2024 Winners and losers: Xiaomi

Xiaomi will be relatively quiet in 2024, but it is not in a negative sense. Most of Xiaomi’s releases this year are expected evolutions of its previous-generation devices, but they’re not necessarily boring. Perhaps the only thing that shocked the industry was the release of its first electric car, the Xiaomi SU7. So, let’s start with this.

Winner: Xiaomi SU7

If we just look at the statistics, Xiaomi SU7 is a hot product. The company’s brand-new factories are working overtime to meet demand and have significantly exceeded initial targets for 2024.

Subjectively speaking, Xiaomi’s first car is very well done. we even have Have a chance to try it We were impressed by its build quality, features, and ergonomics. It’s as if Xiaomi has experience in building cars before.

Losers: HyperOS and battery life

It feels like HyperOS lags behind the competition in some areas. This is not to say that Xiaomi’s coverage is not good overall, because it does have its strong aspects. Our experience with HyperOS has been smooth and reliable. However, the functional isolation between the Chinese ROM, global ROM, and Poco launcher is currently mind-boggling.

A few features are still unique to the Chinese version of the operating system. An example is notification history. Another hard-to-understand difference is the lack of double-tap lock feature, which is present on the Pocos but not on the standard Xiaomi and Redmi. Go figure it out!

Our final complaint concerns battery life. Judging from our testing, Xiaomi phones have struggled to deliver competitive battery life across their entire range of phones, so it’s easy to conclude that HyperOS is the culprit.

We might be the last to complain about AI, but HyperOS feels lagging behind when it comes to AI-driven features. We hope 2025 will be better.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra

Another year, another great flagship phone from Xiaomi. While battery life isn’t impressive, the phone excels in almost every other aspect. Perhaps more importantly, it’s one of the best camera phones on the market.

We were particularly impressed by the video recording capabilities and the versatile camera setup with a variety of focal lengths.

Loser: Poco lineup

Remember when people were eagerly waiting for the next Poco brand flagship killer? It seems those days are gone forever. The Poco product line continues to expand, and there are still some competitive models, such as the Poco X6 Pro and even the Poco M6 Pro. Both devices are pretty good all-rounders in their respective categories, but we feel that most phones under the Poco brand are just filler.

Even this year’s Poco F6 Pro doesn’t excite people. Sure, you can get top-tier chipsets for relatively low prices, but smartphones have never been about just chipsets, especially in 2024. Related to needs. Ultimately, the best you can get is a mid-range phone with a flagship chipset. Xiaomi needs to put more effort into the Poco series to regain its past glory.

Winner: Redmi and Xiaomi 14T series

As usual, Xiaomi’s Redmi product line is one of the best-selling products in 2024. There is a Redmi phone suitable for every user. Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G, regular version Redmi Note 13 5G and Pro+ stand out for their extremely high cost performance.

The Xiaomi Mi 14T is another favorite of ours. The new 14T and 14T Pro are significantly upgraded over their predecessors, but without a price increase. While Xiaomi isn’t promoting them as flagship killers, we believe they’re the closest you can get to a flagship phone without spending too much. Additionally, the 14T and 14T Pro offer one of the best camera experiences in their respective price ranges.

Loser: Xiaomi Watch S4

On its own, the Mi Watch S4 is a decent smartwatch. But it’s behind the curve as a true smartwatch, not a glorified fitness tracker. Unfortunately, the Watch S4 doesn’t offer any meaningful improvements over its predecessor.

Xiaomi’s top-tier watches still run proprietary HyperOS rather than Wear OS, which deprives them of deeper Android integration and some useful Play Store apps. The dial selection is not that rich either. The Mi Fitness companion app also needs more improvements.

Xiaomi has released some cool new products this year, and we can’t wait to see their successors. However, we hope they focus more on the software side, as this will benefit all their product lines of devices.