Realme 13 Pro+: Setting a New Benchmark in Mid-Range Imaging, Delivering Flagship Quality at an Affordable Price

Realme 13 Pro+: Setting a New Benchmark in Mid-Range Imaging, Delivering Flagship Quality at an Affordable PriceThe first half of 2024 has flown by, and the mid-range market has seen intense competition, with impressive contenders vying for dominance in both performance and design. However, I've noticed a missing element - a dedicated "imaging mid-range" segment

Realme 13 Pro+: Setting a New Benchmark in Mid-Range Imaging, Delivering Flagship Quality at an Affordable Price

The first half of 2024 has flown by, and the mid-range market has seen intense competition, with impressive contenders vying for dominance in both performance and design. However, I've noticed a missing element - a dedicated "imaging mid-range" segment.

It's common knowledge that brands prioritize flagship series for their top-of-the-line imaging features, highlighting the importance of photography in the smartphone market. Yet, Realme has dared to challenge this norm, introducing a unique "imaging mid-range" segment by offering flagship-level camera systems in their mid-range offerings.

Recently, I had the opportunity to test the Realme 13 Pro+, dubbed the "telephoto lens powerhouse." As the current mid-ranger boasting the most luxurious camera setup, how does it perform? Can the imaging mid-range truly compete with flagship cameras? Let's discover together the imaging prowess of this mid-range marvel priced starting at 1999 yuan.

Who Says Imaging Powerhouses Must Be Thick and Heavy?

Upon first glance at the Realme 13 Pro+, a sense of familiarity washed over me. Just like the majority of "Ultra" flagships this year, Realme has also opted for a large circular camera module on the back, but with a subtle protrusion, ensuring a visually pleasing design.

Realme collaborated with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to design the Realme 13 Pro+, offering two color variations: Monet Gold and Lake Green, both drawing inspiration from the French Impressionist master Claude Monet. The Monet Gold variant in my hands, claimed to embody the colors and textures of Monet's iconic "Haystack" paintings, features a shimmering gold glass finish with a flowing sand texture, exuding elegance. The Lake Green variant, on the other hand, borrows from the hues of "Water Lilies," employing a deep green base and premium nano-leather, creating a profound visual and tactile experience.

Realme's digital series has consistently prioritized design. The Realme 11 series partnered with Matteo Menotto, the former Gucci designer, to create urban-nature prints. The Realme 12 series collaborated with Ollivier Savo, a renowned designer of luxury watches, for the watch-inspired camera module design. However, the previous two digital series relied on leather finishes. The Realme 13 series introduces a frosted glass version, which I find more comfortable in the gold finish.

The Realme 13 Pro+'s greatest strength lies in its size and weight control. My Monet Gold variant measures a mere 8.23mm in thickness and weighs only 190g. For a camera-focused device, these dimensions are truly impressive.

Moving on to the display, the Realme 13 Pro+ features a 6.7-inch 1080P AMOLED panel with a peak brightness of 2000 nits and 2160Hz PWM dimming. While Realme hasn't embraced the current trends of deep micro-curved or fully flat displays, the Realme 13 Pro+ boasts a subtle curvature on the sides and a narrowed top and bottom, resulting in a harmonious visual experience.

Overall, thanks to Realme's restrained approach to "stuffing" features, the Realme 13 Pro+ boasts an excellent visual and gripping experience. The camera module's minimal protrusion ensures comfort even when held horizontally. Notably, the Realme 13 Pro+ also stands out as one of the few models in its price segment to offer stereo speakers, a feature that justifies its price tag.

Flagship-Level Imaging in a Mid-Range Phone

Since establishing the digital series as the "imaging mid-range" segment, Realme has consistently equipped them with impressive camera systems, such as the 200-megapixel main camera on the Realme 11 Pro+ and the OV64B periscope telephoto lens on the Realme 12 Pro+. This has piqued my curiosity about the Realme 13 Pro+'s camera capabilities.

Hardware-wise, the Realme 13 Pro+ retains the triple-camera setup of its predecessor. The main camera boasts a newly developed Sony LYT-701 sensor, featuring 50-megapixels, a 1/1.56-inch large sensor, and a single-pixel area of 2m. The telephoto lens is the LYT-600, offering 50-megapixels, a 1/1.95-inch ultra-large sensor, and a maximum 3x optical zoom. The ultra-wide-angle lens comes equipped with an 8-megapixel sensor.

Both the main and telephoto sensors on the Realme 13 Pro+ support a technology called "ISZ" or "In-Sensor-Zoom," essentially lossless digital zoom at fixed focal lengths. The main LYT-701 sensor features a native focal length of 24mm and utilizes ISZ to expand to a lossless zoom of 49mm. The telephoto LYT-600 boasts a native focal length of 73mm and supports expanding to a digital zoom of 144mm.

With ISZ, the Realme 13 Pro+ offers lossless focal lengths of 24mm, 49mm, 73mm, and 144mm, corresponding to the 1X, 2X, 3X, and 6X zoom buttons in the camera app (the ultra-wide-angle lens has a fixed focal length of 16mm). Additionally, the Realme 13 Pro+ achieves a maximum digital zoom of 120X, equating to 2852mm, falling into the super-telephoto range. However, beyond the ISZ-supported lossless zoom, achieving quality images in this range relies heavily on hardware algorithms.

Clearly, the Realme 13 Pro+'s camera hardware mirrors the design principles of flagship imaging systems. The main camera is an upgrade over the IMX920 found in many mid-range flagships last year, while the telephoto lens is the LYT600 that will become a standard in upcoming flagship cameras. So, with this luxurious camera setup, what imaging experience can we expect?

The main camera, at a 24mm focal length, delivers impressive resolution. In overcast conditions, the 1/1.56-inch large sensor ensures excellent image quality.

Realme's algorithms, seemingly inspired by the "O" brand's imaging approach, prioritize the interplay of light and shadow, refraining from artificially brightening dark areas to please users. This approach aligns closely with the strategies employed by flagship camera systems.

At 2X zoom, corresponding to a 49mm focal length, the ISZ lossless zoom technology ensures no loss of detail due to digital zoom, effectively capturing the weather conditions.

The Realme 13 Pro+ exhibits a meticulous treatment of yellow and green hues. For instance, the shared bicycle in the image showcases a heightened saturation of yellow, strategically emphasizing the subject and highlighting its prominence within the composition.

The telephoto lens, at its native 73mm focal length, preserves the finer details of the building while accurately capturing the interplay of light and shadow in the overcast sky, revealing a subtle glow amidst the dense clouds.

The Realme 13 Pro+ offers a "Street Photography" mode, where the five zoom buttons display the focal length numerically. This mode also features exclusive "Street Photography" filters, enhancing the storytelling aspect of candid street shots.

The "Street Photography" filters provide a more pronounced treatment of light and shadow compared to the standard mode. The LYT-600 telephoto lens itself boasts exceptional quality, making its focal lengths ideal for capturing images with a gritty, realistic feel.

Under night conditions, the Realme 13 Pro+'s main and telephoto lenses, thanks to their large sensors, handle typical nighttime scenes effortlessly.

However, due to limitations in the SoC's performance, complex scenes require longer processing times. This processing occurs in the background, not interrupting the shooting experience. If you're unsatisfied with the initial image clarity, you can try the Realme 13 Pro+'s newly introduced "AI Super-Resolution" feature for post-processing.

"AI Super-Resolution" doesn't simply enhance brightness or sharpness. It analyzes the image's light and shadow patterns, considering the actual optical performance to optimize the result.

While "AI Super-Resolution" may not offer significant improvement for social media posts, it can enhance the quality of other images. For instance, on social media platforms,