Realme 10 Pro Plus Review: A solid sub-25K smartphone but that curved display is the star of the show

While you do get glass protection on the screen of the Realme 10 Pro+, both the back and frame are made of plastic. On the flip side, the plastic body allows Realme to keep the weight of the phone down to 173 grams, while the 7.78mm thickness is relatively slim. Realme also doesn’t mention the type of glass used on the front panel but does confirm that it is double reinforced for strength and that the phone could survive drops from around one meter. On the back, the three cameras are housed in two individual modules that protrude from the rear panel but eliminate the need of a camera island.

The Realme 10 Pro Plus’ volume and power buttons are located on the right side, while the USB Type-C and SIM tray are sit on the bottom. While the build quality of the Realme 10 Pro+ can be called into question, there’s no doubt that the phone has a premium look. But it isn’t just the curved screen, the two solo camera modules that are directly integrated into the back panel and the sparkly finish all combine to make this one of the best-looking smartphones under Rs 25,000 in India.

Display

The curved screen is undoubtedly the biggest highlight of the Realme 10 Pro+ but let’s look at the hardware baked into the screen. The Realme 10 Pro+ uses a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a pixel density of 394ppi. The panel boasts a 120Hz refresh rate and a 360Hz touch sampling rate. Additionally, the AMOLED screen also supports automatic 2160Hz high-frequency dimming, which is the highest PWM in the industry.

Moreover, the panel also boasts a peak brightness of 800 nits, making it easily visible under direct sunlight. The display supports WideVine L1 for Netflix and HDR10+ content on YouTube. Overall, the screen on the Realme 10 Pro+ is one of the best in the segment, while its curvature reduces the size of bezels to the point where they are almost non-existent. This is easily the best display in the segment for consuming content and does an excellent job for gaming as well. Additionally, the stereo speakers here are quite good and do not distort easily, even at high volumes.

Performance

When it comes to performance, the Realme 10 Pro Plus opts for a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 SoC paired with up to 8GB of RAM. Additionally, the phone also comes with 128GB and 256GB of storage, while Realme’s Dynamic RAM feature allows you to use up to 8GB of unused storage as virtual RAM. Realme claims that the MediaTek chip here can manage an AnTuTu score that surpasses 500,000 points, which we found to be pretty accurate. However, Geekbench results were more or less similar to that of the Realme 9 Pro+ with the MediaTek Dimensity 920 chip.

Moving on to gaming and the MediaTek chip did a solid job, managing to run Call of Duty: Mobile on High graphics and Very High frame rates without much effort. We were also able to run Diablo Immortal smoothly on Medium graphics, while Apex Legends: Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends also ran on high graphics without much issues. While Realme hasn’t really touted the cooling capability of the Realme 10 Pro+, I didn’t experience any heating issues even after 40 minutes of playing Call of Duty: Mobile on high graphics. The Realme 10 Pro+ is by no means a top-tier performer in the segment but it does get the job done in most real-world scenarios.

Cameras

On the camera front, the Realme 10 Pro+ gets a triple-camera setup on the back with a 108 MP Samsung HM6 primary sensor with an f/1.8 aperture. The main camera is paired with an 8 MP ultrawide shooter and a 2 MP macro unit. The main camera can record 4K video at 30fps or 1080p video up to 60fps. However, there’s no OIS here and you’ll have to settle for EIS. Lastly, on the front, there’s a 16 MP selfie camera. So, let’s look at some real-world results.

The main camera takes detailed shots in daylight, although background objects don’t appear to be as clear. The high-res sensor also produces a natural shallow depth-of-field, while dynamic range is on point for the most part, although it is not nearly on the level of a flagship camera setup. Overall, colours appears to look natural without any oversaturation to give photos a more unrealistic look. Despite the high-res 108 MP sensor, the camera does struggle in low light. The night mode does add more detail to your shots and brightens up images.

The night mode does add more detail to your shots and brightens up images. It also keeps the noise in check and in some cases improves dynamic range. However, you’ll need a good amount of ambient light as background objects aren’t as detailed as those in the foreground. The 108 MP HM6 sensor doesn’t quite do 3x lossless zoom as advertised by Samsung, although zoomed photos looked good with the right amount of light, particularly in daylight. For a smartphone camera without a telephoto lens, the 3x lossless zoom is pretty good here, only losing a little detail and bringing in minimal noise.

Subjects are well exposed in portrait mode with natural-looking skin tones and accurate edge detection. The 16 MP front camera takes detailed selfies in daylight, although skin tones don’t look quite as natural and appear excessively smooth. Again, edge detection was on point, although images look almost too soft at times. The selfie camera performance on the Realme 10 Pro+ was strictly average and underwhelming at times.

Moving to the ultrawide camera and the dip in quality is noticeable. While images taken on the ultrawide are serviceable in good lighting, there’s a drop in detail and colours look washed out in lower lighting and indoors. Night mode does salvage some detail in low light, but I found images to be unusable and often stepped back and defaulted to the primary sensor. The macro is a hit and a miss but mostly a miss and you can also use the phone’s full 108 MP mode to get better results.

The Realme 10 Pro+ can capture 4K video at 30fps or 1080p video at up to 60fps. The 4K video quality is decent with good dynamic range and even better contrast ratio. Moreover, we didn’t notice much noise in the footage, while solid levels of sharpness were maintained in daylight. For stabilization, all you get is EIS, although an Ultra Stable option is available at 1080p resolution. Overall, the Realme 10 Pro Plus’ camera system does an excellent job in daylight, although there are some noticeable shortcomings, particularly outside the main camera sensor.

Battery

Despite its rather sleek appearance, the Realme 10 Pro Plus packs a large 5,000 mAh battery that easily got through a day under heavy usage. An hour of Call of Duty: Mobile saw battery consumption go up by little over 15 percent. However, what was left of the battery was more than enough to get us through an entire day with the screen’s refresh rate set to 120Hz.

However, what’s even more impressive is the phone’s 67W SUPERVOOC charging support that takes little under an hour to take the device from 0 to 100 percent. It is worth noting that Realme has bundled an 80W adapter in the box.

Software

The Realme 10 Pro+ comes with Android 13-based Realme UI 4.0. Realme has designated the new skin as the 'Aquamorphic' design. It does feel like the Realme UI interface has gotten more cluttered as this newest version on the skin does has some unnecessary bloatware. However, Realme UI 4.0 does feature some perceptive, making the experience easy to use with plenty of room for customizations. The launcher now has support for Large Folders and Dynamic Widgets.

The Always-on-display now brings Spotify integration to control music, while Realme UI 4.0 also brings the Shelf and Zen mode from the OxygenOS. Additionally, Realme UI 4.0 also brings three unique dark mode styles. Realme also offers two major OS updates and three years of security updates with the 10 Pro Plus. Moreover, the in-display fingerprint reader is fast and responsive. The Realme 10 Pro+ also supports SA and NSA 5G bands.

Verdict

After our brief experience with the Realme 10 Pro Plus, it is safe to say that the phone doesn’t disappoint. It is a worthy successor to last year’s Realme 9 Pro+, bringing several upgrades across the board while maintaining a similar price tag. The Realme 10 Pro Plus delivers reliable battery life with speedy charging, while performance was never an issue no matter the task at hand. Smooth and vibrant are two words to best describe the display, while the software experience isn't quite as clean as one would have hoped.

While the main camera in the Realme 10 Pro Plus delivers solid results in daylight and low light, the ultrawide camera is quite unreliable in low light and the selfie camera is average at best. Overall, the Realme 10 Pro+ is an above-average mid-range smartphone with a flagship design, earning it an easy recommendation if you are looking for a smartphone under Rs 25,000. However, if you were to increase that budget to 30K, then we’d recommend going another route.