Despite offering some upgrades, such as enhanced AI capabilities, a marginally larger battery, and a faster Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor, the realme 13 Pro doesn’t make a compelling case for itself as a significant improvement. The omission of a telephoto lens, a standout feature of its predecessor, is a notable downgrade, and the reduction in charging speed from 67W to 45W SUPERVOOC further diminishes its appeal.
Merely five months after the launch of the realme 12 Pro series, the new realme 13 Pro series has made its way into the saturated Indian smartphone market. Launched in the cutthroat sub-₹30,000 segment, the realme 13 Pro faces a ton of competition from the likes of phones such as the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion (review), OnePlus Nord CE4 (review), and Nothing Phone (2a) (review).
On the surface, the realme 13 Pro brings a few meaningful upgrades over its predecessor including a slew of AI features, a marginally larger battery, and a faster processor. Unfortunately, there have been a few downgrades too. The phone misses out on a telephoto lens, which was one of the biggest draws of the realme 12 Pro (review), and it also comes with slower charging speeds. So, does the new realme 13 Pro still justify its ₹26,999 price tag? Let’s dive deeper to answer that question.
realme 13 Pro 5G Review: Build and Design
Since the launch of the realme 11 Pro, the company’s number series has consistently featured unique and striking designs. The realme 13 Pro continues this tradition by partnering with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for its design, drawing inspiration from Claude Monet’s impressionist style.
This new design is more understated compared to its predecessor, boasting a velvet-like rear panel texture with gentle, wave-like patterns across the back. The Monet Gold (which I got for review) and Monet Purple colour variants feature a glass back with the Monet-inspired design language, while the Emerald Green variant features a vegan leather rear panel.
realme has stuck with the large, circular design for its camera module yet again. The module has a golden ring accent and houses two camera lenses, one dummy lens, and a flash. There’s also a gold-coloured strip on the bottom of the circle that has the HyperImage+ branding. More on HyperImage+ later.
The realme 13 Pro has a good in-hand feel, thanks to its curved edges. There’s an optical in-display fingerprint sensor that’s placed a bit too low for my liking, but it’s fast and accurate. The phone’s frame is polycarbonate, the buttons are nice and tactile, and the haptics are tight thanks to O-Haptics integration.
The phone is IP65 dust and water-resistant, which protects it against damage from environmental elements. It has also got an SGS 5-star Drop Resistance certification, giving users some peace of mind. Overall, the phone is well-designed, but I did prefer the vegan leather look of the realme 12 Pro, so if you prefer a vegan leather look as well, you can opt for the Green colour variant of the realme 13 Pro.
realme 13 Pro Review: Display
The realme 13 Pro features a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate. While it boasts a 10-bit display, it lacks HDR support, which is disappointing compared to competitors like the OnePlus Nord CE4 and Nothing Phone (2a), both of which offer HDR10+ support at a similar price point.
Despite a peak brightness rating of 2,000 nits, this level is only achieved when viewing HDR content, which the phone doesn’t support. In High Brightness Mode (HBM), the peak brightness is rated at 1,200 nits, and my tests showed a reading of 1,018 nits under direct sunlight. This is pretty impressive, ensuring good legibility even on bright, sunny days.
The display looks crisp enough but the colours are more on the saturated side. Viewing angles are fantastic though. The display is Widevine L1 certified so you can view HD content on OTT platforms, but the lack of HDR is still irksome.
realme 13 Pro Review: Performance and UI
Like the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion, the realme 13 Pro is also powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor. While competitors like the Nothing Phone (2a) and OnePlus Nord CE4 boast more powerful processors and GPUs, the realme 13 Pro offers up to 12 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of internal storage, making it a decent performer for day-to-day tasks and multitasking.
To assess its performance, I ran a slew of benchmarks. On AnTuTu, the realme 13 Pro scored nearly 680,000 points, which places it behind the Nothing Phone (2a) and OnePlus Nord CE4 but slightly ahead of the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion. In the GeekBench Single-Core test, it scored lower than all three competitors, but it performed admirably in the Multi-Core test, with only the OnePlus Nord CE4 achieving a higher score. Its PCMark score was also impressive, indicating strong performance in productivity tasks.
However, the realme 13 Pro falls short in GPU tests, matching the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion but significantly trailing the Nothing Phone (2a) and OnePlus Nord CE4. As a result, mobile gamers might prefer the Nothing Phone (2a) or OnePlus Nord CE4 for better gaming performance.
The realme 13 Pro runs on realme UI 5.0, based on Android 14. The UI features a considerable amount of bloatware, including Hot Games, Hot Apps, and preinstalled third-party apps like ReelShort, LinkedIn, Spotify, Block Blast!, and Agoda. Despite this, the UI itself is refined, with smooth animations and numerous customisation options. You get two years of assured software updates, and three years of security patches.
Digit AI-Q Score
The realme 13 Pro is packed with numerous AI features, particularly in its camera. It includes AI HyperRAW Algorithm, AI Group Photo Enhance, AI Audio Zoom, and AI Portrait Algorithm, all part of Realme’s HYPERIMAGE+ camera technology suite. For photo editing, it offers AI Ultra Clarity, which enhances resolution and clarity in blurry images, and AI Smart Removal, which eliminates unwanted objects from photos.
Additionally, the phone features several AI-driven UI enhancements. One notable feature is AI Smart Loop, which recognizes on-screen content and learns user interactions over time to provide next-step recommendations. These AI features are generally well-implemented and effective. For instance, when you take a screenshot of a page, you can extract the text and drag it to a corner. AI Smart Loop then suggests apps where you might share this content, improving its predictions as it learns your preferences.
To evaluate its AI processing capabilities, we conducted various AI tests and benchmarks. The realme 13 Pro achieved a Digit AI-Q score of 25/100, a decent result for phones in the sub-₹30,000 range. It outperformed both the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion and OnePlus Nord CE4 in our AI tests.
Cameras have been downgraded
The realme 13 Pro has a major downgrade in the camera department; it lacks a telephoto camera. Its predecessor, the realme 12 Pro, was one of the first sub-₹30,000 to feature a telephoto camera, so it’s disappointing that realme has ditched this class-leading feature this time around. The phone houses a 50 MP Sony LYT-600 primary camera with OIS support and an 8 MP ultrawide camera, which also doubles as a macro shooter.
The primary camera clicks some stunning photos with close to natural colours and solid dynamic range. Photos can appear a tad oversharpened at times though, especially when the light levels are a bit lower. In tricky lighting situations, some noise creeps in at times. However, these are just nitpicks; the phone’s primary camera clicks great photos for its price. One thing to note is that the shutter speed is on the slower side, and you won’t always capture an in-motion shot with ease.
Close-up photos look crisp and detailed with a good natural bokeh effect. As for portraits, 1x portraits look flattering with decent enough skin tone accuracy, good detail, and impressive edge detection. However, 2x portrait photos, which use in-sensor zoom, have visibly lower detail. The 8 MP ultrawide camera is not the best; photos look a bit soft around the corners and the colour is not consistent with the primary camera.
Low-light photos are decent, but you can see some blooming around lights and sometimes, shots look soft and unfocused. And finally, the realme 13 Pro houses a 32 MP selfie camera which clicks crisp and detailed photos in daylight, portrait mode edge detection could be better.
All in all, the realme 13 Pro has a decent camera setup, with a good primary camera. However, the lack of a telephoto camera could work against realme here, as it gives up one of the fundamental advantages of the realme number series, which is having a more advanced camera feature set.
realme 13 Pro Review: Battery Life
The realme 13 Pro is equipped with a 5,200 mAh battery that supports 45 W SUPERVOOC fast charging. I ran several tests to assess its battery endurance, and the results were impressive.
When playing Call of Duty: Mobile for 15 minutes, the battery dropped by just 3% (from 52% to 49%). Running Google Maps for an hour consumed only 5% of the battery (from 46% to 41%). In our 4K video loop test, where a 4K video is played on a loop using a media player like VLC until the battery drains from 100% to 0%, the phone lasted an impressive 1,168 minutes, or nearly 19 hours and 30 minutes.
The charging speeds are significantly lower than the competition though. Both the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion and OnePlus Nord CE4 have faster charging speeds. In fact, the realme 12 Pro also had faster charging speeds, supporting 67 W SUPERVOOC charging. The realme 13 Pro took a lengthy 71 minutes to charge from 0-100%.
Should you buy the realme 13 Pro?
Arriving just five months after the realme 12 Pro series, the realme 13 Pro attempts to capture attention in the highly competitive sub-₹30,000 segment. Despite offering some upgrades, such as enhanced AI capabilities, a marginally larger battery, and a faster Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor, the realme 13 Pro doesn’t make a compelling case for itself as a significant improvement. The omission of a telephoto lens, a standout feature of its predecessor, is a notable downgrade, and the reduction in charging speed from 67W to 45W SUPERVOOC further diminishes its appeal.
While the design inspired by Claude Monet and the 5,200 mAh battery delivering nearly 19.5 hours of video playback are commendable, the phone’s lack of HDR support and average GPU performance make it less competitive against rivals like the OnePlus Nord CE4 and Nothing Phone (2a). Overall, the realme 13 Pro isn’t a convincing upgrade over the realme 12 Pro, especially in a market teeming with capable alternatives.
Realme 13 Pro 5G Key Specs, Price and Launch Date
| Release Date: | 30 Jul, 2024 |
| Market Status: | Launched |
Key Specifications
Storage
128 GB
-
Battery capacity (mAh)
5000
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Rear Camera Megapixel
50 + 32 + 50
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Screen size (in inches)
6.74
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Dhriti Datta
Perpetually sporting a death stare, this one can be seen tinkering around with her smartphone which she holds more dear than life itself and stuffing her face with copious amounts of bacon. View Full Profile
