China's Xiaomi launches high-end phone in Samsung challenge and debuts EV in Europe

• Xiaomi launched the Xiaomi 14 for global markets at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, after debuting it this week in China.
• Xiaomi has looked to push into the higher end of the market, where Apple and Samsung are particularly dominant.
• Xiaomi launched its first electric vehicle, the SU7, last year and debuted it for the first time in Europe on Sunday.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

BARCELONA — Xiaomi launched its flagship smartphone globally on Sunday as it looks to keep up its recovery momentum, while also debuting its electric vehicle for the first time in Europe.

The Chinese electronics giant launched the Xiaomi 14 for global markets at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, after debuting it this week in China.

Xiaomi found success after its founding in 2010 thanks to selling high-spec and low priced smartphones. But with that section of the market getting more competitive, Xiaomi has looked to push into the higher end of the market, where Apple and Samsung are particularly dominant, but where growth has remained despite a difficult overall phone industry.

The launch comes as Xiaomi has seen a recovery in its core smartphone business which accounts for just under two thirds of its total revenue. Xiaomi, which is the third biggest smartphone player in the world, saw shipments decline 4.7% year-on-year in 2023, according to IDC, a much slower fall than 2022. In the third quarter, Xiaomi posted a small rise in revenue, after six straight quarters of decline.

But Xiaomi continues to face intense competition in the high-end from the incumbents Apple and Samsung, as well as Chinese players like Honor, a spin-off from Huawei. Samsung in January launched its flagship S24 series of phones.

Xiaomi has been trying to talk up its business beyond smartphones, however. Last year, Xiaomi launched its first electric vehicle, the SU7, opening up a new product category for the Chinese giant. Xiaomi debuted the car at MWC, showing it off for the first time in Europe.

The company also launched the Smart Band 8 Pro, Xiaomi Watch S3, and Xiaomi Watch 2 – a smart fitness band and two smartwatches.

Xiaomi is trying to position itself as a company offering a number of consumer devices that can all be linked together via its own operating system – HyperOS — which it launched last year. This is a very similar strategy to what Samsung and Apple do.

Xiaomi 14

The Xiaomi 14 comes in two versions — the standard Xiaomi 14 and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

For the more expensive Xiaomi 14 Ultra, the company talked up its “quad” camera, which uses lenses from German firm Leica.

The company touted the professional photography and videography features including a “movie mode” which enables “an authentic cinematic look and motion blur,” according to a Xiaomi press release.