Realme 12+ review: All-round bonus

Realme is back with another stylish phone in the Realme 12 series. The new Realme 12+ is the latest in the series and takes some inspiration from the Realme 12 Pro Duo. You get a familiar camera module that looks like a luxury watch, and a vegan leather back panel that reminds you of the more expensive Realme 12 Pro series. However, this is a mid-range smartphone with a large screen, industry-first Sony LYT-600 rear camera, and collaboration with Claudio Miranda once again.

I’ve been using the Realme 12+ for a few weeks now, and here’s why I think it’s a good phone in this price segment.

Realme 12+ price in India

Starting with the price, the Realme 12+ comes in two variants in India. You can get the base option with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage for Rs. 20,999. There is also a variant with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, which is what I have been testing. This model is priced at Rs. 21,999.

The smartphone features a flat frame

The phone is available in two color options – Navigation Beige and Pioneer Green. I received the Pioneer Green version and I think it looks better than the beige option. Both phones feature a vegan leather back panel with vertical stripes running from top to bottom.

The box contains the phone, a clear protective case, some documents, a SIM card ejection tool, a 67W fast charger, and a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable. The phone also comes with a pre-applied screen protector.

Realme 12+ review: Design

As I said at the beginning, this phone reminds me of the Realme 12 Pro series. The back has a similar vegan leather finish, a watch-inspired circular camera module, and stripes. However, unlike the Realme 12 Pro series, the new Realme 12+ offers a flat, smooth frame with rounded corners. The frame is made of plastic, so you have to be careful as it can get scratched easily. The phone is comfortable to hold, but the sharp edges of the bezel may dig into your hand after prolonged use. The camera module has a sunburst texture that creates beautiful patterns when light hits it, just like a traditional watch face.

The back design reminds me of the Realme 12 Pro

On the front, the Realme 12+ features slim side bezels, a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera at the top center, and a thick chin. The top and bottom borders are not uniform. According to Realme, the display is protected by “0.68 secondary tempered high-strength glass.” On the right side of the phone you’ll find the power and volume buttons, while at the bottom you’ll find the speaker, USB Type-C port, microphone, and SIM/microSD tray slot. I recommend being careful when opening the SIM card tray, as the ejector and microphone hole look very similar.

The top of the phone houses a 3.5mm headphone port, second microphone, and second speaker. The phone weighs 190 grams and is 7.87mm thick. It also has an IP54 dust and water resistance rating. Yes, you can use your phone in a light rain, but don’t dunk it in a swimming pool.

The phone comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack

Overall, the Realme 12+ has a great design that stands out from the rest, at least from the back, which is definitely a plus.

Realme 12+ review: Specs and software

Realme 12+ is a mid-range phone powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7050 SoC. This is a 6nm chipset paired with Mali-G68 GPU. You can get up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. While the RAM is almost expandable up to 8GB, you can add up to 2TB via microSD card. In terms of communications, you get 5G support, Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band Wi-Fi 6, and GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, Galileo, and QZSS support. In terms of connectivity, you get a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

For security, the phone comes with an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is located lower on the screen. It’s the regular optical type and worked well for me during my use of the phone.

Realme 12+ scores around 5,90,000 on AnTuTu

Realme has equipped this phone with a 5000mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging. Luckily, the charger is included in the box.

Software-wise, Realme 12+ boots Realme UI 5.0 based on Android 14. You get 2 years of OS updates and 3 years of security patches. As with budget and mid-range phones from brands like Realme, there’s a lot of bloatware to contend with. You’ll see ads everywhere: secondary app markets, popular apps, popular games, and tons of pre-installed apps and games. Most of them cannot be uninstalled, so even if you disable them, you will still get ads from time to time.

There’s a lot of bloatware on Realme 12+

As for software features, you get File Dock, Flash Capsule, Smart Image Cutout, and Phonelink. With File Dock, you can easily drag and drop text, images, and links between applications. Flash Capsule is similar to Apple’s Dynamic Island and gives you quick notifications at the top of the screen. Smart Image Cutout lets you separate a subject/object from its background, while Phonelink lets you connect your phone to a Windows PC using Microsoft LTW (Link to Windows).

Realme 12+ review: Performance

The Realme 12+ performs well in day-to-day use and can run most games with ease. In AnTuTu’s comprehensive test of CPU, GPU, memory, and storage, the phone scored an overall score of 5,99,629 points. This is surprising since this phone scores higher than the more expensive Realme 12 Pro. In Geekbench 6’s CPU test, the phone scored 865 in the single-core test and 2,211 in the multi-core test. I also ran the 3D Mark benchmark, which scored 2,239 on the WildLife Unlimited test, but the benchmark kept crashing on the Slingshot test, telling me that it ran out of RAM. This also failed when I increased the virtual RAM to 16GB, so I’m not sure what’s going on here.

The phone doesn’t get very hot when playing games

Let’s move to the display and I do know what’s going on. Realme 12+ features a 6.67-inch AMOLED display that offers Full HD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, and 2000nits peak brightness. The phone is well-lit indoors and clearly visible outdoors in direct sunlight. It offers vivid, natural and professional color modes. I recommend using the Natural or Film color modes in Pro mode for the most accurate colors. Viewing angles of the panel are also good, with only slight changes in color and contrast when viewed from different angles.

Realme also offers Rain Smart Touch, which is designed to improve touch response and prevent accidental touches caused by raindrops or wet fingers. I tried this and it works as advertised.

6.67-inch AMOLED display perfect for watching videos

Realme 12+ has dual stereo speakers and the sound quality is also good. It’s loud but lacks bass, but there’s no crackle at maximum volume. There’s also good stereo separation. The headset and microphone also performed well during calls.

Now, let’s talk gaming performance. Realme 12+ comes with a gaming mode that significantly improves performance while gaming or performing other resource-intensive tasks. I played BGMI on my phone, which allowed me to select HDR graphics and super frame rate options. With these settings enabled, I didn’t notice any significant lag in the game that affected my gameplay. The phone didn’t heat up during 45 minutes of gaming either, largely thanks to the 4,357 mm square vapor cooling chamber inside the phone. There were no heating issues when using the camera app either.

In terms of battery performance, it takes about 52 minutes to charge a 5000mAh battery from 0 to 100%, and about 21 minutes to charge from 0 to 50%. Of course, Realme claims faster charging times, but I haven’t experienced that. The phone’s battery life is average, lasting a full day with normal use. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted about 19 hours. Batteries tend to drain faster if used frequently, and you may run out of juice before the day is over.

Realme 12+ review: Camera

One of the key selling points of the Realme 12+ is the industry-first Sony LYT-600 50-megapixel rear camera with f/1.88 aperture and OIS. The phone also features an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera (112-degree field of view) and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies, there is a 16-megapixel camera on the front. The camera interface is easy to use, with all the main modes laid out in front of you.

The phone takes great photos with the main rear camera

The Sony LYT-600 camera can take high-quality photos with accurate color and dynamic range in daylight. There’s a lot of detail in the photos too. Even 2x zoom photos offer good detail with no difference in color. A 50-megapixel mode is also available on the phone, but photos taken in this mode are less color-accurate. In low-light conditions, the camera can take decent photos if there’s enough light, but otherwise, the photos are mediocre and have a lot of noise.

Looking at the ultra-wide-angle and 2-megapixel portrait cameras, the photos aren’t that great even in broad daylight. The colors and white balance are off compared to the main camera. I would advise against using the ultra wide angle in low light conditions as the photos are mostly unusable and have a lot of grain and watercolor effects. The portrait camera performs well in daylight, with decent edge detection, but doesn’t perform well in low-light conditions.

As for the front camera, selfies taken by the Realme 12+ offer good detail, with skin tones mostly accurate in favorable lighting conditions. Let’s look at some examples.

From top to bottom: All photos taken with the main rear camera at different times of day (click to expand)

Here are some ultra-wide and low-light photos.

From top to bottom: two daytime photos and two nighttime photos taken with the main camera, two photos taken with the ultra-wide angle (click to expand)

Video performance from the main rear camera in daylight conditions is good, with good detail and stability. A little over-sharpened and over-saturated, but nothing that will put you off. You can record videos at up to 4K resolution at 30 fps via the rear camera. In low-light conditions, you’ll notice a lot of noise coming from the main camera. The ultra-wide camera performs well in broad daylight, but it’s unusable in low light as there’s a lot of noise and colors look washed out.

Realme 12+ review: Conclusion

While the Realme 12+ is a great all-round phone, it faces stiff competition from phones like the Poco X6 and iQoo Z9 5G. Then there’s the Nothing Phone 2a (review), which is slightly more expensive but offers better features.

While the Poco X6 offers a better display, slightly faster chipset, bigger battery, and higher base storage, the iQoo Z9 5G gives you better performance and more storage for the price Same main rear camera as the base Realme 12+ and similar performance. Now, if you pay more for the Nothing Phone 2a, you get a faster chipset, a unique design with the Glyph interface, a better software experience, and a better camera setup.

If I have to spend Rs. 20,000, I would probably choose the Poco X6. However, if I were to buy this phone purely for its design and main rear camera performance, I would go with the Realme 12+, which is a good all-around phone at this price point.