The Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus is both good and bad, but it’s not ugly

The Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus fixes one of the things I didn’t really like about its predecessor — the camera module’s design — but has then introduced a different design feature that’s far less successful and a backwards step compared with the old phone. I’ve spent a few days with the new Redmi phone to see if I can live with the changes.

What has changed?

The Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus’s design was too faceless. It was a perfectly decent phone, but it had no identity, meaning I quickly forgot about it once I moved on to another phone. It didn’t help that I was using the ordinary black version and not one of the brighter, more exciting colors, a problem repeated with my Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus review model.

However, Xiaomi (Redmi is a spinoff of the Xiaomi brand) has really improved the overall design, giving the phone its own unique look on the back. The camera module isn’t quite square and not quite a squircle either, and I love the way it looks, especially when you get closer. The edge has a sloped, polished edge leading down to a “coin edge” design element reminiscent of a watch bezel.

The rear Corning Gorilla Glass 7i panel — seen here in Midnight Black, but also available in Frost Blue and a vegan leather Lavender Purple color — is smooth with a matte finish and is scratch resistant, while the phone has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating. It’s all a step beyond what you’d expect, and this combination of finishes and overall design symmetry gives the phone an upmarket style. I really like it — right up until I held the phone for any length of time.

Sharp design, sharp shape

The decision was taken to shun the curved but squared-off edge of the Redmi 13 Pro Plus and adopt a more aggressive curve, leading to a sharper edge for the Redmi 14 Pro Plus. Sadly, it was the wrong decision, as the phone becomes uncomfortable to grip. The taper is just too sharp and a misstep compared to the well-judged side profile of the Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus.

Is it a deal breaker? No, probably not to most people, but it does bother me. The way around it is to use the silicone case Redmi includes in the box, which softens the edges enough that you don’t need to take a rest from holding the phone after a while. The downside is that it covers up the color of the phone (important if you choose one other than black) and hides the great design.

Ultimately, the decision to give the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus sharp sides means I’d recommend buying the Midnight Black version because you’re almost certainly going to use the phone in a case. The one Redmi supplies in the box is decent quality, too. This seems like such a shame when the other colors look so good in photos. Let’s take a closer look at the phone’s other features before you rush out and place an order.

What else is new?

The biggest internal change over the previous model is a switch from a MediaTek Dimensity processor to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor, which comes with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage space. The battery capacity is up a little to 5,110mAh, and it supports Xiaomi’s 120W HyperCharge wired fast charging, but there’s no wireless charging.

On the front is a 6.67-inch AMOLED screen covered in Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 with up to 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. I have not had any problem seeing the screen in bright winter sunlight, and viewing angles are excellent with little reflection. It’s a shame the HyperOS software interface is based on Android 14 though, putting the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus behind many other phones which come with Android 15 installed out of the box.

Disappointingly, the camera’s specification appears identical to the Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus, leading with a 200MP main camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and joined by an 8MP wide-angle camera and a 2MP macro camera. Yes, the two worst additional cameras you can find on a modern smartphone. I’ve taken a selection of photos with the Redmi 14 Pro Plus to see how it performs.

Decent cameras

I went into taking photos with the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus not expecting that much from it. Sure, the 8MP wide-angle camera takes poor-quality, hazy photos, but this is not a problem unique to the Redmi phone. The app doesn’t bother to provide a macro mode to make use of the pointless 2MP camera, leaving me with the main camera and an in-app “optical grade” 2x and 4x zoom option.

The main camera is good. It takes colorful, bright, and properly exposed photos that aren’t over-saturated. This was especially welcome on a day when the sun was bright but low in the sky, where a lesser camera would have struggled to get the balance right. The 2x zoom takes detailed photos and is perfectly usable, but the 4x mode is pushing the camera’s ability a little, as detail gets lost when you look closely.

There’s a full 200MP photo mode, too, but you’ll want to use it carefully, as a single image can take up more than 100MB of space. As you’d expect, the resolution is also huge — 12240 x 1630 — which means it’s possible to crop images down to zoom in on details without compromising on quality. It works really well in the right environment, as you can see from the two images above, where the center of the 200MP photo has been cropped down to the standard 4080 x 3060 pixels and it looks fine.

Is it a phone to buy?

If you own the Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus, then the Note 14 Pro Plus isn’t a significant upgrade, and I prefer the shape of the old phone even if the design isn’t as attractive, but for anyone looking for an upgrade to an older model, it’s a strong option. The price and availability haven’t been confirmed at the time of writing, but the Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus launched for 449 British pounds, or around $550, so it’s likely to be similar for the sequel.

This puts it up against some serious competition, including the Samsung Galaxy A55, the OnePlus Nord 4, the Google Pixel 8a, and the Nothing Phone 2. These are all great purchases, and from my limited time with the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus, it does deserve to be rated alongside them, even if I can’t quite get on with the sharp edges. Put it in the supplied case, though, and you’ll never notice.