Realme has upped the ante with its number series over the past few years by focusing on premium design and higher quality cameras that look to stand out from the crowd. The Realme 13 Pro Plus is part of that strategy from the company as it looks to incentivise people to spend a bit extra and get more for their money similar to many other brands these days. Realme 13 Pro Plus also gets the AI initiation from the company as the technology is slowly trickling down beyond the flagship segment.
But does Realme justify these upgrades along with the price bump and offer a compelling product with top-notch camera tricks up its sleeves? We have been testing the device to give you the answer in this review.
The Monet Design Effect
Realme emphasised on the design of the 13 Pro Plus during its briefing and we could see the reasons for the excitement. The shades of premiumness are hard to ignore on all fronts. The sprinkling of sand-like material over the glass body adds a different appeal along with a light flow like pattern bringing a rich context to the device.
The phone is slightly on the bulker side with a weight of 190 grams and 8.2mm thickness but you don’t feel the heft in daily use. The phone offers a solid grip and less chances of dropping off the hands. The large camera module is hard to ignore and adds a definite balance to the overall design aesthetics. There’s a lot to like about the looks of the Realme 13 Pro Plus and we’re happy to see some premium changes coming to this segment.
Cameras Take The AI Stage
Realme 13 Pro Plus is dubbed to feature a quality set of cameras and most of our findings have vouched for those claims. The triple camera setup comes with a 50MP Sony LYT series sensor along with a Sony 50MP periscope lens and an 8MP ultra-wide lens.
The daylight images from the main sensor deliver crisp details and the colours look natural. There is a definite colour profile from the Realme processing which doesn’t overdo the contrasts and that will be likeable to most people.
The periscope lens shows its mettle while capturing close details of a flower or even a textured material. The resulting images are crisp and you see the virtues of having a reliable shooter rather than the mundane depth/macro sensors on board.
Even the low light ability of the cameras kept us pleased as the noise was easily reduced and the additional light source provided ample details in the subject. When you add the AI impact on the editing tools, you get the photos that you desire by removing unwanted items from the frame using the Magic Eraser like AI tool.
Same But Vibrant Display
Realme has offered the same 6.7-inch AMOLED display on the 13 Pro Plus as its predecessor but the peak brightness has now gone up to 2000 nits. The screen offers 120Hz refresh rate which gives it the fluidity in scrolling and other aspects.
The colours and the richness of the display is attractive but we would have liked more improvements compared to the 12 Pro Plus. It is also important to point out the display doesn’t support HDR which is offered by other brands in this range.
Hardware Sameness Not Ideal
The other aspect that Realme has continued from the 12 Pro Plus is the same chipset powering the device. Performance is clearly not the top focus for the brand which explains this decision but not ideal if you want a future-ready device in general.
While benchmark tools are not the best way to gauge a device and its ability, the 13 Pro Plus scores when compared to the OnePlus Nord 4 and the Honor 200 showed the gulf in their power levels even when they feature in the same bracket. Going by these traits, it is evident that Realme 13 Pro Plus can handle regular tasks easily, casual games are doable but this is not a device suited for the power users.
Bloatware Persists
Realme continues its tradition of bloatware and flooding the 13 Pro Plus with over 50 pre-loaded apps that includes its own app suite and other third-party apps.
The Realme UI as a whole can deliver the desired performance but we’re not big fans of having so many apps on the device, even if brands claim that people actually see the purpose of doing so. You get it with the Android 14-based version and promise of 2 OS upgrades along with 3 years of security updates which is less than what its rivals offer.
No Complaints With The Battery-Charging Combo
Realme 13 Pro Plus comes with heft largely because of the 5200mAh battery packed inside the device which supports 80W charging speed now. Both the battery and charging speeds are an upgrade from the 12 Pro Plus and these additions give you longer backup and faster charge up time.
We got the phone running for over 11 hours with moderate usage and most people will see the device last for more than a day with their basic tasks which includes browsing the web, using social media, listening to music and more.
Realme 13 Pro Plus does a good job with its design, the camera upgrades are noteworthy but the performance remains stagnant compared to its rivals while the charging support is a big plus for most buyers.
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