In the second half of the year, we’ve taken a closer look at another model from realme’s number series. This time, we’re diving into the realme 13 Pro 5G series, focusing on the more powerful realme 13 Pro+. With a starting price of Php 31,999, this smartphone is packed with features that are hard to ignore—like a stunning 6.7-inch curved OLED display, a powerful Sony-branded 50MP main camera paired with a telephoto sensor, lightning-fast 80W SuperVOOC charging, and a familiar vegan leather design that is without a doubt feels premium in the hand.
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| realme 13 Pro+ 5G in Emerald Green |
After spending some time with this phone, I have mostly good things to say about it. The realme 13 Pro+ 5G might be a mid-range phone, but it’s definitely pushing into flagship territory. realme even dubs it a "DSLR in your Pocket," and we're here to see if it lives up to the hype. So, let’s jump into the review and find out if this could be your next phone.
Review Summary:
Pros
- Premium build with vegan leather design
- High quality camera system
- Long battery life with fast charging
- Great sound quality
Cons
- Storage is not expandable
- No wireless charging
Design
The realme 13 Pro+ 5G came from the same melting pot as the other two phones before it. It has the same silhouette with rounded camera module and vegan leather finish. Our Emerald Green review unit looks very premium with its bluish-green tone with gold accents. I have to say that this phone is an eye-catcher. The backing’s premium vegan leather is made of silicon, which negates dirt.
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| The realme 13 Pro+ 5G features an eye-catching vegan leather finish with gold accents. |
The camera module showcases what realme calls the "Sunrise Halo." This is the intricate metal line carvings that we see around the edge of the module. Its gold accents reflect light and enhance the premium feel of the whole back panel. The leather gently curves towards the plastic frame, creating an almost seamless design. It feels great in the hand, which is why I found it hard to put down once I started using it.
We have the same ports and buttons in their no-nonsense placements: the power button and volume rocker are on the right side, while the top houses the secondary microphone and speaker grille. The bottom includes the SIM tray, primary microphone, USB-C port, and main speaker grille.
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| Ports and buttons in their usual spots. Camera module features "Sunrise Halo" design. |
The realme 13 Pro+ 5G is 8.41 mm thick and weighs 185.5 grams. While it is on the larger side, it did not strike me as a heavy one. It actually has a great sense of balance; even though it has a big camera bump, it isn’t top-heavy. The phone is also rated with IP65 which gives both dust-proofing and water resistance to the device.
Our Emerald Green unit comes with an SGS 5-Star Drop Resistance Certification. This means that it can withstand drops from a height of 1.65 meters on all sides and corners without visible damage while continuing to function normally.
Display
The phone features a 6.7-inch curved OLED display with a Full HD+ resolution of 2412 x 1080 pixels and a 93% screen-to-body ratio. The panel supports 120Hz refresh rate, 2160Hz PWM dimming, and up to 2000 nits of brightness. For comparison, the realme 12 Pro+ only has a peak brightness of 950 nits.
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| Bright and crisp 6.7” display with 120Hz refresh rate and up to 2000 nits of brightness. |
There are tons of certifications and features for the display, including Pro-XDR, which analyzes the images taken by its camera, then improves its visual metrics for better and more realistic images when shown on screen.
Some AI features are also infused in the display like the AI Gaming Eye Protection and AI Eye Protection. If your hands are wet, you would be having no problem interacting with the phone. The Rainwater Smart Touch feature allows normal interaction, even if there’s water on the display.
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| Large screen with slim bezels and an OLED panel offers an immersive viewing experience. |
During my time testing this phone, I had a great experience with the screen. The slim bezels offer more immersive view, and the OLED panel delivers impressive contrast, vibrant colors, and spot-on accuracy. There’s also a zippy in-display fingerprint sensor at the bottom part of the screen.
It's always a great experience using the screen. I mostly enjoy it when streaming my favorite shows or reading an article at night. The screen automatically dims to match ambient light. It’s also premium-grade, and I think this is one of the phone’s strongest suits.
Performance
Under the hood, the realme 13 Pro+ 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset. It is an AI-oriented chipset that’s developed under a 4nm process. It features an octa-core processor with four cores of Cortex-A78 (up to 2.4GHz) and four cores of Cortex-A55 (up to 1.95GHz).
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| Powered by the AI-focused Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 for smooth performance. |
Our review unit has 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. That’s quite a roomy UFS 3.1 storage; however, anyone buying this phone should know that there’s no expansion option here. Gaming on the 13 Pro+ is smooth, with no frame drops in games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Genshin Impact, Asphalt 9, and Honkai Star Rail also perform well with minimal heat buildup.
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| Smooth Mobile Legends: Bang Bang gameplay with no frame drops. |
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| Genshin Impact is very playable on the 13 Pro+ 5G. |
The phone is best experienced when streaming online videos or generally consuming content. It is certified with Widevine L1 which supports Full HD streaming under Digital Rights Management content. This gave me a sense of relief knowing that the phone left the HDR playback support in the cutting room.
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| Certified Widevine L1 for Full HD streaming support. |
Good thing the phone has stereo speakers. They are pretty loud and deliver great sound with a good mix of bass and treble. There's no headphone jack, so you'll need wireless earbuds or a 3.5mm-to-USB-C adapter.
The realme 13 Pro+ 5G supports Wi-Fi 6, ensuring secure, stable, and fast connectivity. I had no trouble staying connected to the router, even when moving between rooms. It also supports 5G for mobile data and Bluetooth v5.2 for connecting to wireless accessories.
If you’re keen on benchmarks, the phone scored 2825 MC and 937 SC in the Geekbench CPU Benchmark test. Likewise, it tallied 1771 in OpenCL and 2181 in Vulkan GPU tests.
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| Geekbench 6 CPU and GPU Benchmarks |
Camera
The realme 13 Pro+ has made significant improvements over its predecessor, particularly with the more powerful telephoto sensor. On paper, the phone features a 50MP Sony LYT-701 f/1.9 main camera and a 50MP Sony LYT-600 telephoto camera with an f/2.7 aperture. There’s also an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera. On the front, the device packs a 32MP Sony IMX 615 f/2.5 camera.
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| The triple camera setup includes a 50MP Sony LYT-600 telephoto camera. |
In bright conditions, the main camera captures stunning photos with great detail and contrast. The dynamic range is quite okay; colors are vibrant and saturation is on point. The images also have well-balanced sharpness with minimal noise.
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| Sample main camera photo |
The telephoto camera is capable of up to 3x optical zoom. This is a highly capable sensor that captures photos with excellent detail and sharpness. I believe this is what inspired realme's "DSLR in Your Pocket" slogan for the 13 Pro+. The contrast and saturation are well-balanced, and the dynamic range is impressive.
You can get that nice bokeh effect even without using Portrait mode, but if you’re capturing people, it’s there if you need it. The camera app gives you zoom options at 1x, 2x, 3x, and 6x. Normally, I’d call the highest zoom a bit of a gimmick, but on the realme 13 Pro+, it proves to be useful.
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| Telephoto with 3x zoom |
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| Sample Photo: 1x vs 2x zoom |
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| Telephoto: 3x vs 6x zoom |
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| Sample Photo: 2x zoom |
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| Telephoto with 3x zoom |
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| Telephoto with 6x zoom |
In lowlight, both the main and telephoto cameras perform instantly well. I mean, you don’t have to switch to Night mode just to get the best shot; the camera automatically recognizes the scene. With that being said, night shots are stunning - donned with the right amount of exposures, with some shadowy parts being lifted. Color saturation and white balance are pretty intact. Details are also optimum.
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| Sample Photo: Low-light |
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| Low-light 2x zoom |
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| Telephoto Low-light with 3x zoom |
Meanwhile, the ultrawide camera shoots decent photos. This is quite understandable due to its modest hardware. The details in the photos are okay with dynamic range wide enough to cover substantial light variations in the sky and the clouds. In lowlight, the ultrawide camera could deliver good photos with ample detail. Just be patient with colors being slightly muted and some noise build up. Overall, night photos with this sensor are just decent.
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| Ultra-wide angle shot |
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| Sample portraits with the rear camera. |
The realme 13 Pro+ takes great selfies with rich colors and sharpness, thanks to its auto HDR capability. The camera app offers various filters and beauty modes, and the Portrait mode is very convenient when you feel like taking shots with Bokeh effect.
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| Sample Photos: Front camera with 0.8x, 0.8x Portrait, and 1x Portrait |
For video recording, the phone supports up to 4K resolution at 30fps using the main camera. The telephoto sensor tips at 1080p resolution at 60fps with video stabilization feature. Both clips from the main camera and telephoto are full of details with rich colors and contrast. However, 4K recording lacks stabilization support, so you'll need to place it in a fixed spot or a tripod to achieve the best results.
Software
The realme 13 Pro+ 5G boots with realme UI 5.0 based on Android 14. It is still the same set of software suites from the previous generation, which focuses on boosting security and performance while offering even more ways to personalize your phone.
The new realme UI brings extra customization options, like creating custom wallpapers and choosing from various Always-on display presets. The icons have a clean, flat look, and system toggles are straightforward and easy to use.
It’s also very obvious that realme is focusing on the AI functionalities with the realme 13 Pro+ 5G. Features include AI Ultra Clarity which enhances image resolution and increases clarity of blurry images. Once activated, photos taken with the phone’s main camera and telephoto lens at 10x and 30x magnification would have better detail.
The Smart AI Removal is one of its AI killer features that could recognize unwanted objects and delete them in the frame. You can also manually select unwanted elements in your photos by Smart lasso or Paint Over functions.
Additionally, the phone has the AI Group Photo Enhancement feature; this kicks in when taking photos of four or more people. It improves facial focus so that no one in the frame is blurred out. Lastly, the phone utilizes AI Audio Zoom which is simply a smart directional audio capture, using beamforming algorithms and AI noise reduction tech.
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| 80W SuperVOOC fast charging |
Battery
In terms of the battery, the realme 13 Pro+ 5G has a 5200 mAh capacity, which provides over a day of moderate use. The extra 200 mAh gives this phone an advantage over its closest competitors in this segment.
In our PCMark Work 3.0 Battery Life test, the realme 13 Pro+ 5G tallied 19 hours and 20 minutes, which is quite impressive.
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| PCMark battery life test |
It also supports 80W of SuperVOOC fast charging, though it lacks wireless charging. Our battery charging test resulted to a full charge from 0% to 100% in 48 minutes.
Verdict: Should You Buy the realme 13 Pro+ 5G?
The realme 13 Pro+ 5G is a well-rounded smartphone that's easy to recommend. It stands out as a premium mid-range phone that treads the waters of flagship territory. Above anything else, its high-resolution camera, premium design, and powerful specs make it clear why realme calls it a "DSLR in your Pocket."
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| realme 13 Pro+ 5G, a "DSLR in your Pocket". |
While I may not fully agree on the marketing stance, I still think that it comes with a very capable segment-leading camera that's well suited to those looking for a beautiful phone with impressive camera capabilities.
With a price of Php 28,999 (12+256GB) and Php 31,999 (12+512GB), it may be pricier than some of its competitors, but I could tell that the premium features justify the cost. Honestly, it's a phone I’d be happy to spend a bit more on.
Personally, I really appreciate the sleek design and curved display, which enhance the gaming and content consumption experience. Plus, the large battery and super-fast charging are significant advantages. Overall, if you’re looking for a stylish device with great value and lots of features, the realme 13 Pro+ is definitely worth considering for your next purchase.
