Realme has launched its Pro Number Series a little early this time. The series includes successors of Realme 11 Pro and Pro+, the Realme 12 Pro and 12 Pro+ that have come to the Indian market. The base model in the series, Realme 12 Pro is a mid-range device with features like the telephoto lens in under 30,000 categories. Other than this, to improve user experience, Realme has added a new chipset and some more camera features. Although Realme 12 Pro has shared specs with its predecessor Realme 11 Pro, the prices have been hiked a little. For a starting price of Rs. 25,999, let us find out if the Realme 12 Pro can offer a decent camera, reliable performance, a nice display, and long battery life for everyday usage or not. Realme 12 Pro 5G Review will answer the question of whether it can be a reliable daily driver or not.
Realme 12 Pro 5G Review Snapshot
Editor’s rating: 3.8/5
Design
Display
Software
Performance
Camera
Battery
Jump To..
Pros
- Nice display
- Decent Camera
- Long battery life
- Smooth performance in everyday use
Cons
- Bloatware
- Not for gaming
- No upgrades for display
Realme 12 Pro 5G Price & Availability
Realme 12 Pro 5G comes in Submarine Blue and Navigator Beige shades. It will go on sale from February 6 via Realme.com, Flipkart, and offline stores. The device will be available in 2 storage configurations-
- 8GB RAM+128GB storage- Rs. 25,999
- 8GB RAM+256GB storage- Rs. 26,999
ICICI Bank cardholders will get INR 2000 off as well.
Realme 12 Pro 5G Review: Design and Build
The design of Realme 12 Pro is similar to its predecessor, but there are some changes as well. The blue color variant is new and there is a golden line in the middle and around the camera module at the back. Due to these small changes, the smartphone looks more premium and attractive than before. The first look resembles a flagship phone which includes a leather back and a design inspired by the dial of a luxury watch. To create this design, Realme has partnered with a luxury watch designer who formerly worked for Rolex.
The rear panel has a leather finish and curved sides due to which the grip in hand is decent and it doesn’t slip away. The camera module also looks good with its blue color and glossy finish. There are 4 camera cutouts in the module, out of which 3 are sensors and there is a 20x OIS cam written as well. For a price of 25k, you get a curved display with a punch-hole selfie camera and a sleek metal frame in the middle. The right edge houses the power button and volume rockers and one-hand operation is convenient as well. The bottom edge includes a SIM tray, microphone, USB-Type C port, and speaker grille. There is an additional speaker and microphone as well at the top edge.
All-in-all the device is attractive, but as there are always pros and cons to everything same is the case with this one. The leatherback does make the device look premium, however this same leather back attracts dirt and smudges easily. The protective cover helps in this matter but it does steal the thunder of design from the device. It gets thicker as well.
Considering the budget, Realme 12 Pro is attractive and the new submarine blue color variant also looks nice. The built quality is decent and the smartphone is sleek as well. For protection, Realme gives a protective cover as well. Although the cover does make it less beautiful if you want your phone to stay protected, using it is a must.
Realme 12 Pro 5G Review: Display
There are no upgrades in terms of display from Realme 11 Pro to Realme 12 Pro. There is the same 6.7-inch curved display, an AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, and 950 nits peak brightness. HDR Support is available as well. While there is nothing new, the display is not bad as well.
The colors on the display look nice and the color profile can be chosen as per preference. There are Vivid, Natural, and Pro Modes available, Pro Mode includes Cinematic and Brilliant as well. The profiles allow you to choose the color temperature as well. We set the profile to Natural and chose Cold color temperature and loved the colors on these settings. If you prefer richer colors, then you can opt for Vivid or Brilliant as well but these aren’t that easy on the eyes.
While video streaming, colors, and viewing angles are decent. Although some scenes look oversaturated in Vivid’s profile but then that can be ignored. With an AMOLED display, dark areas look black while bright areas shine. There is 950 nits brightness which works well indoors, but under bright sunlight, it falls short.
The refresh rate can be set up to 120Hz but using Auto mode is more convenient as it not only saves battery but keeps moving between 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz as per tasks being done on the screen. Setting the refresh rate to 120Hz offers a smooth experience.
HDR10 support is available as well. It worked on YouTube but on Netflix, HDR content could not be played. Always-On-Display is available as well.
ALSO READ: Poco M6 5G Review: Affordable 5G Companion that fits the Bill
ALSO READ: Poco X6 5G Review: Mid-Ranger that Lasts All Day Long
ALSO READ: Realme 12 Pro Plus 5G Review: Stylish Companion for All Your Photography Needs
Realme 12 Pro 5G Review: Performance
Realme 12 Pro 5G marks the debut of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset, which is based on a 4nm manufacturing process. It is an octa-core chipset with 4 Kyro Cortex A78 cores at 2.2GHz clock speed and four Cortex A55 cores at 1.8GHz clock speed. There is an Adreno 619 GPU as well with up to 12GB RAM. A Vapor Chamber cooling system is also available.
The performance of the device is fast. Whether you perform any task, it can easily handle them all. We used various apps simultaneously and switched between them, but didn’t encounter any issues. The apps open quickly with no lags but if gaming is your priority, this device is not particularly suitable for you.
We gamed on Realme 12 Pro for a while and titles that demand heavy graphics run well only for some time on this one. This is because, during long gaming sessions with high frame rates and HD graphics, it starts lagging. Titles like Genshin Impact, COD, and BGMI will run well for some time only when played in low settings. The best part is that even after 30-40 minutes of gaming, the temperature of the phone didn’t rise much. Even if one had played more, it might have gotten slightly warm which is common with smartphones. The dual speakers offer a decent audio experience while gaming. We ran some benchmark tests and the results are given below-
Realme 12 Pro runs Android 14-based Realme UI 5.0 out of the box. Realme has promised 2 software updates and 3 security updates. UI is easy to use. The File Dock feature allows collecting and sharing information quicker and more efficiently. Flash Capsule offers easy access to third-party apps. Bloatware is present but it is less than before and is easy to uninstall if not needed.
Realme 12 Pro 5G Review: Cameras
The camera of Realme 12 Pro 5G can be considered as one of its strong points as it comes with a telephoto sensor which is usually found in devices priced above 35,000. The triple camera setup includes a 50MP Sony IMX882 camera with OIS and f/1.2 aperture, an 8MP ultrawide camera with f/2.2 aperture, and a 32MP telephoto lens that is a Sony IMX709 sensor with 4x optical zoom and f/2.0 aperture. For selfies, there is a 16MP camera.
The primary sensor offers detailed images with good colors and dynamic range. Portrait shots are good as well with details like hair and facial features being decently captured. Edge detection is also good. There is a dedicated 2x telephoto camera which offers good photos, whereas 4x in-sensor zoom softens the details. While Realme 12 Pro+ has 120x zoom, this one comes with 20x digital zoom. On zooming in details seem to fade away but then one can’t expect more than this with a mid-budget device. If you want a better zoom camera, you will have to move towards flagship devices which cost way more than Realme 12 Pro Plus.
The 8MP Ultrawide camera also takes good shots. Low-light shots are noisy but night mode does take better shots than normal mode.
16MP selfie camera also works well and can click portrait shots too. We kept the beautification mode off and got good results with the apt. Don’t hope for too much in low-light areas.
Realme 12 Pro 5G Review: Battery Life and Charging
Realme 12 Pro 5G packs a 5000mAh battery and the powerhouse does give a good backup. In video streaming of half an hour, the battery level went down by merely 5-6%. If you are a heavy user, then as well the device will last for a day easily. There is a 67W adapter with the device that charges the battery from 0 to 50% in a mere 20 minutes. To recharge to 100%, it takes just 45 minutes.
The smartphone comes with smart charging as well, which when switched on turns off charging when the battery becomes 80%. This leads to better battery health.
Review Verdict: Should you buy Realme 12 Pro 5G?
Realme 12 Pro is a good mid-range 5G smartphone that comes with a new and better chipset, capable of implementing all your everyday tasks with ease. You can play heavy titles on this device, but for a gaming-centric device, you will have to look at more premium options. Battery backup is impressive and the display is apt for content consumption. Considering the budget, the camera too doesn’t disappoint. So if you look at features like display, battery, chipset, and camera then Realme 12 Pro 5G is a decent smartphone. However, if you want gaming and a powerful processor, then consider options like Poco X6 Pro, Realme 12 Pro+, or OnePlus Nord 3.
Reasons to buy
- Nice display
- Decent Camera
- Long battery life
- Smooth performance in everyday use
Reasons to not buy
- Bloatware
- Not for gaming
- No upgrades for display
