Realme 12 Pro+ Review: Big on Cameras… and Just About Everything Else

Realme has been delivering quality smartphones in the mid-range for several years. The Realme 12 Pro+ sure made quite an

Realme 12 Pro+ daylight camera samples. Top to bottom: Ultra-wide camera, primary camera, telephoto camera (3X optical zoom) (tap images to see full size)

The telephoto camera is the real showstopper on the Realme 12 Pro+. The phone uses the same 64-megapixel periscopic telephoto camera from the OnePlus 12, OnePlus Open, and some other premium devices. However, unlike these high-end smartphones, the camera isn’t paired with a top-end ISP available on a high-end processor in this case.

Thankfully, not much is lost, there’s excellent detail when it comes to texture making people and objects appear quite sharp. Good dynamic range ensures that there’s more than enough detail in both the bright and dark areas of the scene. What’s more impressive is that Realme has managed to tune the telephoto camera well to match the colour and white balance of the primary camera. This level of consistency is unheard of in this price segment. The magic continues at night with the camera producing good detail when zooming into landscapes or even shooting close-ups. I also managed to get sharp-looking portraits at native 3X focal length. Shooting at 6X zoom also manages good quality images, but this drops significantly thereon and it is probably down to the mid-range processor backing it.

The telephoto camera combined with its lossless in-sensor zoom captures detailed close-ups in the absence of a macro mode

The ultra-wide camera is the standard fare and does not keep up with the primary and telephoto cameras in terms of details and dynamic range. Photos have average detail in textures, and while the dynamic range produces decent details in the shadows, the colours appear quite washed out compared to the other two cameras. In low-light conditions images appear quite soft and are mostly not usable.

The phone does not offer a macro camera or even a macro mode, but the 3X telephoto camera with its 6X, in-sensor lossless zoom lets me get closer to objects for some juicy and crisp close-ups. Even in low light, close-ups come out really well with plenty of detail and sharpness. Selfies in daylight appear sharp and have good edge detection when using Portrait mode. However, it does not perform well in low light. Thankfully, the Night mode comes to the rescue managing decent image quality.

Realme 12 Pro+ Low light camera samples: Top: Primary camera, bottom: telephoto camera (3X optical zoom) (Tap images to expand)

4K 30fps video recordings come out a bit shaky but have good detail and are low on noise even in street-lit, low-light conditions. 1080p 30fps and 60fps video recordings don’t appear as sharp or detailed as the 4K footage, but have a rocksteady framerate and good stabilisation in all types of lighting conditions.

Realme 12 Pro+ Review: Verdict

The Realme 12 Pro+ with its overhauled design, updated core hardware and a very capable telephoto camera easily makes for a worthy upgrade even if you happen to own last year’s model. As a mid-range device stacked up against smartphones like the Redmi Note 13 Pro+, it does fall a bit short when comparing specifications on paper.

The Redmi Note 13 Pro+ (Review) surely goes big on bragging rights with a better IP68 rating, faster 120W wired charging and a massive 200-megapixel camera sensor and should be high-up on your list if raw performance is a priority. And these bragging rights do come at a higher starting price of Rs. 31,999 (for the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant). But it misses out on a few things that Realme 12 Pro+ latches on to like a leech.

There’s a class-leading telephoto camera that performs like nothing else we have used in this segment or even above it (Pixel 7a). There’s good shot to shot consistency between the primary and telephoto cameras as well, which is rare in the mid-range.

But everything else on this smartphone isn’t bad or average by any means. You get a decent IP65 rating for dust and water resistance, a quality curved edge AMOLED display, some interesting software features (given that it is a mid-ranger) and excellent battery life and fast charging. And then there’s the attractive and cutthroat pricing which undercuts the competition. At Rs. 29,999 (for the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant), it should be high up on your list, when purchasing a mid-range smartphone in 2024, if cameras are a priority. If only Realme can do something about the bloatware situation, we could have had a perfectly balanced mid-ranger.