Realme 13 Pro+ review

Design, build quality, handling

The 13 Pro+ brings a significant change in design - the vegan leather of the previous two models is now joined by a glass option. The rest of it is largely unchanged, with a large circular camera island on the back evoking comparisons to the flagship cameraphones of sister brands and the curved display on the front making a premium statement.

The camera island is indeed hard to miss - its large diameter and watch-like surround do make it look like it's lifted off an Oppo Find X7 Ultra or a OnePlus 12, though the internals aren't quite up to that level.

The Realme 13 Pro+ features a glass back, at least on our review unit. Realme's wording lists 'Armor Shield Glass with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i' for the display side of things without explicitly stating what the back is made of, but it's glass alright. It's quite slippery, mind you.

Our Monet Gold colorway features a sparkly finish with what looks like sand waves underneath. There's also an Emerald Green version that is a few grams lighter and 0.2mm thinner, and that one specifically has got a Swiss SGS Premium Performance 5 Stars Drop Resistance certification. The vegan leather lives on with this version, but we haven't seen one in person.

The 8.4mm thickness of our review version makes it ever so slightly thicker than competitors hovering around the 8mm mark. In use, it feels very compact though, thanks to the curved edges both front and back, which make the plastic frame quite slim on the sides.

As on the previous model, the curved display elevates the appearance and the in-hand feel above most competitors. The under-display fingerprint sensor is placed too low though, even if it's otherwise quick and reliable.

As before, the 13 Pro+ carries an IP65 rating - so it's essentially dust-tight and can survive water jets. It's not rated for submersion in water, as are the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion or the Galaxy A35, so do remain careful with it around the pool.