’s now backed by OIS.

In one fell swoop this addresses arguably my biggest criticism of the Note 13 5G camera – its woeful night mode performance. It’s not that night time shots are now brilliant – there are still visible artefacts in those inky skies and a certain softness overall – but they’re no longer a total write-off.

When it comes to decent daylight conditions – or at least what passes for them during this grey UK late-winter – I found the performance to be broadly similar to last year’s model.

The shots I captured looked decent, if not amazing. Exposure was acceptable in more muted conditions, with clear signs of overexposure creeping in when shooting on a sunnier day. Colours are rendered in a relatively natural fashion.

There’s no dedicated telephoto camera here, but 3x shots look acceptable, using those extra pixels from the main sensor to good effect to crop in without a massive drop in detail. It probably would have been a better idea to go with 2x as the default zoom control, as these shots look quite a bit crisper, but it’s accessible with a press and hold of one of the zoom buttons

Using this method it’s also possible to increase the zoom to 10x, but the limits of the cropping technique are exposed pretty quickly beyond 3x.

As you’d expect, the dedicated 8Mp ultra-wide represents a major drop off in quality compared to that main sensor. Details become fuzzier, especially towards the edges, while exposure and dynamic range aren’t even in the same ballpark.

There’s a 2Mp macro camera here as well, but it’s best forgotten, as all such ‘bonus’ sensors are. It would have been better if Xiaomi had just gone with a streamlined dual camera set-up.

Aside from that OIS addition, the biggest hardware improvement here is the new 20Mp front camera. It doesn’t lead to revelatory selfies, to be frank, and the subject is never rendered pin-sharp. Skin tones and colours are reasonably accurate, but it struggles in those HDR scenarios. Portrait selfies look very artificial, and it fails to make the subject pop.

Video capture remains at a pretty lowly 1080p/30fps, though it’s bolstered by that inclusion of OIS.

Battery Life & Charging

• Larger 5110mAh battery
• Much improved stamina
• Faster 45W wired charging

Xiaomi has upped its battery life and charging game across the board for the Redmi Note 14 5G, which is good to see after the Redmi Note 13 5G’s slight regression.

The manufacturers has packed in a slightly larger 5110mAh battery (compared to 5000mAh before), which will see you through a full day of usage.

On a day with 4 hours of screen-on time, including hours of web browsing and an hour of YouTube video watching, I was left with about 35% in the tank. That’s not outstanding, but it’s perfectly acceptable.

Using more scientific methods, the Redmi Note 14 5G lasted 13 hours 9 minutes in the PC Mark Work 3.0 battery test. That’s a massive 3 hours and 20 minutes longer than the Redmi Note 13 5G.

The improvements continue with the provision of a speedy 45W charger in the box, which is up from 33W in the Note 13 5G. It was sufficient to get the phone from empty to 62% in 30 minutes in my testing, while a full charge took just under an hour.

Software

• HyperOS 1.0 over Android 14 – again
• Same excessive bloatware
• 2 major Android updates, 4 years of security updates

If I were to have been offered the choice of one area to improve with the Redmi Note 13 5G, it would have been its software. Unfortunately, that’s the one area where there’s been little discernible movement.

Just like its predecessor, the Redmi note 14 5G runs on Xiaomi’s HyperOS 1.0 layered over Android 14.

Xiaomi is promising only two major Android updates, and one of those will be to Android 15, which has been available on some phones since October. There’ll be four years of security updates.

All in all, the Redmi Note 14 5G’s future software prospects aren’t amazing. Especially so when you consider what’s in front of you out of the box.

Xiaomi’s HyperOS has all the same quirks and flaws that it (and MIUI before it) has always had. It’s a messy, cluttered UI that operates perfectly fluidly, but with countless small annoyances that add up to something more frustrating.

The split notification menu is quite commonly adopted by many manufacturers now (including Samsung), but something about the implementation continues to fatigue me.

The icons and wallpapers are broadly charmless, and being forced into the brand’s Themes store every time I want to change the latter gets old fast – especially as the line between free and monetised wallpapers seems to be non-existent.

Bloatware continues to plague the UI. You can understand a manufacturer wishing to supply its own versions of core apps, but do we really need a bespoke web browser when both Google Chrome and (inexplicably) Opera are also preinstalled?

There’s also a folder with nine more third part apps, including (of course) Booking.com, WPS Office, and LinkedIn. There’s a separate folder with six low-end games.

Thankfully, Xiaomi has at least ironed out some of the bugs that I experienced a year ago. But HyperOS continues to be one of my least favourite Android skins to deal with.

Price & Availability

For all that you may be weighing up whether to buy the Redmi Note 14 5G right now, you won’t be able to get it officially. At the time of writing, there are no plans to bring the Redmi Note 14 5G to the UK, and it definitely won’t be making its way to the US.

However, you can buy it from Amazon. In the UK, it’ll cost £190 and your order will be fulfilled by FairPhone. Head over to Amazon US, and you can pick it up for $276, sold by Aimportar USA. In both cases, it’s the same 8GB/256GB model that I’m reviewing here.

However, the Redmi Note 14 is officially available via the Xiaomi website, although you’ll have to make peace with some downgrades from the model reviewed here. If neither option seems like the perfect fit, you can see our top recommendations in our round-up of the best budget phones you can buy.

The Redmi Note 14 5G will be available in “several European countries, including Spain”, according to the Redmi PR, with a price of €299.99 for the 8GB/256GB model. The Spanish Xiaomi website lists 6GB/128GB and 12GB/512GB options, but they weren’t available to buy. It’s the same situation (and price) on the Xiaomi Germany website.

All of which is reflective of a common issue we have with Xiaomi’s budget sub-brands. There’s a certain lack of clarity and consistency when it comes to the matter of where you can actually buy these phones.

Should you buy the Redmi Note 14 5G?

The Redmi Note 14 5G remains a solid phone with a dependable design, a decent OLED screen, and good battery life. But I’d suggest that the sheer churn of cheap options needs to stop, and the brand should focus on making one or two genuinely compelling cheap phones.

It would doubtless help the brand to provide greater clarity and consistency on which of its many models are being made available in which territories, too.

Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand isn’t quite the easy budget recommendation it once was. With the Redmi Note 14 5G, the hardware improvements are incremental, the software experience continues to frustrate, and the competition is only getting stronger.

Motorola is now offering genuinely interesting differentiation and bonus features between its sub-£300/€300 smartphones, while the CMF Phone 1 manages to offer considerable excitement and style for a lot less money.

Specs

• Android 14
• 6.67in, FHD+, OLED, 120Hz, flat display
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Ultra
• 6GB/8GB/12GB RAM
• 128GB/256GB/512GB storage
• 108Mp, f/1.8 main camera
• 8Mp ultra-wide camera
• 2Mp macro camera
• Up to 1080p @ 30fps rear video
• 20Mp front-facing camera
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Bluetooth 5.3
• 5110mAh battery
• 45W charging
• 162.4 x 75.7 x 8mm
• 190g
• Launch colours: Midnight Black, Lavender Purple, Coral Green