If there is one brand that has been on a roll in 2024, it is Realme. The company has launched smartphones in almost every segment to increase its market share and dominance. Keeping with the trend, Realme is again back with the 13 series, which aims to take the camera experience to the next level. However, you might recall that the Realme 12 series also launched in 2024. Well, the company has now adopted a half-year refresh cycle for its number series. Nevertheless, the question remains: has Realme delivered an all-around phone, or has it sacrificed in other aspects? I had the chance to test out the phone for a couple of weeks, so let’s look at it in my review of the Realme 13 Pro Plus.

Realme 13 Pro Plus Review: Design & Hardware

If there is one thing Realme has learned from its parent company, Oppo, it is how to master design. Inspired by Monet’s Haystack paintings, the Realme 13 Pro Plus features a gorgeous textured back glass panel that is sure to start conversations. The horizontal patterns catch the light from different angles, creating a wave-like texture. I showed the phone to a few colleagues, and they all loved the back design.

But that’s not all. The company has continued its Rolex-inspired camera module design, which complements the back design and makes the 13 Pro Plus stand out from the sea of generic-looking phones.

While the sides match the back design, they are unfortunately made of plastic, thus compromising durability. I accidentally dropped the phone from my bedside table without a case and dented the side frame. Therefore, I recommend that anyone purchasing this phone keep it in a case.

Realme 13 Pro Plus Review: Display

The Realme 13 Pro Plus features a curved 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED 120Hz display with a local peak brightness of 2,000 nits. The device reaches up to 1,200 nits in outdoor scenarios, making it easily visible in direct sunlight. The panel is impressive, with punchy colors, good dynamic range, and sharpness, making it an excellent option for people who watch movies on the go. Moreover, the device comes with Widevine L1 support out of the box.

If you’ve read my reviews of other Realme smartphones, you might recall that the company has struggled with managing refresh rates on its devices. Unfortunately, the same issue persists with the Realme 13 Pro Plus. It isn’t as bad as on past Realme phones, but the handset doesn’t run at its full 120Hz in most third-party apps. For example, Chrome and Gmail run at 90Hz, YouTube at 60Hz, and Google at 60Hz in search results, which then switches to 90Hz when opening a page.

The Realme 13 Pro Plus also does not support HDR playback on YouTube, which was a surprising discovery. However, this could be a bug, and I have communicated this issue to the Realme team, who are working on a fix.

Finally, the device comes with the new Corning Gorilla Glass 7i for display protection, which held up well in my testing. As mentioned earlier, I dropped the phone, which dented the frame. Meanwhile, the display remained spotless with no scratches.

Realme 13 Pro Plus Review: Performance

The Realme 13 Pro Plus houses the midrange Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip, which includes four Cortex-A78 cores running at 2.4GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores running at 1.95GHz, along with the Adreno 710 GPU. The device also comes with up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The phone handles everyday tasks pretty well, whether scrolling through social media, watching videos, or taking camera samples. I noticed no slowdowns, hiccups, or jitters.

I also tested the benchmark performance of the Realme 13 Pro Plus, and the results were interesting. In Geekbench, the device scored 946 and 2809 in the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. In the AnTuTu benchmark, the device scored 684386, putting it on par with other devices in the segment. However, in the infamous 30-minute 30-thread throttle test, the 13 Pro Plus struggled and throttled toe 76% of its peak performance.

Considering the throttle issues, my expectations for gaming were low. However, in the “HD” and “Extreme” settings in BGMI, the gameplay was smooth, with no dropped frames.

Battery Life

With a massive 5,200mAh battery, the Realme 13 Pro Plus easily lasted through an entire day of testing, which consisted of taking camera samples, playing BGMI, and watching videos. To put things into perspective, you can expect around 7-8 hours of screen-on time (SOT) if your day consists of everything I discussed. When the battery eventually runs out, the included 80W charger can recharge the phone from 0% to 100% in under 50 minutes.

Realme 13 Pro Plus Review: Cameras

If you watched Realme’s launch event, you wouldn’t have missed the emphasis on the 13 Pro Plus’s cameras. But before we proceed, the device features a 50MP Sony LYT-701 primary camera sensor with OIS support, another 50MP 3x Sony LYT-600 periscope lens with OIS support, and an 8MP UltraWide lens.

Starting with daylight photos, Realme’s focus on HyperImage+ processing has paid off, as the shots have a natural tone without being too punchy. The sharpness was top-notch, and the phone surprisingly handled harsh lighting conditions pretty well.

It’s safe to say that portrait shots look best on a telephoto lens, and this holds true with the 13 Pro Plus. The photos were aesthetically pleasing, with natural bokeh and good edge detection. While the quality does drop in low-light scenarios, the shots are still usable.

Zoom and UltraWide shots

Regarding zoom shots, the 3x telephoto lens on the Realme 13 Pro Plus captures excellent photos with colors that don’t deviate much from the primary camera. The sensor can zoom up to 120x, though this is more of a marketing gimmick. Realistically, you can zoom in up to 7x-8x and get detailed shots.

The 8MP UltraWide lens, on the other hand, captures decent photos in optimal lighting, but the quality deteriorates significantly in indoor and nighttime conditions.

Nighttime shots

Given the new Sony sensor, I had high expectations for the 13 Pro Plus, and it didn’t disappoint. It captured well-lit shots with good color reproduction and details. While some grain is visible when zooming in, Realme has provided a fix with the AI Ultra Clarity feature (more on that below).

Selfies and Videos

The 32MP selfie shooter impressed me by capturing detailed selfies with natural skin tones in outdoor and indoor scenarios. However, in low light, the shots were soft and lacked detail.

In the video department, the Realme 13 Pro Plus can capture up to 4K@30fps, which is disappointing considering the company’s focus on cameras. Nevertheless, the videos were pretty good, with ample details and stabilization.

Realme 13 Pro Plus Review: AI Features & Software

Realme talked greatly about the AI features on the 13 Pro Plus, including AI Smart Removal, AI Ultra Clarity, and AI Group Photo Enhance. Of these, I found AI Smart Removal to be the most effective at removing objects from photos. While it struggles with complex backgrounds, it is a handy tool for cleaning up small or even big objects.

The AI Ultra Clarity feature claims to add more clarity and appeal to photos. In testing, it usually brightened the photo and adjusted sharpness, which proved to be very helpful in cleaning up old photos. Similarly, AI Group Photo Enhance aims to clear faces in pictures and brighten up low-light images.

Regarding the software experience, the 13 Pro Plus runs on Android 14 out of the box, with Realme UI 5.0 on top. The company has promised two years of major software updates and three years of security patches.

As mentioned, the UI is smooth, with no lags or stutters. However, there is a lot of bloatware, including Snapchat, Spotify, and Netflix. Additionally, the device features the infamous “Hot Apps” folder, which displays ads for various apps you are unlikely to install.

Should you buy the Realme 13 Pro Plus?

Starting at Rs. 29,999 including offers, the Realme 13 Pro Plus is ideal for those whose main priorities are camera quality and design. While the performance could be better, the cameras more than compensate for this limitation. As a result, the device gets a solid thumbs up from me.