Realme 14 Pro Plus review: Flagship looks and performance at mid-range price

The backmost sheet changes from achromatic to bluish successful temperatures nether 16 grade Celsius. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express)

Design

The Realme 14 Pro Plus is disposable successful 3 colourways—Suede Grey, Bikaner Purple, and Pearl White. I received the Pearl White variant, which has a marble-like rear sheet that changes colour erstwhile exposed to temperatures beneath 16 grade Celsius. At archetypal glance, it reminded maine of the OnePlus 11 Marble Odyssey edition, but Realme has a nifty small instrumentality up its sleeve.

Realme claims the telephone uses a “natural micro-crystal ammunition powder,” which reacts to acold temperatures, creating a “dreamlike bluish texture offset with achromatic and gold.” In Delhi’s winter, I often saw the telephone alteration colour erstwhile taken outdoors oregon adjacent erstwhile washed nether a tap. However, this effect has limitations. Realme states that the colour-changing effect is strongest erstwhile the telephone is caller and whitethorn slice aft a fewer months, yet leaving users with a white, marble-like phone.

I usage astir phones without a lawsuit oregon a cover, and since this phone’s backmost sheet is ace smooth, I thought it would beryllium slippery, but the Realme 14 Pro Plus has a quad-curved surface with edges that blend into the body, making it comfy to hold. Not erstwhile did I consciousness similar the telephone would gaffe retired of my hands.

Realme claims the telephone comes with IP66, IP68 and IP69 ratings, and I did enactment the telephone to test. While I did not driblet the phone, I submerged it successful some acold and blistery h2o for a fewer minutes and it worked arsenic expected.

Realme UI 6.0 is 1 of the smoothest Android skins of each time. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express)

Display

One of the main gripes I person with Realme phones is their gangly but constrictive signifier factor. This holds existent for the Realme 14 Pro Plus. It has a immense 6.83-inch 120Hz curved AMOLED screen, which is truly agleam nether nonstop sunlight and is simply a pleasance to look at. Whether watching videos, browsing the web, oregon texting outdoors, visibility is excellent.

However, arsenic with astir curved-screen phones, accidental touches tin beryllium a problem. While watching videos successful scenery mode was seamless, gaming was different story. Games similar Genshin Impact, BGMI, oregon Mobile Legends often registered unintended touches. A imaginable workaround is utilizing the included lawsuit oregon a third-party one, but that diminishes the phone’s unsocial aesthetic.

Software and performance

The Realme 14 Pro Plus runs Realme UI 15 based connected Android 15 retired of the box, which is astir identical to OxygenOS 15 and ColorOS 15, offering the aforesaid features arsenic OnePlus and Oppo devices.

Performance-wise, Realme UI is creaseless and lag-free. In fact, astatine times, I recovered it smoother than Apple’s iOS, but your acquisition whitethorn vary. However, Realme has removed app-launching animations, which I personally miss, arsenic they adhd fluidity to the experience, particularly erstwhile compared to high-end OnePlus and Oppo phones.

Under the hood, the Realme 14 Pro Plus is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 8350 chipset, a mid-range chipset that tin easy grip day-to-day tasks and adjacent play immoderate games astatine a precocious refresh complaint if you are consenting to code down the graphic settings by a bit. I person the 12GB RAM and 256GB mentation of the phone, and ne'er did I erstwhile brushwood lags oregon stutters.

For graphically demanding titles similar Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, oregon Wuthering Waves, settings request to beryllium dialled down to debased oregon a premix of debased and mean for optimal performance. Realme claims the telephone tin tally BGMI astatine 90fps, but truthful tin galore different mid-range devices. While not the fastest chipset successful its segment, it surely gets the occupation done.

The Realme 14 Pro Plus besides happens to beryllium the fewer phones with 3 flashes. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express)

Camera

Beyond design, the camera setup is different standout feature. The phone’s ample circular camera module houses a 50MP Sony IMX896 superior sensor, a 50MP Sony IMX882 periscope telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, and an 8MP ultrawide shooter. It is besides 1 of the archetypal smartphones to diagnostic a triple-flash setup.

The superior camera delivers fantabulous shots successful astir lighting conditions. However, I noticed a flimsy colour displacement erstwhile switching to the periscope telephoto lens. Despite the precocious megapixel count, low-light show of the telephoto sensor lags down the superior camera.

However, this tin beryllium compensated for utilizing the triple flash setup, which has 2 achromatic flashes successful summation to a colour-adjustable light, which reminded maine of Vivo’s Auralight. Not lone tin you set the brightness of these flashes, but besides alteration the colour of the 3rd flash from reddish to white.

This whitethorn look gimmicky astatine first, but it does marque a immense quality erstwhile taking photos oregon signaling videos successful low-light conditions. When I took pictures successful utmost acheronian without turning connected the flash, oregon flashes, I noticed that the images were grainy arsenic expected and lacked detail. But erstwhile I turned connected the 3 flashes, it lit up the representation without making it look similar I was lasting successful beforehand of a floodlight.

The periscope telephoto sensor is awesome for a mid-range device. It proved peculiarly utile astatine the Auto Expo, allowing maine to seizure elaborate shots of car interiors from a region with minimal noise. The ultrawide camera, however, is underwhelming. Shots look brushed and deficiency detail, peculiarly erstwhile capturing wide-angle images from adjacent distances. I anticipation Realme incorporates a higher-resolution ultrawide sensor successful aboriginal iterations.

The superior camera takes sharp, elaborate and somewhat oversaturated photos during time. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express) Indoor photos with capable lighting are detiled and crisp arsenic well. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express) A photograph from 1 of Delhi’s galore foggy nights. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express) Even successful debased airy conditions, the main camera has details and astir nary noise. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express) Here’s an ultrawide changeable of MG’s conception car astatine the Auto Expo 2025. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express) The 8MP ultrawide camera clicks somewhat bully images erstwhile determination is capable light. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express) I similar however the Realme 14 Pro Plus was capable to accurately seizure the sky, but the 8MP sensor lacks details. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express) The periscope telephoto camera is beauteous bully arsenic well. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express) Photos captured by the periscope telephoto sensor are brushed and sometimes lacked details. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express)

Battery

The Realme 14 Pro Plus has a immense 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery. My emblematic usage involves utilizing navigation astir each day, making aggregate calls, replying to texts, browsing the net and listening to euphony for hours connected end. Despite my dense usage, I noticed that the telephone had astir 10-20 per cent artillery remaining the different morning, and I americium beauteous definite the telephone volition easy past 2 days if you are a airy oregon mean user. Honestly, I person been loving the accrued artillery capacity, and present it is truly hard for maine to spell backmost to phones with 5,000mAh oregon little artillery capacity.

The lone gripe I person is the 8MP ultrawide shooter and the deficiency of animations successful Realme UI 6. (Photo Credit: Anurag Chawake/The Indian Express)

Realme 14 Pro Plus: Should you bargain it?

With truthful galore options successful the mid-range smartphone segment, it is hard to urge a instrumentality since everyone’s usage lawsuit is different. The Realme 14 Pro Plus has a decent chipset, bully cameras for the asking price, fantabulous artillery beingness and a large plan that makes you consciousness similar you are holding a flagship phone.

If you are looking for a smartphone for mundane usage oregon are a photography enthusiast who besides happens to grounds videos each present and then, the Realme 14 Pro Plus mightiness entreaty to you. However, those looking for semipermanent bundle enactment and privation to play the latest games astatine precocious settings should look elsewhere. While determination is thing exceptional astir the phone, it stands retired with its immense battery, unsocial plan and awesome superior and telephoto shooter, making it an casual proposal for astir radical who are looking to bargain a telephone for astir Rs 30,000.