Realme 9 Pro+ Review: New Mid-range Champ?

Realme 9 Pro+ Review Summary

Editor’s Rating- 3.65/5

Specs | Price & Availability | Design | Display | Battery | Camera | Performance | Verdict

Realme number series has been instrumental in the success that the young brand has achieved in India. Keeping its importance in mind, Realme launched the Realme 9 Pro and Realme Pro+ in India a few days back. With its launch, Realme is once again hoping to win the hearts of first-time 5G phone buyers looking for a dependable phone priced under Rs 25,000. It won’t be a cakewalk as the brand will face stiff competition from the likes of the OnePlus Nord 2 and Xiaomi 11i.

The Realme 9 Pro+ is a jump up in almost every aspect as compared to the existing number series phones. It gets a higher refresh rate AMOLED screen, improved SoC, and a photochromic rear panel that changes colour (like Vivo V23 Pro) when exposed to ultraviolet light. Is that good enough to take on the competition? Let’s find out in our review.

Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G Review: Design and build quality

The Realme 9 Pro Plus has two different finishes. The Sunrise Blue version that I have is as flashy as it gets with its color-changing back. The other color option is Aurora Green which gets glitter patterns under the glass.

Coming to the Sunrise Blue version that I have, Realme prefers to call this ‘Light Shift Design’ where they have made multiple thin layers of transparent glass and a layer made of photochromatic material that would make colors shifts when exposed to direct sunlight or any other ultraviolet light.

If you observe closely, you will find small glittery particles that shimmer when light falls on them giving mesmerizing effects. When I exposed it to sunlight, the rear panel changed to a completely different color for a few minutes just like the vivo V23 Pro. The rear panel is made of glass with tapered edges that fluently merge with the polycarbonate frame. The rear panel has a small slab where a triple camera setup juts out.

The phone has an excellent weight distribution and slim side profiles which ensures you won’t mind holding it in your hands. The left side edge of the house, volume keys and SIM card tray while the right edge seats the power button. The bottom edge has a USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack and loudspeaker cut out. I am also quite satisfied with the build quality of the phone. It feels solid and there is no flexing.

Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G Review: Display, fingerprint

The Realme 9 Pro has a 6.43-inch screen that falls in neither too-large nor too-small bracket. The AMOLED display has a working resolution of 1080 X 2400 pixels. It can do a 90Hz refresh rate which is a fair combination for the price. While there are phones available with 120Hz display in this price bracket, most of them come with an IPS panel. Having said that, the presence of an AMOLED panel is no guarantee of a better screen.

The Samsung AMOLED panel on Realme 9 Pro+ does not just feel smoother than Realme 8 Pro or Realme 7 Pro, it is also much more responsive thanks to the 360Hz touch sampling rate.

The Realme 9 Pro+ offers decent peak brightness levels as we found it legible outdoors even in bright surroundings. It delivers fairly vibrant pictures with near-accurate color calibration. By default, it leans towards cold tones, -just switch to ‘Natural’ color preset under the screen color mode option for better accuracy.

Having said that, the color accuracy slightly takes a hit while playing HDR content. It fails to do justice to the dynamic range of the content.

Realme has placed an in-display fingerprint sensor beneath the AMOLED screen. What’s different here is that the fingerprint sensor can also record your heart rate. It’s a welcome addition but one should take the readings with a pinch of salt.

Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G Review: Cameras

The Realme 9 Pro Plus optics are headlined with a 50MP main snapper, which is aided by an 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro companion. The performance of the rear setup, specifically the 50MP primary camera has been surprisingly good. It applies pixel binning and saves 12.5MP images by default.

It managed to take bright pictures with sharp detail and well-pronounced colors. Talking of colors, even the ultra-wide sensor captures accurate colors but without much distortion in the image. In fact, the ultra-wide sensor on the Realme 9 Pro+ delivers better details than every other phone with an ultra-wide camera in its price bracket.

The Realme 9 Pro+ camera also shines in low light. Shots taken in the low light were sharp with a good level of contrast and commendable colors. Occasionally, the noise reduction algorithms can be a bit harsh but most times they are on point.

The Realme 9 Pro+ camera has the same 16MP sensor that we have seen in the OnePlus 8, OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 9, and OnePlus 9 Pro. It’s a capable shooter offering a good dynamic range, good colors, and decent contrast levels.

Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G Review: Performance

Realme has entrusted the MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC to handle all the workload for its first-ever Pro+ phone. The chipset is a 6 nm-based octa-core SoC where Arm Cortex-A78 cores are clocked at 2.5GHz while Cortex-A55 efficiency cores are ticking at 2.0GHz. It comes in 6GB or 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB or 256GB UFS 2.2 storage options. The phone has a 5G modem and antennas along with dual-5G standby support making it a future-ready phone.

The software used is Realme UI 3.0 is based on Android 12. The UI has been optimized well to take advantage of MediaTek SoC. There is no dearth of features here as Realme has ensured you have customization features like changing theme, accent colors, app icons, floating windows, always-on-display, and much more. What I don’t find amusing here is the number of bloatware apps. This sub 25K phone has more than pre-installed 10 bloatware apps along with a non-removable Hotapp marketplace and Glance screen.

Coming to performance, the Pro+ hardware has enough to handle an average smartphone user’s day-to-day needs without breaking a sweat. We tried all sorts of apps and games and it manages to maintain its composure. While playing BGMI and Cal of Duty Mobile, my experience was satisfactory. By default, both games start at medium graphics and high frame rates. It manages to run both of these games without any hiccups. I am happy to report that I noticed no overheating while gaming. As far as benchmarks scores are concerned here are the readings from Antutu, Geekbench 5, and 3D mark tests:

Realme 9 Pro+ review: Battery

The Realme 9 Pro+ houses a 4,500 mAh battery that manages to deliver surprisingly good battery life. Despite my heavy usage, the phone manages to last comfortably for a day and more. Unlike Samsung and Apple, Realme continues to bundle a charger with the phone. The Realme 9 Pro+ comes with a super-fast 60W adapter that takes about 30 minutes to fully refill the battery from a dead state.

Realme 9 Pro+ review verdict: Should you buy it?

The Realme 9 Pro+ is priced in a segment where there is really cut-throat competition. Realme managed to deliver a balanced package here. While it has capable innards, the stable software experience and sensable optics with OIS make it really outshine the competition. Yes, it might fall short in charging speeds but 60W fast charging still feels like a blessing. All in all, the Realme9 Pro+ offers excellent value for your money.

Realme 9 Pro Plus FAQ: All your questions and answers

Q: Does the Realme 9 Pro Plus have an IP rating?

A: No, the Realme 9 Pro+ doesn’t have any IP certification for water and dust resistance.

Q. Is the Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G capable?

A: Yes, as the name suggests, the 9 Pro+ has 5G connectivity. It comes with dual sim dual 5G active support.