The Xiaomi 14T features Leica-branded lenses and AI tools. Arthur Fuentes, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Xiaomi unveiled its latest models in its premium midrange series dubbed the 14T and 14T Pro on Thursday, both with Leica lenses and upcoming AI features.

The Chinese tech giant kept the price down for the new phones by foregoing Qualcomm Snapdragon processors for the new Mediatek Dimensity SOCs, which Xiaomi touts as having flagship-level performance. 

Xiaomi has partnered with imaging icon Leica before, the latest of which was in its flagship 14 (without the T)series . Now, the brand is bringing the Leica system into its premium midrange segment, and promising to also deliver excellent photography features in a more affordable package. 

The build quality looks excellent, though the design does remind you of another phone from a fruity brand--which is a good thing. 

The 14T and 14T Pro have similar dimensions, with AMOLED screens coming at 6.67 inches, with a 144Hz refresh rate, 1600 nits of  and an eye-scorching 4000 nits of peak brightness.

Both also boast of a 5,000 mAh battery, but Pro version as expected has a few more bells and whistles when it comes to charging. The 14T has 67W "HyperCharge", which the company said can fully charge the phone in just 44 minutes and 21 seconds. The 14T Pro meanwhile has a 120W wired charging which can fully juice up the phone in just 18 minutes and 35 seconds. It also adds 50W wireless charging, which allows it to hit 50 percent in 20 minutes. 

The 14T also uses a MediaTek Dimensity 8300 processor, while 14T Pro has the higher-end MediaTek Dimensity 9300+. 

Of course, the two phones also differ in their main cameras. The 14T has an f/1.7 main shooter, while the 14T Pro has an f/1.6 main camera. For ordinary users, that difference may not count for much, but pros will love the extra oomph that the brighter lens of the Pro can bring. The telephoto of the 14T Pro is also a bit longer at 60mm versus the 50mm of the 14T. But the two models share the same ultrawide camera 15mm and f/2.2 specs as well as selfie camera specs.

It will be interesting to test the cameras of these phones to see how they compare with Xiaomi's earlier flagship.

Of course, no phone would be complete these days without having AI. Xiaomi said the Xiaomi 14T Series, will have Circle to Search, AI Interpreter, AI Notes, AI Recorder, AI Subtitles, AI Film, AI Image Editing, and AI Portrait, which will be delivered via OTA updates after the product launch. 

"The AI Interpreter initially supports 12 languages: Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and Indonesian. Support for Thai, Malay, Vietnamese, and Filipino will be introduced in subsequent OTA updates," the company said.

The Xiaomi 14T with 256GB of storage sells for P25,999 while the 512GB variant is at P27,999. The 14T Pro with 256GB meanwhile sells for P37,999, while the 512GB variant sells for P39,999 and the 1TB model is at P41,999.