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Following the success of the Realme 14 Pro Plus in its tests last year, it was time to refresh this series. Enter the Realme 16 Pro Plus, which not only receives a visual upgrade but one that extends beyond just the margins.
The brand aims to maintain a high-end, even fashionable, appearance while offering a technical setup (Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 + 12 GB of RAM, 6.8-inch AMOLED screen…) capable of meeting a broad range of demands, with a special focus on battery life. Priced at 599 euros, it positions itself at the upper end of the mid-range market, which is highly competitive. Let’s see if this device has what it takes to carve out a niche for itself.
Technical Specifications
Design
Realme has always focused on the design of its smartphones. Thus, the Realme 14 Pro Plus was designed in collaboration with Valuer Designers, who have worked with Bang & Olufsen. For the Realme 16 Pro Plus, the brand partners with Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa. Distinguished by numerous awards, Fukasawa is known for his sleek lines and work with both traditional and modern materials. He has previously designed other Realme models, such as the GT, GT 2 Pro, and the X and X2 series.
The front of the device doesn’t stand out for its originality and closely resembles that of the 14 Pro Plus. It features fairly slim bezels and a beautiful 6.8-inch screen, covering 89.1% of the total surface area, with a very slight curve at the edges.
The dimensions are quite reasonable at 162.6 x 77.6 mm, with a thickness of 8.49 mm. That might not sound impressive, but considering it houses a 7000 mAh battery, it seems quite sleek after all.
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Realme opts for smoother, more rounded edges that naturally fit the curves of your hand. The device is comfortable to hold. The buttons are located on the right side (volume and power) and are well-placed, although a bit too high for those with smaller hands.
Now, moving to the back, which has received considerable attention from the designer. It starts with the material: a bio-sourced silicone made from straw. This choice provides a soft, yet not smooth, touch. It has texture without any relief under the fingers, which adds a surprisingly pleasant feel. There’s no risk of fingerprint marks here, and if you get the back dirty with something like coffee or ash, removing these marks is effortless. It comes in Gold, inspired by wheat according to the designer, and in grey, supposedly reflecting the mineral aspect.
This material thus dresses the 16 Pro Plus and even covers the camera unit, right up to the surface of the lenses. The unit blends naturally into the back, rather than appearing as just an added module. It’s a significant size, with a nice mirror surface, without being too thick. When placed flat, the device displays great stability. The device is easy to use, unless you interact a lot, and with significant pressure, at the top quarter of the display.
The build is meticulous, giving the device a solid feel. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i, and the device boasts IP68/IP69K certification, allowing it to resist jets of water under pressure.
Screen
Realme presents us with a beautiful 6.85-inch AMOLED LTPS display. Two resolutions are available: 1280 x 2800 pixels, the more energy-consuming option, or 1080 x 2362 pixels. This results in a very fine display sharpness, with a pixel density of 450 ppi. Added to this is a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz, dynamically managed by the phone, with an intermediate step at 60 Hz.
We tested the five display modes available and focused on the Natural mode, which offers the most realistic rendering. Thus, with our probe and the CalMAN Ultimate software by Portrait Displays, we measured a Delta E of 2.42, compared to 3 for the reference value. Additionally, the color temperature measured is 6333 K, against 6500 K for the reference value. We thus have a natural, well-calibrated display, although there is a very slight warm drift, almost imperceptible to the eye. As for the color space, it is simply honest with 93% of sRGB, 62% of DCI-P3, and 42% of BT.2020.
Now, let’s talk about brightness: it is quite strong here. Thus, we measure a maximum of 1850 nits in SDR, which allows comfortable use in very bright environments, and even in full sunlight. As for HDR, we measure 2010 nits, enough to enjoy compatible content during the day and indoors, but more difficultly outdoors.
Performance
The 16 Pro Plus features, unsurprisingly, the most robust technical sheet, with a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip, 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and 512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage space, supported by an Adreno 722 GPU.
The raw performances are high, without breaking records. This translates to a quite fast smartphone in everyday use, displaying no slowdowns. Sometimes, there might be minor stutters in transitions, but they are so rare that we mention them mostly for the sake of completeness. In heavy tasks, like 4K video encoding, we obtain very acceptable performances. It’s not dazzling, but consistent with this price level.
Let’s move on to gaming, where it’s worth noting the presence of a GT mode. During our previous benchmarks, it provided no noticeable performance gain but did increase heating. The same goes for 3D benchmarks, but this could change the game once you dive into your favorite games.
Let’s start with Fortnite. The 120 fps mode, in low graphic quality, struggles to display between 48 and 66 fps, whereas with the GT mode we reach 55 to 92 fps. Moving to the 60 fps mode in Epic graphic quality, we oscillate between 50 and 60 fps, with occasional drops to 48 fps. In GT mode, we gain in stability, between 58 and 60 fps. By shifting the quality to High, we obtain more stable results and fewer framerate drops, but still some unexplained decreases. The GT mode further improves things. You need to switch to medium quality if you really want to prioritize a stable framerate at 60 fps.
The case of Genshin Impact is simpler. In normal mode and in maximum graphic quality, the framerate oscillates between 55 and 60 fps, with occasional drops below 50 fps. By lowering the quality by one notch, we have fewer drops and more stability. Here, the GT mode helps smooth out performance when visuals are at their peak.
In Call of Duty, both the 120 fps and 60 fps modes don’t really need the GT mode to remain stable. Yes, we notice a few rare framerate drops, but these are more exceptional than in the previous two games.
Realme handles this SoC well and proves it during our stress tests. Thus, during an hour of intensive use, the smartphone delivers almost all its power for a good 20 minutes. You have to exceed this threshold to see a performance drop of up to 12 points maximum, and this for the rest of the hour.
This Snapdragon is thus quite capable of meeting the most demanding uses, without too aggressive throttling. A good point, as is the management of heat emissions. Indeed, the integrated vapor chamber does the job, but after 20 minutes of gaming, especially in GT mode, the heat becomes noticeable. Still, the bio-sourced silicone works well to contain the sensation, and you really have to play for more than 30 to 45 minutes to be bothered by the temperature.
Software
The Realme 14 Pro Plus repeats the classic formula at the manufacturer with Android 16, accompanied by the Realme UI 7.0 graphical interface. This one has not evolved much, offering an experience close to Stock Android, enriched with more customization options and in-house tools.
We find the now classic sidebar, as well as the Smart Loop AI. Add to this AI writing, translation, and transcription tools, all in French.
On the photo side, Realme pulls out all the stops with some rather well-thought-out features. Thus, AI Light Me allows you to apply random light effects, or more specific ones, like Window Shadow or Party Neon. In the first case, we keep the snapshot and the light is reworked with more or less skill. For the other modes, the subject is kept, but the background is modified.
AI StyleMe applies effects to adapt the photo to a spring or summer theme, or transform the subject(s) into cartoon characters. The one dedicated to winter is quite amusing: it adds snow to the decor, and the result is rather successful.
Finally, for us, the most interesting tool is AI Inspiration. This one will analyze the photo and suggest automatic improvements to better bring out the details, play on the gradients, or eliminate people or objects that spoil the shot.
It’s not always efficient, but often the result is as expected, with subtle improvements and, generally, without distortion. In the example above, we can see more visible skin pores, enhanced contrasts, and overall, a more precise rendering. But be careful: this result is not guaranteed. AI can sometimes distort the photo, so read its analysis carefully.
We find some bloatwares, nothing excessive: we are far from the invasion of useless applications that we find with Xiaomi, for example.
According to the manufacturer, Android updates are assured for the next five years, and for 6 years for security updates. We’ve seen better, but so much worse too for this price.
The Realme 16 Pro Plus aims to be the champion of the mid-range, sparing no expense in terms of power, display quality, photographic quality, performance, or style. This seems like a lot to expect from a product priced under 600 euros…
Photo
In the optical block of the Realme 16 Pro Plus, we have three sensors:
- A main wide-angle sensor of 200 Mpx with an aperture of f/1.8;
- An ultra-wide-angle sensor of 8 Mpx with a viewing angle of 115°, but no information on its aperture;
- A x3.5 telescopic zoom of 50 Mpx with an aperture of f/2.8.
The front camera is based on a 50 Mpx with an aperture of f/2.4.
Wide-angle
Gone are the days when testing the APN of a Realme smartphone was a bit too harsh. The brand now knows how to integrate good lenses and has greatly improved its digital processing. This is still felt with this 200 Mpx sensor, which offers shots with very nice sharpness. By zooming into the image, we can easily see the difference with a Nothing Phone (4a), well-rated in photo, but whose sensor is only 50 Mpx. The difference lies in the microdetails, more refined, which bring more relief and a better rendering of textures.
However, the differential will not always be noticeable on a smartphone screen. The fault lies with a bit too aggressive digital smoothing, which, without it, would offer even more texture. We also appreciate the Realme 16 Pro Plus’s ability to manage light well. Overexposure is rare and the mobile knows how to adapt to almost all situations, adjusting the brightness to best preserve the original atmosphere.
The night mode remains Realme’s Achilles’ heel and yet, in this price range, the Realme 16 Pro Plus pulls more than its weight. It captures light well in bright urban environments. This allows us to enjoy a good level of detail, without being exceptional.
The colorimetry remains quite natural: this Realme has the good taste to know how to preserve the atmospheres rather than bringing out details that our eyes would not see.
The only downside, a management of contrasts that sometimes lacks finesse, which reduces the precision of the shots in dark areas. Finally, even in dimly lit areas, it manages to get by with more than honors.
Portrait
The 200 Mpx of the main sensor bring their share of pixels, but the sharpness is not as fine as we hoped. So be careful, in this price range, we can only be very satisfied. The microdetails are there, allowing to reproduce the texture of leather, wool, and even hair. These are a bit smoothed, like skin pores, but nothing too aggressive. As long as you don’t zoom into the image, the illusion is perfect.
The clipping gains in finesse since the 14 Pro Plus. The latter could still make mistakes between the arches and the skull, for example. Here, this type of error is very rare, and only the most tousled hair will cause it difficulties.
At night, we have good light management, the atmosphere remains quite faithful to reality. The clipping is still as good, and the blur effect is pleasant by its progressiveness.
We appreciate the level of detail, but the microdetails, themselves, collapse, which reduces the rendering of textures. And let’s not talk about the hairs of the beard and the pores of the skin, really too smoothed. We therefore lack sharpness, but this remains very acceptable for a smartphone under 600 euros.
Ultra wide-angle
Having a 200 Mpx sensor is good, but we might have preferred a good 50 Mpx, rather than an ultra wide-angle limited to 8 Mpx. It’s all the more unfortunate since here, the ultra wide-angle mode manages light well and offers quite fine contrast management.
Maya Singh is a senior editor covering tablets and hybrid devices. Her work explores how these tools reshape digital productivity and learning. She also contributes to feature editorials on emerging tech.