realme 12 Plus 5G Review

The realme 12 series has arrived, and they are here to impress with premium designs, good cameras, fast charging, and more.

We’ve already shared our thoughts on the realme 12 Pro+ 5G in a separate review. Today, we’ll be looking at its little brother, the realme 12 Plus 5G. Is it an acceptable budget alternative to the Pro model? Or are you better off getting something else? Let’s find out in our full review.

realme 12 Plus 5G Specs

Android 14, realme UI 5.0
Dual SIM, Dual standby, Hybrid
6.67-inch FHD+ OLED display, 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, ~394ppi
120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate
2000-nits peak brightness, HDR10+, TUV Rheinland Blue Light Certification
2.6GHz MediaTek Dimensity 7050 5G octa-core processor
Mali-G68 MC4 GPU
12GB RAM
256GB internal storage, expandable via microSD card slot
16-megeapixel front camera
50-megapixel (LYT-600, OIS, f/1.8) + 8-megapixel (ultra-wide) + 2-megapixel (macro) rear cameras, LED flash
In-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
Stereo speakers
HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
WiFi 6, dual-band
Bluetooth 5.2
GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS
USB-C
Dimensions: 162.95 x 75.45 x 7.87mm
Weight: 190g
Colors: Navigator Beige, Pioneer Green
5,000mAh non-removable battery, 67W SUPERVOOC fast charging

Design and Build Quality

Like the realme 12 Pro Plus, the realme 12 Plus comes with the brand’s new design language inspired by a classic watch. It has a vegan leather rear panel, which feels incredible to the touch, stays clean from fingerprint marks (versus glossy plastic and glass materials), and is just nice to look at, especially on this Navigator Beige colorway.

But unlike its “Pro” brother, the glass on the camera island is flat and doesn’t have the fine ridges on the ring surrounding it. Still, the device looks more premium than most of its competition.

To set it apart from its premium brother, the realme 12 Plus has flat edges instead of curves. It’s not as smooth in the hands and it definitely made the device feel thicker, but it feels grippier and more secure to hold when gaming or binge-watching.

I also like the shiny finish of the frame. It feels smooth, and adds to the premium feel of the device. Only time will tell if it will be bombarded with hairline scratches, so if you want peace of mind, it’s best to slap the free clear case included in the box.

Speaking of safety, the realme 12+ is officially IP54 dust and splash-resistant. Don’t go swimming with it, but rest assured it can survive accidental water contact. A screen protector was also pre-applied out of the box.

Taking a tour, there’s the 6.67-inch AMOLED display on the front with the selfie camera inside a punch-hole cutout. The bezels are not the thinnest but look absolutely fine.

A noise-isolating microphone and cutout for the second speaker is on top. Also up here is a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is rare and would definitely be appreciated by those who still use wired earphones.

Left side is clean, while the right has the volume controls and lock/power switch. The buttons are slim and flat to match the sleek design, while still being clicky and tactile.

The bottom has the USB-C port, primary loudspeaker, main microphone, and the hybrid nano SIM tray that can house a second nano SIM or a microSD card.

One small comment, I wish the pin hole was inside the SIM tray so it doesn’t get confused with the microphone. Although by looking closely, you can tell them apart by the shape: the hole for the SIM ejector tool is a perfect circle while the mic is slightly oblong.

realme has always nailed the designs of their phones, so it’s no surprise that they also did well with the realme 12 series.

Display and Sound Quality

The realme 12 Plus 5G has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display, with a 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, 394ppi, 100% P3 color gamut, HDR10+, 2000 nits of peak brightness, and a high 120Hz refresh rate. It’s also TUV Rheinland certified for having low blue light emission.

You can go to the settings and control the screen color modes, schedule color temperature for eye comfort, and enable the Video Coler Boost that can convert SDR to HDR.

You can also select screen refresh rates: Standard (60Hz), High (120Hz), or Auto select which will intelligently switch between modes for better efficiency.

Display quality has been good. It’s as colorful and contrasty as you might expect from a budget phone with an OLED screen. HD video streaming on Netflix and other platforms is available, and the HDR worked well in services that support it. Sharpness is also enough for reading long articles and messages.

The stereo speakers are decent. It gets loud enough and the stereo separation is audible. You can hear the bass but the treble sounds a little distorted. For its asking price, it’s more than enough.

Hardware and Performance

The realme 12 Plus 5G is powered by a 2.6GHz MediaTek Dimensity 7050 octa-core processor, with Mali-G68 MC4 GPU, and can be had in either 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB of RAM and storage configuration.

realme 12 Plus 5G Benchmark Scores

It’s not the best processor you can get for the price, but day-to-day performance was still very snappy. I had no problems opening Facebook and Instagram to catch up with friends, make video calls, stream on Netflix, listen to Spotify, and more.

Taking pictures was quick, too, even in low-light scenarios. Switching between opened apps was also seamless, great for productivity and multitasking.

Gaming performance was pretty solid. Call of Duty Mobile, Farlight84, PUBG Mobile, and Mobile Legends ran smoothly under High settings. Genshin Impact was also playable under Low settings.

Overheating is not a problem, but like most phones, it did get warm after 20 to 30 minutes of gaming.

Game	Graphics Settings
Call of Duty: Mobile	• Graphics Quality: High • Frame Rate: Very High
Farlight84	• Graphics Quality: HD • Frame Rate: Very High • Resolution: Medium
PUBG Mobile	• Graphics Quality: HD • Frame Rate: High
Genshin Impact	• Graphics Quality: Low (Default)
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang	• Graphics Quality: High • Frame Rate: High • HD Mode: On
Asphalt 9: Legends	• Visual Quality: Default • Frame Rate: 60

Software and User Interface

The realme 12+ 5G ships with the latest Android 14-based realme UI 5.0. Like what I said in our realme 12 Pro Plus 5G review, I liked how polished realme’s interface is. The Control Center is clean and customizable. There’s also a dedicated Google page on the home screen that gives you access to Google Search, News, and Weather. The App Drawer can be easily accessed by swiping up and has its own app search bar, app suggestions with specific app shortcuts, and a complete list of apps sorted alphabetically.

Like on other Android phones, you can customize the wallpaper, themes, icons, fonts, wallpapers, and always-on display wallpapers. You can also enable Edge Lighting when you receive notifications.

You can also disable the App Drawer if you want to or set the home screen layout if you want to cram more apps on a single screen.

Google’s Security and Privacy are now more straightforward than ever, so you can easily tell if your device is secured enough or not.

The fingerprint scanner worked well, but not the fastest. I find that the face unlock worked better in unlocking the device. Anyway, it’s nice that users have an option.

Power users will also like realme’s built-in Phone Manager app that lets them Optimize the RAM, storage, and more with a click of a button. Bloatware is inevitable as Google and realme’s native apps are clashing with each other. This is why it has two web browsers and photo galleries — both cannot be uninstalled.

Fortunately, even with six massive games installed, it barely made a dent on the large 256GB storage. Also, only 15.8GB of space is reserved for the System.

realme UI has a bunch of special features like Smart Suggestions, Split View, Flexible Window, and more. The Snap Card feature is quite handy and lets you tap your NFC-capable bank card on the back of the phone and save it to the device. Once saved, you can pay with your card account by tapping your device at a store’s contact point. I haven’t tested this yet, though.

The device uses Google Keyboard, albeit the default layout has the ñ letter enabled, which resulted in a lot of typos, so I switched to the standard layout quickly. The camera app is pretty clean and easy to use, no worries there.

Camera Quality

One of the highlights of the realme 12 Plus 5G is its fancy 50-megapixel LYT-600 sensor from Sony with optical image stabilization and a bright f/1.8 aperture. An 8-megapixel ultra-wide and a 2-megapixel macro lens complete the camera setup. A 16-megapixel lens is on the front for selfies.

Daylight shots from the 50-megapixel main camera look really good with the right colors, contrast, and a lot of details.

The dynamic range was also handled fine, but sometimes can be a bit too much, resulting in shadows that look unrealistically bright.

The camera really showcased its prowess in low-light scenarios, where shots still look sharp, even when you zoom in images. Shots are also well-exposed, even without the Night Mode enabled.

The realme 12+ 5G may lack the periscope lens that its Pro brother have, but the 50-megapixel sensor can still let you do 2x and up to 20x of digital zoom.

2x zoom is fine for portraits, especially with the Portrait Mode enabled which offers a realistic background blur. In addition, 20x shots are very usable if you need it.

The ultra-wide camera takes good photos for a lens with an 8-megapixel sensor. It looks well-detailed with the edge distortion handled well.

I’m also impressed with how realme handled low-light shots on this one. It’s bright and detailed, especially with the night mode.

I do appreciate that realme opted with a more usable 2-megapixel macro camera than a depth sensor. However, I doubt that anyone will find good use to it, except in specific scenarios. In case you do, the image quality is fine but nothing spectacular. The closest zoom range is 4cm.

Selfies from the 16-megapixel front camera are good. They look sharp enough in daylight, with the right colors, contrast, and acceptable dynamic range. Low-light shots are passable but expect a lot of noises and grains.

Battery Life and Charging

The realme 12 Plus 5G has a 5,000mAh battery paired with a flagship-grade 67W SUPERVOOC fast charging.

In PCMark’s battery loop test, it lasted for 16 hours and 36 minutes before dropping to 20%. That’s a loop of different workload with the connectivity features turned off and the screen brightness and volume set at 50%.

I also played a YouTube video in 1080p resolution at 50% volume and it lasted 17 hours and 6 minutes before dropping to 1% from 100%. When it comes to gaming, an hour of playing games only ate around 10% of the battery.

So, bottom line is, you can easily get one to two days of light to moderate use out of this device. But in case you run out of juice, don’t worry as the charger is quite fast at filling it up.

In our test, a full charge only took about 48 minutes. See the full test below:

15 minutes: 0-43%
30 minutes: 75%
45 minutes: 98%
48 minutes: FULL

Verdict

Is the realme 12 Plus 5G a sensible budget alternative to its Pro brother? It definitely is. Despite the price gap of around Php10,000, you get a similar premium design with vegan leather, an AMOLED display, long battery life with high-end charging speed, reliable performance, and an impressive main camera even in low-light.

On its own, the realme 12+ is a great all-around device, whether you’re looking for a budget gaming phone, for mobile photography, or just for staying connected for days on a single charge.

You may find other devices that boasts a more powerful chipset for the same price. I’m not a fan of the uncomfortable flat edges either. But the realme 12+ 5G has plenty enough going for it to be considered under Php18,000.

realme 12 Plus 5G price and availability in the Philippines

The realme 12 Plus 5G 8GB/256GB has a price of Php17,999 and the 12GB/256GB is at Php19,999. It’s available in the Philippines since March 7 and you can get it at realme physical stores, partner retailers, and through Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop. For installment, you can also get it at Home Credit and using credit cards.

Pros

Premium vegan leather design
Good cameras
Long battery life with fast charging

Cons

Competition has better chipset
Flat edges and rough corners are not ergonomic