Canalys Research has released its report for the Q1 2025 global smartphone shipments. We’re seeing familiar smartphone brands on the top list. However, the global shipments continue to experience a slump as they only shipped 296.9 million units in the first quarter of 2025, which is only 0.2% higher than the same quarter last year. Countries like the United States and Mainland China actually saw a big increase, but were offset by Europe, the Middle East, and India suffering declines. The spike in the United States is attributed to President Donald Trump’s controversial new tariff measure. Apple stockpiled units before the tariffs due to the fear of higher prices. Now, let’s take a look at the top players for Q1 2025. Samsung is still at the top spot with a 20% market share (60.5 million units), followed closely by iPhone-maker Apple with 19% (55 million). Chinese tech giant took the third spot with a 6% difference at 14% (41.8 million). vivo (22.9 million) and OPPO (22.7 m...
The realme 14 series is quite an extensive line-up. To help you decide which one to pick, we’ll be taking a deep look at the realme 14 Pro Plus to see if it’s the smartphone for you.
Posing drastic improvements over its predecessor, the newer model now has a better screen, larger battery capacity, improved durability, and more. But is it the one to go for? Let’s find out in our realme 14 Pro+ 5G review.
realme 14 Pro Plus Specs
- Android 15, realme UI 6.0
- Dual SIM, Dual Standby
- 6.83-inch 1.2K OLED curved display, 2800 x 1272 pixel resolution, ~450ppi
- 120Hz refresh rate, 1500-nit peak brightness
- Corning Gorilla Glass 7i
- 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 octa-core processor
- Adreno 710 GPU
- 12GB RAM
- 512GB internal storage, non-expandable
- 32-megapixel front camera
- 50-megapixel (f/1.8, OIS, PDAF) + 50-megapixel (Periscope, 3x zoom, f/2.7, PDAF) + 8-megapixel (ultra-wide, f/2.2) rear cameras, LED flash
- Stereo speakers
- IP69/IP69 dust and water resistant, MIL-STD-810H
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFi 6, dual-band
- Bluetooth 5.2
- GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS
- NFC, USB-C
- Dimensions: 163.5 x 77.3 x 8.3mm
- Weight: 196g
- Colors: Bikaner Purple, Suade Gray, Pearl White
- 6,000mAh non-removable battery, 80W wired charging
Design and Build Quality
The immediate thing I noticed upon first holding the device is how chunky it is. It is 8.3mm thin and weighs 196g — figures that are actually decent, but I’ve seen sleeker and lighter phones recently.
It may not be the thinnest, but the extra thickness and smooth curves all around made it really comfortable to hold, even for long hours. The heft also adds a bit of a premium feel to it.
It has a unique design co-created by Valeur Designers. It even cleverly changes in color from white and gold to blue under cold temperatures of below 16 degrees Celsius. It’s a nice gimmick, but the novelty wears off fast, especially in tropical countries like the Philippines.
The design itself looks nice but forgettable as it’s reminiscent to most phones in the market, aside from the unique back panel pattern and effect. If you’re not a fan of this Pearl White color, a more subtle Suede Grey variant is also available.
One major improvement here is durability. The realme 14 Pro Plus is now dust and waterproof after passing IP66, IP68, and IP68 tests. It also passed the MIL-STD-810H certification for military-grade shock resistance, all thanks to the Corning Gorilla Glass 7i and realme’s ArmorShell Protection that made the frame sturdier.
According to realme, the device can survive being submerged under 2 meters of water for up to 48 hours.
I appreciate realme’s move to make the 14 Pro Plus more durable, which should last users for years unless they do something to purposely break it apart.
In front, there’s a 6.83-inch curved OLED screen with a punch hole for the 32-megapixel selfie camera. The bezels are ultra-thin for an impressive 93.8% screen-to-body ratio. We also have the optical fingerprint scanner here.
The left side is clean, while the right has the volume controls and lock/power switch. The physical buttons feel a little flimsy for the price. A noise-isolating microphone is placed on top, together with a hole for the stereo speaker.
The bottom has the primary loudspeaker, USB-C port, microphone, and a SIM tray that houses two nano SIM cards. As expected, there’s no microSD card slot for storage expansion, but that’s not really a problem as 512GB is plenty enough for most users.
Display and Audio
The realme 14 Pro Plus has a 6.83-inch 1.2K OLED curved display with a 2800 x 1272 pixel resolution, ~450ppi, 10-bit color, 120Hz refresh rate, 1,500-nit peak brightness, and 3840Hz PWM dimming. You can also adjust the resolution to Standard (2377 x 1080) to extend the battery life.
Display quality is great. It has vibrant colors, deep contrast, and sharp details. The screen brightness is high for outdoor use and low enough to keep your eyes safe at night. Unfortunately, it lacks official HDR certification.
Widevine L1 support is here for FHD streaming in platforms like Netflix. Still, for the price, I expect to see HDR10 or Dolby Vision support.
The realme 14 Pro Plus has stereo speakers. But unlike other phones in its segment, it only amplifies the earpiece to act as a second speaker instead of having a dedicated one.
Volume is still good, but the sound quality isn’t. The treble is nice, but the mids and bass are lacking. That’s not saying it’s bad, but I just expected a bit more.
Hardware and Performance
The realme 14 Pro Plus has a 4nm 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 octa-core processor — an underwhelming choice for the price. It is joined by an Adreno 710 GPU, 12GB of RAM, and 512GB of non-expandable storage.
realme 14 Pro Plus Benchmark Scores
While it’s not as fast as other phones in this segment, performance in day-to-day tasks is actually good. I had no problems making calls, web browsing, taking pictures, and more. What I’m curious to know is how well it performs in games.
Genshin Impact ran smoothly under Medium settings with no overheating issues. For PUBG Mobile, I settled for the Smooth graphics to unlock Extreme+ frame rates, to which the game ran fine with no issues or frame drops.
Call of Duty Mobile was playable under the highest available settings, but I did prioritize graphics quality over frame rates for this one. Farlight84 ran with no issues under Ultra graphics at Very High frames.
Unsurprisingly, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang ran incredibly well under the highest available settings, as well as League of Legends: Wild Rift and Asphalt Legends Unite.
The realme 14 Pro Plus 5G had no problems running the latest games, but don’t expect it to run them at the highest graphics settings possible.
| Game | Graphics Settings |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Very High • Frame Rate: Max |
| Farlight84 | • Graphics Quality: Ultra • Frame Rate: Very High |
| PUBG Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Smooth • Frame Rate: Extreme+ |
| Genshin Impact | • Render Resolution: Medium • Visual Effects: Medium • FPS: 60 |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | • Graphics Quality: High • Frame Rate: Ultra • HD Mode: On |
| Asphalt Legends Unite | • Visual Quality: High Quality • Frame Rate: 60 |
Software and User Interface
The realme 14 Pro Plus 5G runs on the latest Android 15-based realme UI 6.0. It will reportedly receive two Android upgrades and three years of security patches — a little less than today’s standards for premium smartphones.
Of course, AI is a big deal here. realme’s NEXT AI suite consists of features I’ve already seen in other brands. A lot of them are found in the camera and gallery app: AI Ultra Clarity 2.0, which enhances blurry photos, AI Snap Mode that can max shutter speeds to 1/10000s, and AI Eraser 2.0.
Sadly, we seem to be missing other AI features we found on other phones like AI Text Generator, AI Summarize in articles, and more.
HYPERBOOST is a window you can quickly access while in-game. It lets you choose between three performance modes (Low Power, Balanced, and GT).
In addition, it shows real-time CPU and GPU usage, frame rate, thermals, screen response time, disable notifications, and more.
Live Alerts is a Dynamic Island-like feature but only works in limited apps for now: Grab, Swiggy, Zomato, Music Playback, Air Gesture, Game Update Service, timer, hotspot, and screen recording.
Speaking off, Air Gestures supports calls and scrolling on apps like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. It works fine when it works, but frustrating when it doesn’t.
Flux Themes offers advanced customization for your wallpapers. Always-On Display (AOD) wallpapers are a little limited, though.
Share with iPhone is a cool feature also found on ColorOS. The goal is to make file transfers with an iPhone as easy as using QuickShare or AirDrop. But for it to work, the iOS device needs to download the O+ Connect from the App Store. Once installed, sharing media files is almost as seamless as Apple’s AirDrop.
Virtual RAM Expansion lets you borrow 4GB, 8GB, and 14GB of space from the storage for an extra memory boost. It requires you to restart the device when you change the settings, making its effect more believable than other devices that have this feature.
Storage Clean Up is also a built-in feature that can free up space by scanning system junk and other unwanted files.
Google Keyboard is set as the default keyboard. Having the layout with the letter ñ enabled by default is a thoughtful gesture for markets that use it a lot, but I prefer to turn it off.
The camera app is intuitive and gives easy access to a lot of the hardware’s features, but no problems here.
Cameras
realme definitely allocated a lot of resources in developing the camera department. This handset is equipped with a premium 50-megapixel 1/1.95-inch Sony IMX882 sensor with a 3x periscope zoom and optical image stabilization. It has a 73mm lens equivalent.
The main shooter uses a 50-megapixel 1/1.56″ IMX896 sensor with a 24mm equivalent, bright f/1.8 aperture, and OIS. There’s also a lower-resolution 8-megapixel ultra-wide. and a 32-megapixel selfie camera is on the front.
Another highlight here is the triple flash realme calls as the “MagicGlow,” which comes with adjustable color temperature to match the skin tones and hues of the subject.
I got solid daylight shots from the primary camera. Not flagship-like, but great for the price. Sharp details all around even when zoomed in, the colors are vibrant enough to look appealing but not exaggerated, and the dynamic range is wide.
50-megapixel main camera (Daylight)
Low-light shots are stellar. They are well detailed, with the same nice colors and contrast. Auto Night Mode works for long exposure, but the OIS could do a better job as shots easily get blurry.
50-megapixel main camera (Low-light)
The main camera is also used for the 2x zoom, which has a 49mm focal equivalent that’s great for portraits. There’s a noticeable drop in sharpness, as expected, due to the digital zoom. Still, it captured good colors and contrast. Low-light performance is great, too.
50-megapixel main camera (2x zoom)
The 50-megapixel telephoto lens shoots photos at 73mm equivalent through 3x zoom. You can also tap the 6x zoom for a 144mm equivalent, then swipe the zoom switch to reveal a dial that takes you up to 120x zoom at 2,852mm. You may also enable the portrait mode for an 81mm equivalent.
I’m impressed with the image quality from the 3x zoom, which I find great in framing architectures, sceneries, and really faraway subjects. It has the same color rendition, ample details, and good dynamic range.
50-megapixel Telephoto (3x zoom, 73mm)
Shots from the 6x zoom held up pretty well, with almost no noticeable drop in quality. Unsurprisingly, going to higher focal lengths produces worse results, but still useful as it’s like having a telescope in your pocket.
50-megapixel Telephoto (6x zoom, 144mm)
50-megapixel Telephoto (~120x zoom, ~2852mm)
If you step back enough, the telephoto camera also takes great portraits with the Portrait Mode set to 3x zoom. The background blur is believable with good edge detection.
50-megapixel Telephoto (Portrait Mode, 81mm)
I’m not a fan of the huge drop in camera resolution for the 8-megapixel ultra-wide, especially for the price. That said, there’s a noticeable downgrade in detail and sharpness compared to the first two cameras. But on its own, image quality is actually usable.
It’s got decent colors and a wide dynamic range. Barrel distortion could be better, though.
8-megapixel ultra-wide
The 32-megapixel front camera takes well-detailed selfies (also thanks to eye-tracking focus) with realistic skin tones and well-managed dynamic range. However, it struggles in challenging lighting scenarios from time to time, so make sure to use the on-screen flash whenever you can.
32-megapixel front camera
While I do wish it had a better ultra-wide sensor, the realme 14 Pro Plus 5G definitely has great cameras for its price point.
Battery and Charging
The realme 14 Pro Plus boasts a 6,000mAh battery, a major upgrade over its predecessor’s 5,200mAh. The 80W SUPERVOOC charging stayed the same, though.
It got stellar scores in our battery tests. It lasted for 19 hours and 26 minutes in our PCMark synthetic battery test, versus the average score of 16 hours that other similarly priced phones got. However, in our 1080p YouTube Video Loop test (running under High screen resolution), it lasted for only 13 hours and 53 minutes, lower than our average score of 15 hours and 34 minutes.
In real-world use, heavy users can expect a whole-day use on this device, possibly two to three more for light to moderate users.
Meanwhile, the speedy 80W SUPERVOOC adapter can fully charge the large battery in just 1 hour and 14 minutes. A quick 15-minute charge already provides 27% of juice, perfect if you’re in a hurry. See our full test below:
- 15mins: 0-27%
- 30mins: 51%
- 45mins: 76%
- 1hr: 91%
- 1hr 14mins: FULL
Verdict
Without a doubt, the realme 14 Pro Plus 5G is a smartphone that has lots to offer. It’s not perfect and it does have plenty of things that need to be improved, but it’s more than good enough for most casual users looking for an all-around device.
Let’s first lay out the things I liked. First, I appreciate the major improvements realme made in durability. Plus, I like how comfortable it is to hold, boasts a feature-packed display, big RAM and storage capacity, and longer battery life with speedy charging.
Of course, there are the ultra-sharp main, telephoto, and selfie cameras as well, paired with a unique flash system that consists of three spaced flashes and adjustable color temperature to match the subject.
The main problem is the price tag. While I liked a lot of the hardware, going with an underwhelming midrange chip for a device in this segment is really disappointing. Having lackluster speakers, a low-resolution ultra-wide lens, and the omission of HDR and Dolby Vision didn’t help either.
If you need the best performance per peso, this is not the smartphone for you. But if you want an all-around device that has capable cameras, good performance, and long battery life, the realme 14 Pro+ is worth a look.
realme 14 Pro Plus pricing and availability details
The realme 14 Pro Plus has an SRP of Php27,999 in the Philippines. It’s now available at physical stores across the Philipines and through Shopee and TikTok Shop.
Pros
- Elegant, comfortable, and more durable design
- Large RAM, storage
- Great camera quality with triple flash
- Bigger battery with 80W fast charging
Cons
- No HDR, Dolby Vision
- Lackluster speakers
- Underwhelming CPU choice for the price
- Low resolution ultra-wide
This article, realme 14 Pro Plus Review, was originally published at NoypiGeeks | Philippines Technology News, Reviews and How to's.
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