We can still remember when the first OPPO Reno device came out about five years ago. Now, we’re out here reviewing the OPPO Reno12 Pro.
Right off the bat, we’re seeing a couple of intriguing changes in the specs list over its predecessor. The question is, are those changes for the better? And how does it compete in an era of AI-powered phones? We’ll find out in our OPPO Reno12 Pro review.
OPPO Reno12 Pro Specs
- Android 14, ColorOS 14.1
- Dual SIM, Dual Standby
- 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 2412 x 1080 pixel resolution, ~394ppi
- 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+
- Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
- 2.5GHz MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Energy octa-core processor
- Mali-G615 MC2 GPU
- 12GB RAM
- 512GB UFS 3.1 internal storage, expandable via microSD
- 50-megapixel front camera
- 50-megapixel (LYT600, f/1.8, PDAF, OIS) + 50-megapixel (2x telephoto, 47mm) + 8-megapixel (ultra-wide) rear cameras, LED flash
- Stereo speakers
- IP65 dust and water resistant
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFi 6, dual-band
- Bluetooth 5.4
- GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS
- NFC
- IR blaster
- USB-C
- Dimensions: 161.5 x 74.8 x 7.4mm
- Weight: 180g
- Colors: Nebula Silver, Sunset Gold, Space Brown
- 5,000mAh non-removable battery, 80W SUPERVOOC fast charging
Design and Build Quality
I’ve always praised the Reno devices for their elegant and sleek designs, and I’ll continue to do so with the Reno12 series, particularly with the OPPO Reno12 Pro. What immediately struck us upon first holding it was its thin and light build.
It is only 7.4mm thick, which is thinner than the usual 8mm that most phones have. It is also noticeably lightweight at only 180g. Unlike other phones with flat frames, the Reno12 Pro’s front and rear panels are slightly curved so edges are less sharp and more comfortable to hold.
According to OPPO‘s official website, the device is also pressure-resistant and splashproof. During our time with it, the device did feel well-built and robust. No weird noise when I tried bending it as it stayed firm.
Without a doubt, the Reno12 Pro is a sturdy smartphone. But if you want extra peace of mind — and to protect the shiny frame from hairline scratches — you can use the included silicone case. It has a ridged design that reminds us of a suitcase. So if you’re a traveler, you’d like this one.
OPPO also pre-applied a screen protector, in case the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 isn’t reassuring enough for you.
The design looks cleaner and more mature than the Reno11 Pro. It is evident on the camera island, which looks more straightforward than its predecessor.
It is available in three colors. The hero variant, the Nebula Silver, has a pattern that looks like silk. The Space Brown, on the other hand, comes with a dual-tone rear panel. The top one has a matte finish with shimmering effects, while the bottom has a shiny glass-like panel. As expected, the glossy portion is a fingerprint magnet.
Taking a tour, we have the 6.7-inch AMOLED screen on the front with noticeably thin bezels and a punch-hole for the selfie camera. Plus, you can still use the display even if the screen or your fingers get accidentally wet.
There’s the IR blaster on top, a noise-isolating microphone, and stereo speakers.
Left side is clean, while the right has the volume control and the lock/power switch. The physical buttons are protruded well, which gives a tactile and loud clicky sound when pressed.
The bottom has the USB-C port, the main loudspeaker, the primary microphone, and the SIM tray that can house two nano SIM cards back to back.
Display and Sound Quality
The OPPO Reno12 Pro has a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 2412 x 1080 pixel resolution, 394ppi, 120Hz refresh rate, and HDR10+ support.
Display quality is great with vibrant colors and deep blacks — not surprising for an OLED panel. The high refresh rate makes things smooth and it’s responsive enough when aiming at shooter games.
Sharpness is more than enough for reading. Max screen brightness of up to 1,5000 nits is sufficient for sunny outdoors.
But easily the biggest highlight of the OPPO Reno12 Pro is that it managed to have stereo speakers, something that’s been missing from its predecessors.
It offers nice and balanced sound quality with audible stereo separation. There’s also a 300% Volume Boost feature, which sounds distorted, but is there if you’re stuck in a loud place and really need to hear the sound coming from your phone.
Hardware and Performance
Here’s where things get a little controversial. The OPPO Reno12 Pro is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Energy processor, which is a downgrade over the Dimensity 8200 of the Reno11 Pro.
OPPO Reno12 Pro Benchmark scores
On the upside, this “Energy” version of the Dimensity 7300 made specifically for the Reno devices, aims to provide better power efficiency for longer battery life.
In our tests, the device did last longer on a single charge (more on that later) but, the synthetic benchmark scores above clearly shows a drop in performance. They are lower than those from our Reno11 Pro, which scored 936,875 in AnTuTu and 1341/3742 in Geekbench.
Looking past the benchmarks, day-to-day performance was snappy. You can browse the web smoothly, make video calls, take pictures, and more. No worries there.
It’s in gaming where you’d feel its limitations. Most of the games I played were under mid to high graphics settings. While the games were playable using those settings, for its asking price, I expect games to run in higher quality.
Under the default settings (Lowest), Genshin Impact was playable, but you have to settle for the less appealing visuals.
I was fine with the default graphics quality of PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile, but wasn’t satisfied with the default frame rate settings. So, I dialed it up and noticed the Reno12 Pro still handled it fine.
Farlight84 had no issues under HD/High, Mobile Legends at Super/Ultra, and Asphalt 9 with maximum settings.
The graphics quality I was able to play games on was a bit disappointing. But on the upside, I didn’t experience any overheating after playing different games for about 2 hours.
| Game | Graphics Settings |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | • Graphics Quality: High • Frame Rate: Max |
| Farlight84 | • Graphics Quality: HD • Frame Rate: High |
| PUBG Mobile | • Graphics Quality: HD • Frame Rate: Ultra |
| Genshin Impact | • Graphics Quality: Lowest (Default) |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | • Graphics Quality: Super • Frame Rate: Ultra • HD Mode: On |
| Asphalt 9: Legends | • Graphics Quality: High Quality • Frame Rate: 60 |
Software and User Interface
The OPPO Reno12 Pro runs on Android 14-based ColorOS 14.1. Like other phones released this year, it features a bunch of built-in AI features that will help make its user’s life easier.
You can access these special AI features on the Smart Panel, which will pop up on the supported content you’re viewing. The feature will intelligently know what you’re doing and will subtly ping you that there’s an AI feature you can use with it.
For now, the said AI features feel a bit limited. There’s the Reading Assistant that consists of AI Speak and AI Summary when you’re reading content, while the Writing Assistant uses the AI Writer that lets you compose better captions for your next social media post.
The AI Speak feature is quite handy if you want to read a long article but can’t be distracted by looking at your smartphone screen. Voice can either be male or female. Both sound incredibly natural it feels like a friend is reading the article for you. You can also adjust the speed, replay, play/pause, and skip paragraphs.
Meanwhile, the AI Summary reads a whole story and summarizes it for you. Perfect if you hate reading long articles. If you’re not satisfied with the result you can tap Regenerate. You can also instantly copy the summary, share it, or save it to the Notes app.
The AI Recording Summary also works well and works best on summarizing meetings. After the recording, tap the Summarize button. The process — depending on how long the recording was — may take some time. There will be an icon on the notifications tab that lets you know the progress.
To test it out, I tried recording and summarizing the classic song from Queen called Bohemian Rhapsody. The AI managed to come up with a decent outline of what this complex song is all about. Take note that it won’t work on short recordings that are about 5 minutes and below.
The OPPO Reno12 Pro also has the AI Eraser 2.0, which worked well in our testing. It can be handy for your travel photos. No need to use a third-party app and painstakingly remove distractions from your photos. Simply open the photo on the Gallery, tap Edit, go to the AI Eraser and let AI do its magic.
I also tried it in a busy coffee shop. As you can see above, while the effect is not perfect, the end result is actually usable considering the complexity of the scene.
The AI Clear Face is also a useful feature that identifies all the people in your photo and optimizes their faces if they are blurry. The effect is subtle but effective.
Of course, there’s the AI Studio that lets you put your face into different images. There are a bunch of templates to choose from. However, it costs 10 stars to generate one image and our review unit has 5,000 star credit.
The effect looks good and there are even templates for partners. Still, you have to find the right template and take the right base selfie if you want the output to look more realistic.
Moving on from AI, the entire user interface still feels as straightforward to use as ever. As I’ve always said, ColorOS is one of the most polished interfaces in the Android space, and it continues with the Reno12 Pro 5G.
Cameras
The OPPO Reno12 Pro has the latest 50-megapixel LYT600 sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, PDAF, and optical image stabilization. It is joined by a 50-megapixel telephoto lens with a 2x zoom and 47mm equivalent, making it great for portraits. We also have another 50-megapixel sensor for selfies and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide.
Daylight shots from the main camera look stunning. They look vibrant, and contrasty, have sharp details, and the dynamic range has been nailed down.
Enthusiasts might frown on the extra vibrancy of the images, but most users would definitely appreciate how Instagram-ready they are.
Low-light shot has similar qualities. Noise is also barely noticeable and details remain relatively intact even when zoomed in.
That same vibrant colors are also present on the 50-megapixel telephoto lens. The 2x zoom makes it great for portraits. However, the contrast and colors look a little off with the Portrait Mode enabled.
The telephoto camera also lets you take 5x shots, all the way to 20x. The image quality from the 5x is still passable, even with 20x if you really need it.
I’m also seeing similar color quality with the 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera. As expected, there’s a substantial drop in sharpness. Still, the images look good overall and the barrel distortion is not a problem.
The image quality from the 50-megapixel selfie camera is great. It captures sharp details with accurate skin tones. Portrait Mode also works well. The contrast and sharpness do suffer in low light, so make sure you take your time setting up the shot indoors or at night.
Battery and Charging
From the 4,700mAh battery of its predecessor, the OPPO Reno12 Pro now has a larger 5,000mAh capacity. And together with its efficient processor, I’m seeing substantial improvements in battery life.
It scored 17 hours and 36 minutes in PCMark’s battery test, which is about two times better than the score its predecessor got, which only got 9 hours and 23 minutes.
In real-world use, light to moderate users should end their day with still 25-35% of juice left.
The device is shipped with an 80W SUPERVOOC charger, which fills it up to 34% in just 15 minutes. See our full test below:
- 15mins: 0-34%
- 30mins: 65%
- 45mins: 93%
- 48mins: FULL
Verdict
The OPPO Reno12 Pro is a great smartphone for all kinds of use cases. I liked the handy built-in AI features, the cameras that take Instagram-ready photos, the smooth and colorful display, and of course, the sleek and elegant design that makes it easy to carry around on a daily basis.
Possibly one of its best features is the long battery life made possible by the special processor OPPO co-developed with MediaTek. However, the performance has been oddly downgraded over its predecessor, which is a big bummer considering the price point.
If you’re a heavy user and hardcore gamer, this is not the phone for you. But if you want a reliable daily driver that looks stylish, lasts long on a single charge, and has established good after-sales service, then the Reno12 Pro might be worth your consideration.
OPPO Reno12 Pro pricing and availability in the Philippines
The OPPO Reno12 Pro 12GB/512GB has an SRP of Php34,999, while the Reno12 12GB/256GB retails for Php24,999. It is available in a bunch of OPPO physical stores, kiosks, and retailers across the Philippines. You can also get it at Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.
Pros
- Sleek and elegant design
- Handy AI features
- Good cameras
- Stereo speakers
- Long battery life with 80W fast charging
Cons
- Performance lags behind competition in its price range
- No SD card slot
- A bit expensive