Xiaomi has launched its first Civi phone in India – the Xiaomi 14 Civi. The smartphone joins the flagship series along with the Xiaomi 14 and 14 Ultra and is positioned as the most affordable phone in the lineup. The move is quite interesting and perhaps wise too, as Xiaomi hasn’t launched a smartphone in the sub-Rs 50,000 price segment for quite some time now. In fact, there haven’t been many new smartphones in this price segment. In terms of specifications and design, the Xiaomi 14 Civi feels quite premium. I have been using this phone for about a week now. While I can’t share my final thoughts right now, my first opinion is this – the Xiaomi 14 Civi is like that expensive dress that you tell your mom you need so much and somehow she gets you something just as beautiful, but at a much better price.

The Xiaomi 14 Civi has the good genes of both the Xiaomi 14 and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Despite being priced under Rs 50,000, the 14 Civi still features the signature Leica cameras. It has a triple camera setup, consisting of two 50-megapixel cameras (one of which is a telephoto lens) and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera. You also get dual 32-megapixel cameras on the front. All the 14 Civi cameras support 4K recording. I have been testing the camera, and while you can’t compare the image output from the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and, in some scenarios, even the Xiaomi 14, the 14 Civi still manages to impress in most cases. You can still enjoy the quick point and shoot experience of the more expensive Xiaomi 14 series. I will share more details about it in my review next week.

After using HyperOS on the Xiaomi 14 and then the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, now that I’m using it on the 14 Civi, I feel the operating system is starting to grow on me. There are some initial tweaks to make, a few apps need to be uninstalled, but after the initial few minutes of personalising the OS, I think the experience is one of a clean UI.

As for the battery, I am yet to test the device thoroughly to give you numbers, but my initial impression about the battery life of the Xiaomi 14 Civi is pretty good. I have been using the phone for a little over 24 hours on a single charge. And I put myself in the moderate to heavy usage category. I have a lot of apps running on the phone at the same time, and multitasking is my superpower.

But my favourite thing about the Xiaomi 14 Civi by far is its design and build. The Xiaomi 14 Civi is extremely light and sleek. It weighs around 177 grams and is 72.7mm thick. The phone is very easy to carry around and fit in the pocket. Because we all know the fashion industry is still a bit stingy about pockets in women’s clothing – especially in those denims. But, I digressed. The Xiaomi 14 Civi I am testing is the Matcha Green variant. There is also a beautiful blue and the standard black variant. But I am very happy with the Match Green colour variant. It is beautiful and quite different from the design we usually see on smartphones these days. What is also special is that each of the Matcha Green units has a unique pattern

“Special” reminds me that the display on the Xiaomi 14 Civi is another thing I’m enjoying. The company says it’s the world’s first quad curved display. But what you need to know is that it’s basically a combination of a 3D curved display and a flat display, and it offers the best of both worlds. Thin bezels, no mistouch, better responsiveness.

But does all this make the Xiaomi 14 Civi worth its price? I will answer this in my detailed review next week. Right now, I can say that the Xiaomi smartphone looks quite promising.