Realme 12+ review: High-end features, low-end price

Budget phones are getting better, and quick. The Realme 12+ is the latest budget device from one of the fastest-growing smartphone brands out there, but despite its low price tag, which equates to under $200, the Realme 12+ offers a series of near-flagship features. There’s a high refresh-rate display, a triple camera array, and more.

But, of course, Realme had to make some trade-offs to hit that price point. How does the Realme 12+ compete in the real world?

Realme 12+ specs

Realme 12+ design

The first thing you’ll notice about the Realme 12+ is its design — it’s a handsome-looking phone. Our review model offers the Pioneer Green color, and it has a split faux leather back that I think looks great. Sure, it’s not the most premium-feeling phone out there, but you wouldn’t expect that for a phone in this price range anyway.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

The Realme 12+ has a flat display on the front and a USB-C port on the bottom. There’s a power button and volume rocker on the right edge. On the top, there’s a headphone jack — a surprise feature these days. The frame is a glossy metal, and unfortunately, it’s pretty quick to pick up fingerprints.

On the back of the phone can be found a large circular camera module. It doesn’t look out of place in a sea of similarly-built phones in 2024, and actually, the camera module is quite a bit smaller than much of the competition.

Realme 12+ display

The display is one area where the Realme 12+ seemingly punches above its weight class. The device has a 6.67-inch screen with a 1080 x 2400 resolution, and despite that slightly lower resolution, things like text actually look quite crisp.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

The device also has a 120Hz refresh rate, which, for a phone in this price range, is nice to see. Only a few years ago, it would have been almost unthinkable to get a high refresh rate in a phone under $200, and it really makes a huge difference. The phone feels smooth and responsive, at least when it comes to animations and scrolling. It’s not a fancy LTPO display that can cycle from 1 to 120Hz, but still, the fact that it can reach 120Hz at all is impressive.

The display gets pretty bright too. It has a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, but regardless, it remains mostly easy to see, even in brighter environments.

Realme 12+ performance

One area in which it starts to feel apparent that the Realme 12+ is a budget device is performance, but that’s not to say that it performs terribly — just that it can feel a little slow at times. The phone has a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 processor, coupled with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, depending on the variant you go for. I found that the phone was generally able to handle most modern tasks pretty easily, but don’t expect the super zippy load times in more intensive games, and do expect things to stutter a little from time to time.

Interestingly, Realme has done some things to help make the device perform a little better. Notably, it has a so-called vapor chamber to help keep the phone cool during tasks like gaming.

Here are the benchmark results we achieved with this device.

• GeekBench 6: 948 single-core, 2380 multi-core
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 637

These results are fine, and more or less expected for a phone in this price range. Again, don’t expect a super high-performing phone, but most users will find that the device’s performance is more than good enough.

Realme 12+ battery and charging

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

The Realme 12+ is powered by a 5,000mAh battery, and I found that it easily powered the phone through a full day of even heavier use. As with any phone out there, most will want to ensure they charge their device every day, but if you happen to forget one night, the Realme 12+ is likely to get you through two days.

If you do need to top up quickly, the phone supports relatively fast charging tech. The phone can charge at up to 67W, which is much faster than the majority of phones out there, and means you should be able to fully charge the phone to 50% in only around 20 minutes. Unfortunately, there’s no wireless charging here.

Realme 12+ camera

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

On the back of the phone, you’ll find a triple camera array, which is made up of a 50-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. Frankly, the camera is probably the worst thing about this phone, but it’s also not completely terrible, at least in the right situations.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. The macro camera is completely terrible, and it feels like Realme knows this. After all, to even use the macro camera, you have to dive into the “More” section of the camera, and tap the Macro option near the bottom. That seems like a pretty buried option for a whole camera on the device.

But apart from the macro camera, the photography experience on the phone isn’t all that bad. Images are a little washed out, especially when the lighting is more challenging, and zoomed images and low-light images are inconsistent, however in decent lighting, images look pretty good.

Realme 12+ software

The software experience on the Realme 12+ is actually not bad at all, though it could still be better. At first glance, the software actually has a pretty stock feel, with its rounded app icons and cleaner home screen. Dive a little further into Realme UI 5.0, and you’ll see Realme’s tweaks though.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

There are some extra apps, but not as many as on some other phones. Some of these, like Spotify, you’ll be more likely to use — but others seem a little unnecessary, like Booking.com. And, as you would expect, there are duplicate apps too. For example, there’s the phone’s stock Photos app, and Google Photos, both of which are simply labeled “Photos.” It’s a little annoying, but again, there’s less bloat than on some other phones.

For the most part, Realme UI 5.0 is pretty easy to navigate, and mostly stripped back, which is always nice to see.

Conclusions

The Realme 12+ has a lot to offer. The phone boasts a sleek design, a solid display, and pretty good performance, for a phone in its price range. The real issue is getting your hands on it — which won’t be easy if you live outside of India. But, if you can get your hands on the Realme 12+ and want a solid phone for under $200, it’s a great option.

The competition

There are plenty of phones in the sub-$200 price range, and some of them are better than others. For the broader market, the best right now is probably the Samsung Galaxy A15 — though again, if you have access to the Realme 12+, it’s an excellent option.

Should I buy the Realme 12+?

Yes. If the Realme 12+ is near the top of your budget, it’s an excellent option.