HUAWEI Pura 70 Ultra vs Xiaomi 14 Ultra Comparison Review

The battle of the ultra-flagships continues and this time, we have the new HUAWEI Pura70 Ultra up against the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Both clearly have the makings of a flagship smartphone: powerful cameras, stunning displays, and high-end performance. But which one stands out as a true flagship?

In this comparison review, we’ll talk about the key highlights and differences that make one of them the better choice over the other. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!

Design and Build

Starting with aesthetics, I must say, the Pura70 Ultra’s design looks more distinguished from what we’ve already seen before.

It has a rather unconventional design going on, particularly with the camera island on the back. HUAWEI calls this “fashion forward” design evident with the camera module’s triangular shape.

In my opinion, this is quite a bold design approach, and I would say they nailed it making a unique visual identity, especially for a fresh, new lineup like the Pura70 Series.

Looking into the details, we see three camera lenses with one in prominently bigger size and there’s a reason for that. It’s actually a pop-out camera that essentially lets you physically adjust the aperture. You’ll definitely notice it right away as it pops-up featuring a red accented outline.

Just below that is an XMAGE badge while the rest of the back panel comes in a premium vegan leather finish — splashed with X-shaped pattern all throughout. On the sides, it has a curved aluminum frame with a glossy finish.

On the other hand, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra goes for a familiar, signature look. Too familiar that it will look like a DSLR camera, especially if it’s wearing the Photography Grip accessory.

There are four lenses enclosed in a circular camera island where at the middle it reads the Leica moniker. This is quite a camera bump that you can even see a golden accent around the camera island.

The rest of its back panel also comes in vegan leather finish but with a more authentic pattern. The frame is also made of aluminum albeit it’s mostly flat and curves just a little bit towards the back panel.

A must-have feature for a flagship phone is at least an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance — which applies to both models in this comparison. Meaning, you can dunk both these phones underwater as deep as 1.5 meters for a limited amount of time.

Design-wise, I’ll give it a tie. While I commend the Pura70 Ultra’s fresh take on smartphone aesthetics, I also liked the fact that the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is as premium as it looks.

Display and Multimedia

Flip both phones to the front and surely, they have exceptional displays. However, the Xiaomi 27 14 Ultra may have a slight edge in this area. It boasts a 6.73-inch LTPO AMOLED screen which has a crisper resolution at 3200 by 1440 pixels, a higher pixel density at 522 pixels-per-inch (ppi). It even has a higher peak brightness at 3000 nits.

In comparison, the HUAWEI 14 Pura70 Ultra gets a tad bit larger 6.8-inch LTPO AMOLED display with only 2744 by 1260 pixels, 460 ppi, and 2500 nits of peak brightness. Despite the differences, expect color-accurate, vivid, and a clear picture from both phones.

Their screens also get an added layer of protection with the Pura70 Ultra rocking a Crystal Armor Kunlun Glass and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra with its new Xiaomi Shield Glass.

HUAWEI Pura70 Ultra’s display

There isn’t much to know about these new protective glasses but we’re hoping they’d be on par with the likes of the Gorilla Glass Victus line.

Another edge for the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is its support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos bringing a more immersive viewing experience. Both do still have dual stereo speakers allowing for immersive audio.

Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s display

With that said, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra clearly takes the display segment thanks to its crisper display, complemented by its more immersive visuals and sound stage.

Performance and Benchmarks

Now onto one of the most crucial factors in this comparison: the chipsets that power these devices.

Under the hood, the HUAWEI Pura70 Ultra features the company’s in-house Kirin 9010 chipset. While the Xiaomi 14 Ultra boasts the cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. And on paper? The latter definitely has the upper hand.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is built on a more efficient 4-nanometer process, and it can reach higher clock speeds at up to 3.3 GHz. Despite its flagship standing, the Kirin 9010 inside the Pura70 Ultra runs on a 7-nanometer process node and can only reach a maximum 2.3 GHz clock speed.

Therefore, in terms of raw power, this means that the Xiaomi 14 Ultra performs significantly far, FAR better than the HUAWEI Pura70 Ultra.

Let’s take a look at our benchmark results:

As you can see above, there is a massive gap between the two chipsets. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra gets an impressive score at over two million points while the HUAWEI Pura70 Ultra only gets a measly eight-hundred eighty thousand points.

Our results also show faster RAM and storage speeds with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. The same goes for the rest of the benchmarking apps we tested: all garnered better results from the Xiaomi flagship.

While the numbers speak for themselves, that’s not to say that the Pura70 Ultra underperforms in real world use cases. This is a flagship chip after all and should provide enough juice for your day-to-day tasks.

As for gaming, it will also do just fine. Graphic-intensive titles like Genshin Impact ran smoothly even at maxed out settings. But with a more powerful chipset, expect the Xiaomi 14 Ultra to be miles ahead in overall performance — giving it a lead in this comparison.

Cameras

Next up, let’s talk about cameras. Huawei has been known for its impressive cameras throughout the years and that still holds true with the Pura70 Ultra.

It boasts a triple rear setup led by a 50-megapixel 1-inch pop-out sensor that supports sensor shift optical image stabilization; a 40-megapixel ultrawide; and another 50-megapixel sensor for macro telephoto that gets OIS as well. The phone features Huawei’s self-developed XMAGE system to boot.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra poses a challenge with its quad rear setup co-developed with Leica and are all 50-megapixel sensors: a main shooter with optical image stabilization, a telephoto lens, a periscopic telephoto with OIS as well, and an ultrawide lens with autofocus.

On paper, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra would easily win the camera segment, but it’s not all about the spec sheet. The HUAWEI Pura 70 Ultra is in fact the current champion on DxOMark’s top smartphones ranking globally in terms of cameras.

Regardless, expect both phones to output impressive images and videos as if they’re taken with a DSLR or high-end film cameras. You may check out our sample shots from our review articles of the HUAWEI Pura 70 Ultra and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

For the most part, I liked how the Pura70 Ultra makes the photos look more dramatic by default whereas the Xiaomi 14 Ultra outputs more vivid colors. Perhaps, the biggest flex of the Pura70 Ultra is its better night photography. As you can see in our sample night shots, the Pura70 Ultra can capture more light in frame along with relatively clear detail.

Overall, I prefer the camera performance on the HUAWEI flagship despite it having less sensors to work with. Though, I gotta give props to Xiaomi 14 Ultra bringing a more versatile camera setup.

Battery Life

Moving on, the Pura70 Ultra gets a 5,200mAh battery paired with a 100W wired and 80W wireless charging. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra gets a tad bit smaller 5,000mAh unit with support for 90W wired and 80W wireless charging.

As for battery life, naturally, we expect the Pura70 Ultra to last a bit longer and it did. In our PCMark testing, the phone pumped out 15 hours and 33 minutes. In comparison, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra was able to last 13 hours and 24 minutes.

Adding utility to Pura70 Ultra is its support for 20W reverse wireless charging. This feature makes the device a convenient power bank that can charge your other devices wirelessly and also over wired connection.

With a faster charging speed, longer battery life, and the addition of reverse wireless charging, the Pura 70 Ultra evens out the match with this segment.

Connectivity & Other Features

For connectivity, while the HUAWEI Pura70 Ultra inherently supports 5G connectivity which works just fine in China, it doesn’t seem to work with the Philippines’ local 5G bands. This is somewhat of a letdown, considering its hefty price tag.

While both phones get all the essentials, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra supports the newer, faster Wi-Fi 7 standard. And since it has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset found in other flagship phones in the Philippine market today, we can expect it to support 5G locally.

Software-wise, this could be another letdown for the Pura70 Ultra. It runs EMUI 14.2 based on an unspecified Android version. While I commend the improvements made on the HUAWEI AppGallery, I must say I still find some minor inconveniences when sideloading some of the apps through the platform.

Aside from GBox, the AppGallery installs these additional tools to properly run apps that rely on Google Play Services.

This unfortunate flaw of the Pura70 Ultra makes the Xiaomi 14 Ultra shine running HyperOS based on the latest Android 14. Google apps are here, the Play Store is here, so less hassle in here.

I know, software experience varies among users, so I’ll give it a tie in this category. As for 5G connectivity, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is not even officially released in the Philippines, so I felt like it wouldn’t deserve the point.

Which one brings the true flagship experience?

Wrapping this up, we answer the question, “Which one stands out as the true flagship?”

Ultimately, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra with its superior processing power sets it apart from the competition, emerging as the ‘true’ flagship in this match-up. Adding to that is its versatile camera system and its hassle-free software experience.

However, like I said, this model is not officially released in the Philippines. In China, it gets a relatively lower price than the Pura70 Ultra, and if ever that would be the case here locally, then it’s sure is the better choice overall.

The HUAWEI Pura70 Ultra’s trump card is its unmatched camera performance, priced at PHP 79,999USD 1,363INR 115,567EUR 1,298CNY 9,928. Not gonna lie, it is quite a jump from last year’s HUAWEI P60 Pro that retailed for a much lower price (starting at PHP 58,999USD 1,005INR 85,230EUR 958CNY 7,322).

But if you dig a fresh, stylish smartphone packing some serious cameras, then this could be the one for you.

HUAWEI Pura70 Ultra vs Xiaomi 14 Ultra specs: