Featuring today is the new member of Realme 12 5G series - the Realme 12+ 5G, aimed at affordable range buyers. Starting at ₹20,999, the Realme 12+ 5G comes equipped with a 120Hz AMOLED display, MediaTek Dimensity 7050 SoC, a 50MP triple rear camera, and a 5,000mAh battery offering a comprehensive package.
Design
The Realme 12+ 5G is a stunner when it comes to design. The first thing that catches your eye is the leather-like back panel, which adds a touch of sophistication and class to the device. The Pioneer Green shade, in particular, is a real head-turner, with just the right amount of bling to make your phone stand out from the crowd.
Realme 12+ 5G design | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
The phone also feels great in the hands. The rounded edges and lightweight build make it comfortable to hold, even during extended usage sessions. The metallic frame draws more attention towards the phone. The circular camera island at the back is another design element that adds to the overall aesthetic appeal of the device. It’s not too bulky or protruding, which means you won’t have to worry about your phone rocking back and forth when placed on a flat surface. The phone comes with a headphone jack at the top which is a nice addition for its price segment.
Display
The Realme 12+ 5G comes with a 6.67-inch AMOLED display. With a 120Hz refresh rate, everything from scrolling through your social media feed to playing the latest games feels silky smooth. The display’s 1080 x 2400 pixel resolution, combined with a 20:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of around 395 ppi, ensures that everything looks sharp and detailed. The display also supports HDR10+, which means you can enjoy vibrant and life-like colours when streaming your favourite shows or movies. With a typical brightness of 600 nits and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, the display is easily visible under outdoor conditions. The display also houses a fingerprint sensor which is very fast and accurate.
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OS
The Realme 12+ 5G runs on the latest Android 14 operating system, which is skinned with the company’s own Realme UI 5.0 interface. This custom skin is visually appealing, with a colourful and intuitive design that should be easy to navigate for most users. However, the Realme UI 5.0 interface is riddled with bloatware apps, and there doesn’t seem to be a straightforward way to remove or disable them completely. If you’re someone who prefers a clean and bloat-free software experience, you may find it irritating.
Performance
The Realme 12+ packs a Mediatek Dimensity 7050 chipset. This 6nm octa-core processor, which consists of two powerful Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.6GHz and six power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores running at 2.0GHz should be able to handle most day-to-day tasks with ease.
Complementing the capable processor is the Mali-G68 MC4 GPU, which should deliver a smooth gaming experience for casual and mid-range games. While it may struggle with the most demanding titles at maximum settings, it should still be able to run most games at reasonable graphics settings without any major hiccups. In terms of memory, the Realme 12+ 5G comes with a generous 8GB of RAM, which should be more than enough for multitasking and keeping multiple apps running in the background without any slowdowns. The 256GB of onboard storage should also provide ample space for your apps, games, photos, and other media files.
According to Geekbench 6 tests, the Realme 12+ 5G scored 948 in its single-core score and 2379 in its multi-core score. Additionally, the GPU test yielded a score of 2357.
Camera
Realme 12+ 5G features a triple rear camera configuration that includes a 50MP LYT-600 main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 2MP macro sensor. On the front side, there’s a 16MP selfie camera housed in a punch-hole design.
The Realme 12+ 5G’s camera setup delivers impressive image quality at an affordable price point. The highlight is undoubtedly the main sensor, which boasts a large 1/1.95 inch sensor size typically found in much more expensive devices. This large sensor size, combined with the bright f/1.9 aperture, allows the main camera to capture an excellent amount of light and detail, resulting in high-quality images with superb dynamic range and a low-light performance that belies the phone’s mid-range positioning.
Moreover, the inclusion of features like optical image stabilization (OIS) and phase-detection autofocus (PDAF) further elevates the imaging experience, enabling sharper images and faster focus acquisition.
While the 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro cameras may not seem exceptional on paper, their presence adds versatility to the camera system, allowing users to capture different perspectives and styles of shots.
The 16MP front-facing camera also delivers good selfies. Its 24mm wide field of view enables group selfies, albeit with some expected limitations in low-light scenarios due to the smaller sensor size.
Battery
The Realme 12+ 5G is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that ensures all-day usage. We used the phone constantly throughout the day and still had a good amount of power left at the end of the day. The phone supports 67W SUPERVOOC charge technology, which means you can top up your battery quickly and efficiently within 55-60 minutes.
Verdict
For the mid-segment users, the new Realme 12+ 5G along with its elegant looks offer a balanced performance across all the segments. It checks all the boxes be it a proficient processor, a smooth display or a sharp camera sensor. While the bloatware-laden software experience could be a sore point for purists, the Realme 12+ nevertheless manages to deliver a balanced overall experience that makes it a strong value proposition in this competitive space.
