Realme 16 Pro

At Rs. 167,999, the Realme 16 Pro is hard to call good value. Opinions on its price are mostly negative, and the main reason is the chipset: the Dimensity 7300 Max is a mid-range processor, and phones with stronger chips sell for far less.

What you get:

• A bright 6.78-inch AMOLED screen and IP68, IP69 and IP69K protection.
• A 200 MP main camera with OIS and a 50 MP selfie camera that records 4K.
• A 7000 mAh battery with an 80W charger in the box.

What you give up: gaming speed, a telephoto camera and premium materials, since the frame and back are plastic.

The Oppo Reno 16 at Rs. 159,999 is cheaper, faster and has a zoom lens, but its screen is much smaller.

Verdict: worth it only if the display, battery and durability matter more than performance, or once the price drops. Stock in Pakistan is also expected to be limited.

The Realme 16 Pro has a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with a 1272 x 2772 (1.5K) resolution, a refresh rate of up to 144Hz and a peak brightness of 6500 nits.

• Refresh rate: almost every app runs at 120Hz; the compass app is one of the few that reaches 144Hz. In daily use, treat it as a smooth 120Hz phone.
• Brightness: far brighter than the regular Realme 16, so daylight visibility is excellent.
• HDR and streaming: HDR10+ support, HDR playback at up to 2160p in YouTube, and Widevine L1 for HD streaming.
• Protection: AGC DT-Star D+ glass, with a screen protector applied out of the box.
• Extras: a fast optical in-display fingerprint reader and an always-on display, which shows for only 10 seconds by default.

The near bezel-less design makes videos and games feel immersive.

The phone uses the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Max (4 nm) with a Mali-G615 MC2 GPU. The 12GB version pairs it with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage.

• Everyday use: apps open quickly and multitasking is smooth for normal use.
• Gaming: supported games run at up to 90fps. GT Boost, the Trinity Engine and an AI gaming coach help, so casual and mid-level gaming is decent.
• Benchmarks: scores stay under one million, which is mid-range territory.

The limitation is the price, not daily speed. The same class of chip is found in much cheaper phones, and LPDDR4X memory is a generation behind. Heat during long gaming sessions has not been verified.

The rear setup combines a 200 MP Samsung HP5 main camera with OIS and an 8 MP ultrawide. The front camera is 50 MP.

• Photos: the 200 MP mode captures fine detail, while normal shots lean bright and punchy, as Realme photos usually do. Dynamic range and HDR are good.
• Zoom: there is no telephoto lens; zoom relies on cropping the main sensor. The Realme 16 Pro Plus adds a dedicated zoom camera.
• Video: the main camera records 4K at 30fps, but the ultrawide is limited to 1080p at 30fps.
• Bokeh video: portrait-style video looks good on both rear and front cameras.
• Selfies: the 50 MP front camera records 4K at 30fps, making it a good choice for vlogging.
• AI tools: AI Landscape and voice-controlled photo editing are built in.

Low-light performance has not been verified.

The Realme 16 Pro sold here has a 7000 mAh silicon-carbon battery and comes with an 80W SuperVOOC charger in the box.

• Battery life: expected to last around a day and a half to two days of normal use, though no full endurance measurement is available.
• Other chargers: with PPS chargers it charges at up to 55W, and standard USB PD at 13.5W.
• Reverse wired charging: supported, but Realme does not state the output, so expect a slow top-up for earbuds or another phone.
• Bypass charging: power can go straight to the phone while gaming, reducing battery heat.

There is no wireless charging. Note that some markets get a 6500 mAh version with 45W charging, so check the box before buying.

The phone runs Android 16 with Realme UI 7.0.

• Design: the new Flux themes add depth animations and a frosted-glass look, and widgets can be resized.
• AI features: AI Genie for voice commands and photo edits, AI writing, AI gallery tools, Google Circle to Search and Gemini.

Updates: Realme promises three years of Android upgrades and four years of security updates for this model. GSMArena reports that the European version gets longer support, so the shorter policy is the one to expect here.