Samsung and Google beware: New cheaper Android rival coming to the UK tomorrow


It has been a fine year for Android phones with top handsets launched by Samsung, Google and OnePlus, leaving UK smartphone fans spoiled for choice when it comes to their next upgrade (unless they want an iPhone 16). Another company getting in on the action is Xiaomi, whose Xiaomi 14 Ultra flagship left Express.co.uk particularly impressed back in April.

Now Xiaomi is gearing up for another major launch and to keep potential buyers excited it has revealed quite a bit about its new phone range that is set to launch at an event in Berlin tomorrow, and it looks as though the phones will be available for Brits to buy.

That’s because Xiaomi’s UK X account has started posting about a launch happening on 26 September a sure fire clue that the Xiaomi 14T series, which is mentioned, will be available on UK shores:

The teasers are heavily focused on the photography chops of the unannounced phones and contain the tagline ‘master light, capture night’, suggesting Xiaomi thinks the phones have great low light cameras. The images also show camera lenses witht eh branding of famous camera company Leica.

One post mentions a model called the Xiaomi 14T Pro “with 50W wireless and 120W wired HyperCharge”, revealing the very fast charging speeds available to this new smartphone.

The naming of the 14T series makes sense given Xiaomi has already released the 14 Ultra and regular 14 earlier this year in the UK. Both are flagship-level devices with impressive build quality and excellent cameras, but Xiaomi looks to be continuing its annual pattern of launching a ‘T’ series about six months later, just like it did with the Xiaomi 13T in the latter stages of 2023.

The 13T Pro sells in the UK for £699, a chunk of change less than the £849 Xiaomi 13. This T phone cut back on a few specs such as using a different processor and different camera components to reach this lower price – so we hope the Xiaomi 14T Pro also does this to offer price-conscious Android buyers a decent option instead of plumping for the equivalent Samsung, Google or OnePlus device.

Despite the wide selection of Android phones available in the UK, sales are largely dominated by Samsung, so we are glad to see Xiaomi appears to be committing to sell these well-specced mid-range and flagship phones on these shores to provide some competition.

Further online previews sent out by Xiaoimi appear to show the Chinese firm has teamed up with Google to bring the latter’s Gemini AI assistant and other AI smarts to the 14T phones:

The official Android X account replied to the above post, implying Gemini Live will be on the phones, which allows for conversational search and more. If you are interested in using Google AI on your next Android phone, it’s pleasing to see Google partner with manufacturers beyond Samsung to provide these tools.

All this said, we still don’t know how much the Xiaomi 14T Pro or any other potential 14T series phones will cost, and if they are definitely coming to the UK market – but it seems as though all will be revealed tomorrow at 1pm UK time. You can tune in to watch the launch live on Xiaomi’s YouTube channel.



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