Review Verdict: With a Php 5k starting price, Xiaomi has a decent budget offering with the Redmi 14C especially if you care about cameras and battery life.
Pros
- Decent battery life
- Good low-light camera performance for its price
Cons
- Only a single speaker
- Only eMMC storage
After launching its latest flagship killer with the 14T series, Xiaomi now focuses on the budget segment with the Redmi 14C. With a starting price of Php 5k, Xiaomi also wants to be competitive in this growing price segment—but does the Redmi 14C have enough oomph to impress budget-conscious buyers?
Redmi 14C Review Philippines: Design
The Redmi 14C goes for a design that’s not usual for the line. You get a large circular module in the middle that has two cameras and an LED flash. Xiaomi also went for gradient finishes with the Redmi 14C, with our review unit having a silver-to-dark blue transition. You also get an IP54 rating, making it safe against accidental water splashes.
You also get flat frame sides, a trend among most budget phones. Looking at the button and port layout, you have the headphone jack on top, USB-C port and loudspeaker at the bottom, SIM tray on the left side, and power button and volume controls on the right. The phone is on the chunky side at 8.2mm, and we wished that Xiaomi made it thinner considering we’re slowly seeing more phones that are under 8mm thick and have a battery that’s bigger than the usual 5000mAh cell.
Redmi 14C Review Philippines: Display and Speakers
The Redmi 14C is pretty large with its 6.88-inch display. It may look dated with its notch use, but you get a 120hz refresh rate. Do note that the refresh rate is adaptive, so don’t expect to see 120hz consistently across all apps. The display only has an HD+ resolution, but we were surprised that the phone can stream YouTube videos in 4K—which was not the case with other entry-level chips.
While the display is decent for its price, we find it underwhelming that the Redmi 14C only has a single speaker. Budget phones already offer stereo speakers—even on those priced under Php 5k—and we wished Xiaomi followed the same thing with the Redmi 14C.
Redmi 14C Review Philippines: Cameras
You get a dual camera setup on the Redmi 14C, but only the 50-megapixel main camera is useful—the other is the typical 2-megapixel filler camera.
We’ve seen Xiaomi improve the low-light performance on its budget phones, and that’s also evident with the Redmi 14C. We took it around Newport, and we noticed how it was able to capture details decently. The 2x digital zoom is useful–as long as you have favorable lighting conditions.
Video recording is limited to Full HD resolution, and while the quality is surprisingly decent, you do need to have a stable pair of hands since you don’t get OIS and EIS with the Redmi 14C.
Redmi 14C Review Philippines: Internals and Battery
Powering the Redmi 14C is a Helio G81 processor, and configuration options include up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB storage. Those unfamiliar with the Helio G81 should know that it is roughly at par with the Snapdragon 680 when it comes to CPU performance—and has the upper hand when it comes to GPU performance.
You only get eMMC storage with the Redmi 14C—which is ok for the entry-level 4GB/128GB model but not for the higher-end variants. We wish that Xiaomi used UFS 2.2 storage for at least the 8GB/256GB model. Among the advantages of using UFS 2.2 storage is faster app loading times—we noticed that there are instances that it takes a few seconds for the Redmi 14C to load some apps with our 4GB/128GB review unit.
You get Android 14-based HyperOS out of the box, and we noticed bloatware upon startup, which is a typical characteristic of Xiaomi’s skin even on its more expensive models. Considering that we are reviewing the entry-level 4GB /128GB variant, the overall user experience is decent—but don’t expect it to be great with multitasking unless you opt for at least the 6GB/128GB model. We wouldn’t recommend the Redmi 14C for gaming, but it can run Genshin Impact at the lowest graphics settings–if you don’t mind the slow load times due to its use of eMMC storage.
The Redmi 14C has a slightly larger 5160mAh battery, and we got a battery life of 16 hours and 32 minutes in PCMark’s battery benchmark test. That’s a decent figure considering that the Redmi 14C has a display with a refresh rate of up to 120hz. While it only supports 18w charging, we’re surprised that Xiaomi bundled a 33w charger with the Redmi 14C—considering that they decided to remove the charger on the Xiaomi 14T series.
Redmi 14C Review Philippines: Wrap-up and Conclusions
With a starting price of Php 5k, the Redmi 14C ticks all the essentials one is looking for in a budget phone in 2024. Xiaomi has been improving its offerings on the budget segment, but we wish that they start using UFS storage instead of eMMC for better app loading times.
Redmi 14C Review Philippines: Price
The Redmi 14C starts at Php 4,999 for the 4GB/128GB model, Php 5,999 for the 6GB/128GB model, and Php 6,999 for the 8GB/256GB model.
