Realme 12 Pro Plus Review: New Mid-Range Camera Champion

- Updated: 1st Mar 2024, 13:03 IST
  • 1
    Review Summary
  • 2
    Realme 12 Pro Plus Price in India And Variants
  • 3
    Realme 12 Pro Plus Box Contents
  • 4
    Realme 12 Pro Plus Specs At A Glance
  • 5
    Realme 12 Pro Plus Design And Build
  • 6
    Realme 12 Pro Plus Camera
  • 7
    Realme 12 Pro Plus Battery And Charging
  • 8
    Realme 12 Pro Plus Display And Audio
  • 9
    Realme 12 Pro Plus Performance
  • 10
    Realme 12 Pro Plus Software And UI
  • 11
    Verdict
Review Summary

Realme has always offered something unique with their number series, and the Realme 12 Pro Plus promises to offer flagship-level photography at a mid-range price. It boasts some serious camera improvements and brings a 64-megapixel periscope lens for the first time in this segment.

But are these upgrades worthy enough to take on the competition, and does the Realme 12 Pro Plus deserve the crown for the best mid-range camera smartphone? I have been using the phone for a while now, and here is my review of the Realme 12 Pro Plus 5G.

The device has a soft touch vegan leather finish on the back and feels premium compared to the competition. It also offers a beautiful curved display and a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset.

But how does this chipset compare to the competition? Does the 64-megapixel sensor with 3x zoom take any good photos? To find out, read my review of the Realme 12 Pro Plus.

PROS

  • Excellent cameras with flagship-grade periscope lens
  • Long-lasting battery
  • Premium design with vegan leather finish
  • Ships with Android 14 out of the box.

CONS

  • No HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support
  • Mediocre performance
  • Only two years of OS updates
  • Plenty of Bloatware
Key Specs
Battery Capacity5000 mAh
Operating SystemAndroid v14
Screen Size6.7 inches
Highlights:
  • 5000 mAh

  • Android v14

  • 6.7 inches

Realme 12 Pro Plus Price in India And Variants

The Realme 12 Pro Plus 5G retails in India for a price of Rs.29,999 for the 8GB+128GB variant. Furthermore, the 12GB+256GB model of the phone costs Rs.33,999.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Box Contents

It is available in Explorer Red, Navigator Beige, and Submarine Blue colors. The Realme 21 Pro Plus can be purchased on Flipkart, the Realme India website, and leading retail stores

Realme 12 Pro Plus Box Contents

The Realme 12 Pro Plus comes with the following items inside the box:

Realme 12 Pro Plus Box Contents

  • Phone
  • Case
  • Manual
  • 67W SUPERVOOC Charger

Realme 12 Pro Plus Specs At A Glance

Before we talk in detail about the device, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

  • Display: 6.7 inch AMOLED with 120Hz refresh rate
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7S Gen 2
  • RAM & ROM: 8GB 128GB, 8GB 256 GB, 12GB 256 GB
  • Software: Realme UI 5 based on Android 14
  • Rear camera: 50MP + 8MP + 64MP
  • Selfie camera: 32MP
  • Battery: 5,000mAh
  • Weight: 196 grams
  • Dimensions: 161.5 x 74 x 8.8 mm

Realme 12 Pro Plus Design And Build

The Realme 12 Pro Plus sports a premium vegan leather back with a luxury watch-inspired design. Realme has collaborated with renowned watchmaker Ollivier Savéo to create the design.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Design 1

Also Read: Xiaomi 13 Pro Long-Term Review: Pro Grade Flagship Experience

Moreover, the vegan leather back has a silky finish that feels to the touch and offers a sophisticated feel that even devices that cost twice as much cannot provide. The vegan leather’s thickness is much higher than past Realme phones, and the Explorer Red color I have looks stunning.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Design 2

On the back, you will get a large circular camera island surrounded by a golden bezel. Furthermore, a thin metallic strip goes through the middle of the phone, offering a uniform look, but I feel it interrupts the soft-touch vegan leather finish.

Also Read: Poco X6 Review: Xtreme Performance On A Budget

At the bottom left corner, you get the Realme branding and curved sides that smoothly blend into the frame. Despite the phone weighing 196 grams, it feels comfortable to hold in the hand and is just 8.8mm thick.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Right

Also Read: Poco X6 Pro Review: The OnePlus Killer Is Here!

Coming to ports and placements, you get the volume rockers and power buttons on the right while the left side is empty. Furthermore, the top of the phone houses the secondary speaker grille and microphone.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Bottom

At the bottom, you will find the USB-C port, speaker grille, and the SIM tray. The phone has an IP65 rating to protect it against occasional water splashes.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Camera

The Realme 12 Pro+ features a 50-megapixel primary, 64-megapixel periscope telephoto, and an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor. On the front, there is a 32-megapixel selfie shooter.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Camera

Also Read: iQOO 11 Long-Term Review: Pure Performance Monster

During the day, the 50-megapixel Sony IMX890 can take amazing shots with plenty of detail and sharpness. Furthermore, the 64-megapixel OV64B telephoto sensor is the same as the one found in the flagship, like the OnePlus 12 and the iQOO 12.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 1 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 2 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 3 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 4 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 8 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 7 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 6 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 5

Also Read: Poco M6 5G Review: Bringing 5G To The Masses

The telephoto lens can take crisp shots at 3x zoom and can take great portrait shots. Moreover, you get up to 120x zoom, although the output is barely usable.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 9 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 10 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 11 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 12 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 13 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 14 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 15 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 16

Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro Review: The Perfect Mid-Ranger?

The 8-megapixel ultrawide angle lens is decent and can take some good shots, although it isn’t as great as the other two lenses. You still get plenty of detail and low-light shots.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 18 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 19 Realme 12 Pro Plus Daylight Sample 20

The phone can take amazing shots with adequate detail and minimal noise in low light. Moreover, the dynamic range is excellent, and there is good sharpness.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Night Sample 1 Realme 12 Pro Plus Night Sample 2 Realme 12 Pro Plus Night Sample 3 Realme 12 Pro Plus Night Sample 4 Realme 12 Pro Plus Night Sample 5

The 32-megapixel selfie shooter can take good photos with accurate skin tones and details. However, you only get 1080p video recording at 30FPS on the selfie and telephoto lens, which could be much better.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Selfie Sample

Moreover, the primary camera can shoot up to 4K at 30FPS and 1080p at 120FPS, but stabilization is available only at 1080p 60FPS. The output is decent, lacking contrast and saturation, but you get good stabilization.

Also Read: Motorola Edge 30 Fusion Long-Term Review: Does It Still Have The Edge?

Overall, the Realme 12 Pro Plus offers one of the best camera setups in this range and remains one of the few phones to boast a telephoto lens.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Battery And Charging

The Realme 12 Pro Plus packs a 5,000mAh battery with 67W SUPERVOOC charging support. Thanks to the 4nm chipset, the phone can easily last 6-7 hours of normal usage with a refresh rate set to 120Hz, which includes scrolling through Instagram, binge-watching TV shows, and playing casual games.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Battery

With the included 67W charger, you can fully charge the device from 0 to 100 per cent in just 43 minutes. However, it is worth noting that the predecessor of this device boasted 100W charging, and even competitors like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ boast 120W charging. Realme has downgraded the charging speed to accommodate the new periscope lens.

Also Read: Poco M6 5G Review: Bringing 5G To The Masses

Realme 12 Pro Plus Charger

Overall, the Realme 12 Pro Plus offers excellent battery life and easily lasts a day. However, the downgraded charging speed is a bummer.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Display And Audio

The Realme 12 Pro Plus features a 6.7-inch Full-HD+ AMOLED curved screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. Moreover, the display has a peak brightness of 950 nits and comes with 2160Hz PWM dimming.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Display

Also Read: Oppo Find N2 Flip Long-Term Review: Can It Flip The Competition?

The curved screen looks beautiful, with very slim bezels surrounding the screen and a punch-hole cutout. Despite being having only FHD+ while others like the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ boast 1.5K resolution, the screen is sharp enough for daily usage.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Content Consumption

Thanks to the curved edges, watching content on the phone is a pure joy as you get saturated colors. I enjoyed watching Season 2 of Halo on it, although the lack of Dolby Vision and HDR 10+ is disappointing.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Refresh Rate

Also Read: OnePlus 11 Long-Term Review: A True Flagship Killer

The phone has a peak brightness of 950 nits, and although it is good enough indoors, I did face legibility issues under bright sunlight. Moreover, phones like the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ and Poco X6 Pro offer 1800 nits of peak brightness, which is twice as bright as the Realme 12 Pro Plus. It has a smooth 120Hz refresh rate that offers a fluid software experience. You can also change the refresh rate and color profile in the settings.

Realme 12 Pro Plus User Interface

There are also dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support that are loud enough to fill an entire room. Moreover, you also get O-Haptics, one of the best implementations of haptic feedback I have ever seen on phones. The haptics are strong enough to rival even flagship phones that cost twice as much.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Performance

The Realme 12 Pro Plus uses the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset paired with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. This 4nm processor can be found in phones like the Poco X6 and the Redmi Note 13 Pro.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Gaming

Also Read: Nothing Phone (1) Long-Term Review: Still A Worthy Contender?

The phone remains smooth during day-to-day usage and can easily handle multitasking between apps like Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Moreover, most apps stay in memory and load quickly thanks to the UFS 3.1 storage.

Realme 12 Pro+ Gaming Benchmarks

However, things took a different turn when I tried intensive tasks like gaming. The phone can run BGMI at Ultra HD and Ultra Frame Rates (40 FPS) or HDR and Extreme (60 FPS). Similarly, it can handle CODM at High and Max Frame Rate (60 FPS). Unfortunately, there is no support for 90FPS, which is disappointing given the price of the phone.

Also Read: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Long-Term Review – Worth to Buy in 2024?

I even tried demanding games like Genshin Impact, Wreckfest, Hitman Blood Money Reprisal, and GTA San Andreas Definitive Edition. This is where the Adreno 710 showcased its limitations, as it failed even to achieve 30 FPS in some games.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Benchmarks

When it comes to benchmarks, the phone has a Geekbench score of 940 in single-core and 2815 in multi-core tests. Furthermore, it only throttled to 88 per cent in the CPU throttling test and has a 99.8 per cent stability score in the 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test.

Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus Review: Flagship Features At Mid-Range Price

It manages a score of 644684 in the AnTuTu V10 benchmark, which is average given the price range. Overall, the Realme 12 Pro Plus is best suited for day-to-day tasks, and there are much better phones in this segment if you want a gaming-oriented smartphone.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Software And UI

The Realme 12 Pro Plus ships out of the box with Android 14 based on Realme UI 5.0, which is great. The company promises two years of OS updates and three years of security patches, which is disappointing because other phones in this segment, like the Poco X6 Pro, offer three years of OS updates.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Android Version

Also Read: Poco C65 Review: A True Budget Champion?

Moreover, you get plenty of preinstalled apps and bloatware such as Rummytime, Agoda, Dream 11, WA Business, Candy Crush, Free Fire, Angel One, Wynk, Meesho, Coffee Run, etc. Thankfully, there is an option to uninstall them from the Settings.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Bloatware

In addition, the infamous Hot Apps and Hot Games folder is still present on the device, but you can disable it from the App Market. Realme UI 5.0 brings new features like File Capsule, which can show notifications in a pill-shaped cutout similar to Dynamic Island.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Features

Also Read: Realme 12 Pro Review: The Best Mid-Range Camera Phone?

Furthermore, you also get a File Dock feature that seamlessly transfers files, photos, and documents from one app to another. Other features include the ability to separate pictures from their background, app-specific volume controls, and internal changes resulting in faster app opening times.

Realme 12 Pro Plus RAM Expansion

The Realme 12 Pro Plus also offers 8GB of virtual RAM with the RAM expansion feature. You also get Microsoft Phone Link integration in the Settings app.

Realme 12 Pro Plus Realme UI 5

Overall, Realme UI 5.0 offers a much-refined user experience, but the inclusion of bloatware leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. The company needs to work on its update policy and remove bloatware to provide a premium experience similar to Oxygen OS.

Verdict

The Realme 12 Pro Plus is the company’s attempt to attract a photography-centric audience. It offers a premium design with a soft touch finish, a long-lasting battery, and excellent haptics.

The cameras are one of the best in this range, with a flagship-grade periscope lens with 3x optical zoom, which is a first in this segment. However, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 is only suitable for casual usage and isn’t made for intense gaming.

Furthermore, the promise of only two years of OS updates and the inclusion of bloatware is disappointing. The display brightness is also average, and the lack of Dolby Vision and HDR features puts it behind the competition.

If you prioritize an excellent periscope camera and love taking portraits, look no further than the Realme 12 Pro Plus. Otherwise, you can consider other options like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus, Oppo Reno 11, iQOO Neo 7 Pro, and Motorola Edge 40 in the same price segment.



Tips & Tricks

How To Delete My Activity In Facebook? Step-By-Step Guide Explained!
2nd Dec 2024
How To Order PVC Aadhaar card: Step By Step Guide
2nd Dec 2024
How To Remove Meta AI From WhatsApp: Step-By-Step Guide
29th Nov 2024
YouTube Shorts Video Download: 5 Ways To Save Videos To Phone
26th Nov 2024
How To Change Download Location On Google Chrome?
19th Nov 2024