realme 12+ 5G Review: Premium Design, Stunning Display, Fast Charging, but there’s a catch!

realme’s smartphone launches keep rolling in, strategically targeting various price segments. Hot on the heels of the Realme 12 Pro series, the company unveils the realme 12+ 5G, marking the first-ever “Plus” variant in their numeric lineup. Building on its predecessor’s foundation, the Realme 12+ boasts significant hardware upgrades. A smoother high-refresh-rate OLED display, a beefier battery with faster charging, an improved camera system, and a premium design all contribute to an impressive package. But can the Realme 12+ 5G carve a niche for itself in the competitive mid-range market? Let’s find out in our in-depth review.

Design & Display

The realme 12+ 5G takes design cues from its pricier sibling, the realme 12 Pro series. It boasts a premium aesthetic with a faux leather back in two color options. Despite the luxurious look, the phone is surprisingly lightweight at 190 grams.

A closer look reveals a plastic frame with a glossy finish. The sizable display has minimal bezels on the sides, though a slightly thicker chin remains. The power and volume buttons are conveniently placed on the right side, while the bottom houses the USB Type-C port, speaker grille, and SIM slot.

The star of the show is the 6.67-inch AMOLED display. With a Full HD+ resolution and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, it offers excellent visuals for the price range. The display gets impressively bright, boasting a peak brightness of 2,000 nits – the highest in its category. Expect deep blacks, vibrant colors, and support for HDR10 playback (although limited to YouTube currently). An interesting addition is the “Rain Water Smart Touch” feature, allowing the touchscreen to function even in wet conditions.

For security, the realme 12+ 5G features an in-display fingerprint scanner. While it unlocks quickly, its placement might be a tad low for some users, requiring a brief adjustment period.

Software & Performance

The realme 12+ 5G runs on Realme UI 5.0, a heavily customized skin based on Android 14. It offers a wide range of personalization options, allowing you to customize icons, fonts, wallpapers, and themes according to your preferences. One unique feature is the ability to match the system icon colors with your wallpaper, creating a cohesive look. Additionally, the Always-on Display supports the addition of a Bitmoji to add a touch of personality.

However, the experience is somewhat marred by the presence of bloatware. Although realme claims to have reduced it, you will still find pre-installed apps such as Moj, PhonePe, Spotify, and LinkedIn, along with the usual “Hot” app folders. The App Market and Theme Store can also be quite spammy with notifications, but fortunately, you can control these during the initial setup.

In terms of performance, the realme 12+ 5G is equipped with the MediaTek Dimensity 7050 SoC, paired with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The benchmarks are impressive (AnTuTu v10: 537,230; Geekbench 6: 926 single-core, 2135 multi-core), but real-world usage matters more. Throughout our month-long testing, the phone handled everyday tasks smoothly without any lag. Gaming performance is decent, as it can handle lighter to mid-range titles like Asphalt 9 Legends with consistent frame rates. Overall, considering the price, the performance is more than satisfactory.

Camera & Battery

The realme 12+ boasts a triple-camera setup on the back, led by a brand-new 50MP Sony Lyt-600 sensor that excels in low-light photography. It is accompanied by an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP macro camera. For selfies and video calls, the phone features a 16MP front-facing camera.

In terms of camera performance, the primary camera captures detailed and vibrant images in daylight conditions, with punchy colors. Photos taken with the main camera generally exhibit good quality, natural colors, pleasing HDR, and impressive details. The primary sensor also allows for 2x zoom, although the quality is optimal only in ideal lighting conditions.

Images captured with the ultra-wide camera retain a good amount of detail. As for the selfie camera, the phone is equipped with a reliable 16MP camera. Image quality is decent in well-lit environments, and natural skin tones are produced when face beautification filters are disabled.

One of the standout features of the realme 12+ is its impressive battery life, thanks to the inclusion of a 5,000mAh battery. Throughout our testing, the phone consistently lasted nearly two full days on a single charge. Additionally, the phone impresses with its fast charging capabilities, as it takes less than an hour to fully charge with the supplied 67W fast charger.

realme 12+ 5G Review – The Verdict

The realme 12+ 5G is a clear step up from the realme 11, offering a premium design, stunning display, faster charging, and a vastly improved camera system. While the processor might not be the absolute top performer, its real-world handling is commendable, especially for the price range.

However, the software experience is a double-edged sword. Extensive customization options coexist with some bloatware, requiring users to do a bit of post-setup housekeeping.

Overall, the realme 12+ 5G emerges as a compelling choice for those seeking a feature-rich and stylish phone around the INR 20,000 mark. Just be prepared to put in a little effort to optimize the software experience.