Realme 11 Pro+ 5G Review | A worthy mid-ranger facing tough competition in the segment

The mid-range segment is about to get even hotter with the latest launch of the Realme 11 phone series. For today’s review, we have the latest Realme 11 Pro+ 5G. Right out the gate, its standout feature is the main camera, which boasts a 200MP resolution with Samsung’s HP3 sensor. We explore more below.

Design

The Realme 11 Pro+ 5G stands out with its unique and appealing design, featuring a Lychee leather design co-created with ex-Gucci designer Matteo Menotto. The back panel is curved like the screen glass and has a faux leather cover with 3D-printed stitches, providing a premium feel. The phone is thin, lightweight, and offers a secure grip. The vegan leather back is resistant to smudges and fingerprints, enhancing its overall aesthetics. The build quality is solid, giving a luxurious impression. The camera cutout is large but complements the design. 

The display panel has minimal bezels and a small punch hole for the selfie camera. The Realme 11 Pro+ 5G features stereo speakers, with the earpiece doubling as a speaker. It has an optical fingerprint scanner below the screen that works very accurately. On the right, you’ll find the volume and power keys. At the top, there is a second outlet for the top speaker and one of the microphones. The bottom houses the primary microphone, along with the dual SIM tray, the USB-C port, and the other speaker.

Display

The Realme 11 Pro+ 5G features a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel with an extended 1080p resolution and a range of premium specifications. These include a 10-bit colour depth, 120Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch response, 2160Hz PWM dimming, and HDR10+ support. With 10-bit colour depth, the display can showcase over one billion colours, while the high refresh rate ensures a smooth user interface and app performance at 90fps and 120fps. The 360Hz touch response benefits gaming and the 2160Hz PWM dimming reduces eye strain when using the screen at lower brightness levels.

OS

The Realme 11 Pro+ 5G runs on Android 13 with Realme UI 4.0. One of the standout visual features of Realme UI 4.0 is the Aquamorphic theme, which provides a modern and clean aesthetic. Realme UI 4.0 incorporates Android 13’s Media Controls, delivering smoother animations, dynamic widgets, and improved notification and control centres.

Processor

The Realme 11 Pro+ 5G introduces MediaTek’s Dimensity 7050 5G chipset to its lineup. However, this chipset is a rebranded version of the Dimensity 1080 SoC found in the Realme 10 Pro+. It offers a minor improvement over the Dimensity 920 5G chip in the Realme 9 Pro. It features an octa-core processor with two Cortex-A78 performance cores clocked at 2.6GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0GHz. It utilizes the Mali-G68 MC4 GPU and is built on a 6nm processor. 

The phone comes with two memory options: 8GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage. We received the latter variant to review. The processor handles heavy-duty tasks and occasional gaming with ease, delivering smooth performance without overheating or throttling. From a competitive standpoint, we would have liked the incorporation of the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

Camera

The Realme 11 Pro+ 5G boasts an upgraded camera setup, featuring a triple-camera system at the back and a single front-facing camera. The primary camera utilizes a high-resolution 200MP Samsung ISOCELL HP3 sensor with an aperture of f/1.69. It supports Super QPD autofocus and features Super OIS with a 3° EDR OIS Algorithm, providing a 40% increase in lens reset speed. The main camera supports high-resolution shooting at 200MP and 50MP. The ultrawide camera utilizes an 8MP Sony IMX 355 sensor with a 16mm f/2.2 lens and does not have autofocus. The third sensor is a 2MP macro camera with an aperture of f/2.4 aperture.

The main camera is impressive, capturing 12.5MP photos in its default mode. In daylight, the images have flagship-level quality with lots of detail, low noise, good contrast, and a wide dynamic range. The colours are true to life, resulting in pleasing photos overall. The 2x zoomed photos are cropped from the 50MP high-resolution image, which may result in slight blurring of moving subjects due to image stacking. The 4x zoom is not completely lossless, but it’s better than a typical digital zoom. The new Samsung sensor enables features like Auto Zoom, which automatically zooms and crops on a subject while keeping it centred in the frame.

While the Realme 11 Pro+ 5G capturing images in the 200MP lens mode, the quality doesn’t justify the storage space it takes. It’s better to use the 50MP mode, as it produces enhanced and detailed images.

In Portrait mode, which defaults to 2x zoom, the portraits taken are of high quality. The subject is well-rendered with acceptable detail, realistic colours, and a wide dynamic range enhanced by Auto HDR. The ultrawide camera has an 8MP resolution but delivers excellent quality considering its budget nature. The rendering and processing are similar to the main camera. Ultrawide photos taken in sunny conditions have sufficient detail, minimal noise, and straightened corners.

 The device features Auto Nightscape, which works similarly to other phones. Photos taken with Auto Nightscape on the main camera are bright, well-exposed, and have a wide dynamic range. The colour saturation is pleasing, and the photos are free of noise. The level of resolved detail is not the highest but still quite good.

The selfie camera on the Realme 11 Pro+ 5G has been upgraded to a 32MP sensor from the previous 16MP. It still uses a Quad-Bayer imager and saves 32MP photos instead of 8MP. The selfies captured by the upgraded front camera are very good. They exhibit good detail, effective noise reduction, pleasant colours, and a consistently wide dynamic range.

Battery

The Realme 11 Pro+ is 5G equipped with a 5,000mAh battery, offering the same capacity as the Realme 10 Pro+. It supports 100W SuperVOOC fast wired charging and comes bundled with a 100W GaN charger, enabling a full charge within 30 minutes. The Realme 11 Pro+ also features Wise Charging, which is enabled by default, optimizing the charging process for enhanced efficiency. During our review period, the phone lasted a day quite comfortably.

Verdict

Starting at ₹27,999, the new Realme 11 Pro+ 5G is among the top picks in the mid-range segment. However, it faces tough competition from Motorola Edge 40. For those seeking an excellent camera in the mid-range category, along with a unique design and fast charging, the Realme 11 Pro+ 5G is a great choice.