The mid-range phone market is always an interesting one, as every brand tries to get your attention with features that can at times be more compelling than their flagship models, such as the case of the realme 16 Pro, which is one fashionable piece of tech with its striking Purple color chassis and boasting a 200MP LumaColor camera that managed to impress our in-house photographer.

AI-Powered Photography with 200MP LumaColor camera

While it is rather common to see a high resolution main camera on mid-range phones, the realme 16 Pro’s main 200MP LumaColor camera hardware is a flagship Samsung HP5 sensor with a 1/1.56” sensor size and f/1.8 aperture, this is one of the larger imaging sensors found on a mid-range device that offers superior clarity and low light performance, while users with shaky hands need not worry about blurry images all thanks to its Super OIS optical stabilization.

Of course, realme didn’t just simply give the camera a marketing name without any reason, as the 200MP LumaColor has been tuned in collaboration with TUV Rheinland with advanced HyperRAW Algorithm to produce accurate and natural skin tone on portraits, true-to-life colors and clear details when taking landscape shots.

Furthermore, having 200MP of resolution and a large sensor at your disposal means you can easily achieve optical quality zoom photos without compromising in image quality, the realme 16 Pro also features multi-focal portrait that lets you capture your subjects in different perspectives. This can be seen when our in-house photographers used the device to capture portraits at 3.5x and 7x, where the clarity and detail is there for everyone to witness.

Even as an amateur, the realme 16 Pro is able to guide you with AI Framing Master to capture the perfect shot, it understands the type of photos you want to capture by simply analyzing the live view, then automatically frames and crops into the shot, and all you need is to just hit that shutter button to achieve a pro-level shot, which is very convenient, now everyone can produce high quality photos just like a pro.

The photography experience of the realme 16 Pro doesn’t just end at the press of the shutter button, it lets you enhance your shot with AI Edit Genie which can change your subject’s hair style, clothes and background, simply describe the change you want in text prompt and AI Edit Genie will process the effect that you want.

Minimalist, Elegant yet Robust

Even without shouting out loud on its features, the realme 16 Pro is already a head turner with its sleek and fashionable design, it has a color matching camera island that’s made out of an aluminum block with chamfered edges, it complements the high quality backcase with a matte finish that surprisingly hides fingerprints well if you use it without a case.

The realme 16 Pro’s minimalist and elegant design can be attributed to the collaboration with Master Naoto Fukasawa, who has worked on the realme GT series previously and returned to collaborate on the latest realme number series.

Despite the elegance, the realme 16 Pro is built to be durable with IP69K dust and water resistance, which can endure strong and hot water jets that not many phones of its class can do, perfect for the uncertain and tough weather conditions in Malaysia.

User Experience that Matches the Phone’s Elegance

On the front, the expansive 6.78-inch AMOLED screen boasts a buttery smooth 144Hz refresh rate and has up to 6500 nits of peak brightness, while supporting 10-bit color depth that you can truly perceive in movies that you binge watch, it also has reasonably slim and uniformed bezels that enables me to type comfortably with one hand and makes it really easy to hold the device.

Powering the realme 16 Pro is the Mediatek Dimensity 7300 Max processor paired to 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage, which is an excellent mid-range chips that offers a balance of performance and power efficiency, yet despite not being a high performance chipset, realme has installed a vapor chamber that tames the temperature should you try to push it in extreme conditions, this isn’t common on many mid-range phones which I believe many users will appreciate, it achieves a benchmark of over 970,000 points in Antutu Benchmark which is really commendable.

However, what truly makes the realme 16 Pro and enjoyable is realme UI 7 that’s based on Android 16, which offers fluid animations with every gesture you perform on screen and an elegant user interface that you will never get bored with, the software’s Flux Engine offers up to 15% faster daily response and loads heavy leading apps up to 22% faster, ultimately resulting in a lag-free experience for years to come.

The realme 16 Pro also offers a fair amount of AI features, which includes AI Writer that can help you brainstorm social posts on supported social media apps, AI Gaming Coach that offers game tips and win probability in supported MOBA game titles and a suite of AI Camera features that help take better pictures, it’s a feature that acts as a catalyst for creators and gamers.

Incredible battery life that lasts

With a 7000mAh Titan Battery, the realme 16 Pro is simply a two-day battery phone in our tests, easily achieving over 8 hours of combined usage with occasional mobile hotspot usage, the battery can be fully recharged from single digit battery levels in a mere 50 minutes with 80W SuperVOOC charging, there’s also no need to worry about battery degradation as realme claims to retain over 80% of charge even after 5 years.

In addition, gamers need not worry about overheating as it supports Bypass Charging that allows the battery to stop charging while staying plugged for optimal performance, this is a very useful feature that not many similar priced phones come with.

Following the success of its predecessor, the realme 15 Pro — the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M7 Official Gaming Phone — it’s only a matter of time before the realme 16 Pro becomes the gaming community’s next go-to weapon.

Verdict: Fashionable and Practical

After using the realme 16 Pro for a week, I can easily conclude this as one of the best choices when it comes to buying an upper mid-range phone that costs under RM2000, it has excellent performance and polished software that anyone will find it satisfactory, a reliable 200MP LumaColor camera that takes incredibly detailed shots, and you will never need to bring a powerbank along with you once you start using it.

Get the realme 16 Pro at realme’s official store on Shopee and Lazada.