realme’s latest mid-range offering, the realme 13 Pro+ 5G, packs a punch with its impressive camera setup, vibrant display, and AI features.
Priced at Php 28,999, the device promises to deliver exceptional value. But, can it compete with the heavyweights in its segment? More importantly, can it truly justify the cost? Let’s dive in and find out.
Design and Display
realme is often overlooked for its stylish devices. The 13 Pro+ is a prime example of this, as it defies expectations with a stunning design.
The phone boasts a similar design language to its predecessor with a distinctive watch dial aesthetic and a fluted bezel around the camera module.
Our review unit, in Emerald Green, is inspired by French impressionist painter Claude Monet’s Water Lilies painting. It has a luxurious deep teal vegan leather back accented by gold trimmings and the signature realme logo. The other color option is Monet Gold, inspired by Monet’s Haystacks painting.
The device has a 6.7-inch AMOLED Curved OLED display with FHD+ resolution, a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, a responsive 240Hz touch sampling rate, and a peak brightness of 2000 nits. The curves at the sides meet the frame, resulting in narrow bezels and a 93% screen-to-body ratio. It also has a small hole punch cutout for the selfie camera and an in-display fingerprint sensor.
The display is vibrant and colorful with good viewing angles and high legibility under direct sunlight. It supports HDR on YouTube, but not on Netflix.
The fingerprint sensor is on the lower part of the screen. It is slightly harder to reach in one-handed operation, given the size of the phone. However, it’s not a big deal given how common it is in devices within this price range.
The volume and power buttons are on the right side. The SIM tray, microphone, USB-C port, and speaker are at the bottom. On top is another speaker and a secondary microphone.
Cameras
The realme 13 Pro+ 5G has a triple camera setup, powered by its HYPERIMAGE+ Camera System, consisting of a 50MP main camera with a Sony LYT-701 sensor, a 50MP periscope lens with a Sony LYT-600 sensor, and an 8MP ultra-wide lens. While at the front, a 32MP shooter with a Sony sensor handles selfies and video call duties.
realme’s camera app offers a user-friendly interface with all the important modes within reach. It includes several other shooting modes, such as street, night, portrait, video, and pro, which offer manual controls.
The phone also leverages AI to power its algorithms to produce more natural bokeh and skin tones in portraits and improved clarity and sharpness on telephoto shots. The gallery app also offers AI Eraser and AI Ultra Clarity.
AI Ultra Clarity can improve the clarity and resolution of blurry images. However, I noticed that it sometimes smudges details upon closer inspection. So I recommend that you use this sparingly.
As for the camera performance, the 50MP camera impresses. It captures detailed photos with good dynamic range and punchy colors in bright lighting conditions. Moreover, photos taken in low-light conditions look good with sharp details and accurate colors.
Portraits are impressive, producing pleasant images with natural-looking colors and soft backgrounds. Selfies, on the other hand, are good, although, sometimes they look over-sharpened.
Check out the sample photos below.
Sample Photos
Low Light and Night Mode
Zoom/Telephoto
Performance
The phone is powered by the same chip as its predecessor with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage options. It runs on realme UI 5.0 on top of Android 14. The handset also offers RAM expansion, which we recommend you max out at 12GB to maximize the phone’s performance. Do note that this is at the expense of storage space.
As with any new realme phone, the UI offers some customization options, including changing the icons, grid layout, and transition animation. It also comes with some bloatware, which we recommend you uninstall or disable.
The 13 Pro+ 5G’s performance is smooth and responsive, with no perceptible lag. Apps load quickly and run without issues. Moreover, speaker quality is good with decent mids and loudness. The in-display fingerprint scanner is also fast and responsive.
For gaming performance, the device can easily handle titles like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang with graphics and framerate set to ultra. Meanwhile, Genshin Impact defaults graphics to low, but it can go up to high at 60fps with minor stutters. I suggest playing around with the settings to get a tolerable performance sweet spot.
Temperatures are well controlled during gaming. It does get warm, but not uncomfortably hot.
Here are the benchmark scores:
- AnTuTu Benchmark
Total: 684,983
CPU: 216,552
GPU: 121,635
MEM: 189,287
UX: 157,509 - Geekbench 6
CPU Benchmark: 871 single-core, 2832 multi-core
GPU Benchmark: 1784 (OpenCL), 2283(Vulkan) - 3DMark
Wild Life: 3087
Battery and Charging
The phone is equipped with a 5200mAh battery. It is covered by realme’s 4-year Battery Health Guarantee, which ensures optimal battery performance over 48 months.
Battery life is good. It can comfortably last a full day with moderate to heavy usage with a bit more left in the morning. Regardless, I recommend charging before you leave home for work to lessen low battery scenarios.
The included 80W SUPERVOOC fast charger can charge the battery to 100% in 50 minutes. A 30-minute charge can yield almost 60%.
Final Remarks
The realme 13 Pro+ 5G delivers a strong package with a premium design, powerful cameras, and rapid fast charging. It’s hard not to recommend, given the value it presents.
It does have its share of shortcomings, which is often the case in mid-range devices. The phone’s performance, while sufficient for most tasks and games, might be a sore point for those who want more powerful processors above other features.
Despite facing stiff competition from devices like the OPPO Reno12 5G, the vivo V40, the HONOR 200, and the POCO F6, the realme 13 Pro+ 5G is still a solid choice for those in the market for a stylish, well-rounded mid-range smartphone with a strong focus on photography.
Price and Availability
The realme 13 Pro+ is available in Monet Gold and Emerald Green colors. It comes in two configurations, 12GB+256GB for Php 28,999 and 12GB+512GB for Php 31,999.
Also available is the realme 13 Pro priced at Php 24,999 for the 12GB+256GB model.
realme 13 Pro+ 5G specs
| Display | 6.7-inch FHD+ Curved OLED Display, 2412×1080, 120Hz refresh rate, 2000 nits, 100% DCI-P3, 10-bit color, Rainwater Smart Touch |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 |
| RAM/Storage | 12GB+256GB 12GB+512GB |
| Rear Cameras | 50MP main, OIS, Sony LYT-701 50MP periscope, OIS, Sony LYT-600 8MP ultra-wide |
| Front Camera | 32MP Selfie, Sony sensor |
| Network | 5G, 4G, dual SIM |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS |
| Others | In-display fingerprint scanner, USB-C, Super Linear Dual Speakers, Dynamic RAM Expansion, Hi-Res Audio, 3D VC Cooling System, SGS 5 Stars Drop Resistance, IP65 dust and water resistance |
| OS | realme UI 5.0, Android 14 |
| Colors | Monet Gold Emerald Green |
| Battery | 5200mAh battery, 80W SUPERVOOC Fast Charging |
