realme 14 Pro+ 5G Review

Last February, realme introduced the newest 14 Pro+ at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. This latest offering features a unique design, efficient gaming capability, great cameras, and many more.

On my recent trip, my media friends and I took it on an adventure to test it out. We had fun with the device and have used it all day long.

So today, let’s see what I have to say about this guy.

Design and Construction

Let’s start things off with the design and build. The realme 14 Pro+ sports a new plastic back display featuring thermochromic technology… or in other words, the world’s first cold-sensitive color-changing design.

This feature is only available on the Pearl White variant that we have here. But if you want a subtle look, there’s the Suede Grey and Bikaner Purple.

When temperatures drop to 16°C (60.8°F), the Pearl White back display suddenly shifts to this vibrant blue, showing an ocean wave pattern. It looks aesthetic and appealing to our eyes, but we must consider that this may eventually fade over time.

This cold-sensitive color-changing back panel was developed by realme in collaboration with Valeur Designers, a Copenhagen-based firm. The goal of this partnership was to give the gadget a modern, forward-thinking look.

The phone is handy and easy to carry regardless of its size – it only weighs 194g. I did like how the display and frame seamlessly converge, making it look premium in my opinion.

For I/Os, the power button and volume rocker are placed on the right side, while the left remains clean. On top, we can see the NC microphone, and the other one is situated at the bottom together with the Dual SIM Card Slot, Speaker Grill, and the USB-C Port.

For those, curious the realme 14 Pro+ is also rated for IP68/IP69 for dust and water resistance, MIL-STD-810H shock resistance, and Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protection.

Display, Multimedia and Biometrics

As per the display, it shows off its 6.83-inch 1.5K Quad-curved OLED protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i. In our experience, it delivered a great viewing experience and it was complemented by its dual stereo speakers. The bezels are decent, not too thick, and it’s not bothersome when watching and surfing.

The colors are vibrant and crisp with a good amount of contrast, and scrolling through my socials was buttery smooth, thanks to its adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz.

When you’re outdoors, the phone has a peak brightness of up to 1500 nits. You don’t have to worry when you’re lurking outside, you can enjoy hassle-free media consumption without struggling under sunlight.

As I said earlier, aside from having a great display, the dual speakers output good audio. And we don’t have to max out the volume for a full-stage audio experience. Just having it at mid-level, still gives a nice detail.

For security, the phone has an in-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock, and both register quickly. However, I still prefer the fingerprint sensor as it’s more secure.

Cameras

Images captured on the realme 14 Pro+ were great. As a shutterbug and an avid IG user, I was able to maximize and use the camera so well.

The phone equips a triple camera setup consisting of a 50MP Main shooter with OIS, a 50MP Periscope Lens, and an 8MP Ultrawide housed in a circular module with the phone’s so-called “MagicFlow Triple Flash”.

You can take pictures with different moods depending on your liking. You can utilize this by setting it up and adjusting your desired tone via the flash button seen inside the camera app.

At the front, you’ll see a 32MP selfie shooter built inside a punch-hole notch. Both Selfie and Main Lens can shoot videos at 4K@30FPS, but if you were to activate the depth of field or a feature somewhat similar to cinematic mode, this can only shoot at 1080P@30FPS max.

At night, both Main and Selfie cameras capture great images.

However, there are moments that when taking photos, outputs are leaning towards warmer tones. Regardless, we cannot ignore the fact that good clarity is indeed seen with the lenses on the realme 14 Pro+.

You can check out our sample images and videos here.Do note that some of the images were edited using the Gallery app to give it more oomph.

AI Erase is also integrated into the Gallery app to remove clutter using AI.

This feature can only be used under a Wi-Fi connection, though.

Another Camera feature on this one is the “Underwater mode”, and you can enable it by going to the “more” section. As the name suggests, this is used specifically for underwater shooting as it enables water-ejection once done taking snaps and videos. Neat!

OS, APPS, & UI

The realme 14 Pro+ is running on the latest Android 15 skinned with realme UI 6.0. What we like most about the device is it didn’t get that much bloatware.

I like how clean the UI on this device is, as it’s appealing to the eyes. Not gonna lie, the realme 14 Pro+ resembles the OPPO Reno 13 Pro’s UI, which isn’t a bad thing.

Aside from having the AI Erase, it has a few more AI features such as AI Smart loop, AI Assistant, AI Screen recognition, and HyperBoost for gaming. For me, AI Screen Recognition is gonna be the most handy feature among others.

There’s also the smart sidebar that users would also find useful. Just swipe from either left or right – depending on where you put it – and you can easily access the file manager, screen record button, as well as voice and screen translation.

Performance and Benchmarks

Powering this device is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip. Our unit comes with 12GB RAM and 512GB of internal storage. The RAM can also be expanded by up to 14GB through the dynamic RAM expansion.

Performance-wise, the phone was able to handle my daily tasks well such as social media browsing, capturing images, binge-watching movies, and especially, gaming.

With its pretty capable chip, it managed to deliver a smooth gaming experience. My good friend, Ara, said that her gaming experience was nice, and she never felt any lag or stutter during her gameplay in Mobile Legends.

We did feel a slight heat-up after playing graphic-intensive games, but it’s not too hot to the touch. There were occasional lags, but still managed to run smoothly at low to medium graphics.

In our benchmarks, the realme 14 Pro+ 5G scored 800K plus in AnTuTu, which is higher by 300K points than its predecessor. And for those who are interested in the numbers, flashing the benchmark scores now on screen.

Connectivity and Battery

The realme 14 Pro+ packs a humongous 6,000mAh battery, complemented by a 80W of fast wired charging. This is already among the highest battery capacity in this category.

I’m just quite surprised that despite the large battery pack, it only lasted 11 hours and 28 minutes in our PCMark battery life test (50% brightness, zero volume and in airplane mode).

That wasn’t the same case for my real world use, though. I was still able to drain the phone for a day and a half with regular consumption. But again, it still depends on the user’s lifestyle and how they use the phone throughout the day. For connectivity, it supports dual-nano SIM, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC.

Conclusion

As of writing this review, the realme 14 Pro+ 5G has a suggested retail price of PHP 27,999 with a configuration of 12GB RAM and 512GB internal storage.

The realme 14 Pro+ 5G can also be purchased for as low as PHP 25,363 via TikTok as well. This comes with a free realme Watch S2 with a steel wristband (worth PHP 4,499) until March 27, 2025 or until supplies last.

It’s a bit of a stretch to ask for this much considering the hardware configuration of the 14 Pro+ but it also tries to make up for other factirs such as the camera, battery

Wrapping this up, my experience with the realme 14 Pro+ was quite impressive. It was able to handle my day-to-day tasks and live up to its promises, especially in gaming.

Not to mention, I genuinely enjoyed how great and capable the phone’s camera is.

So, if you’re looking for a mid-range phone with premium looks and a solid camera performance, the realme 14 Pro+ 5G can be your match.

What we liked:
* Large battery capacity
* Fast charging
* Camera quality
* IP68 / IP69 Rating
* Generous RAM and storage option

What we did not like:
* Priced above expectations
* Below average battery life

realme 14 Pro+ 5G specs:
6.83-inch 1.5K Quad-curved OLED @ 2800 x 1272 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate
1500-nit local peak brightness
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3
4-nm, 8-cores, up to 2.5GHz
Up to 12GB RAM
Up to 256GB storage
Triple rear cameras:
– 50MP f/2.65 periscope (Sony IMX882), OIS
– 50MP f/1.8 main (Sony IMX896), OIS
– 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide
32MP selfie shooter
Dual nano-SIM
5G, 4G LTE
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.2
GPS, Beidou, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS
USB Type-C
NFC (market dependent)
Under-display fingerprint sensor
IP66/ IP68/ IP69 dust and water resistance
Dual stereo speakers
realme UI 6.0, Android 15
6,000mAh battery 80W charging (wired)
16.35 x 7.73 x 0.80 cm | 0.83 cm (Suede Grey)
194 grams | 196 grams (Suede Grey)
Pearl White, Bikaner Purple, Suede Grey (colorways)