Oppo Reno 13 Pro 5G review: A stylish performer with a dash of Artificial Intelligence

Oppo’s Reno series has always been known for great design and good cameras. So, when Oppo sent me their latest Reno 13 Pro, I was very excited – and you can see why. The phone looks really good. It has an aerospace-grade aluminium frame, a glass back sculpted in one piece, and feels very sturdy thanks to an all-around armour body design as well as Corning Gorilla Glass 7i on the front. It is a slim 7.6mm phone that weighs just under 200g, and that weight feels really well balanced. The Mist Lavender colour has a butterfly finish on the back, which looks stunning, especially when the light hits it just right.

Oppo Reno 13 Pro also comes in a Graphite Grey colour, a much more muted option with a matte finish. Oppo has certified the Reno 13 Pro 5G with IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings, making it dust and splash-resistant. It can also be immersed up to 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes. However, Oppo further mentions that they have tested it for immersion up to 2 meters for 30 minutes, and the phone has survived. It also has a Splash Touch feature that lets you use the phone even with wet fingers, and in my experience the phone did well, without registering any accidental ghost touches.

Oppo Reno 13 Pro Display

The phone comes with a 6.83” screen featuring a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and 1.5K resolution. The colours look vibrant when watching content, thanks to its 10-bit panel that displays over 1.07 billion colours. It has a peak brightness of 1200 nits, which is good indoors, but it struggles outdoors under direct sunlight. The screen also features high-frequency PWM dimming at 3,840Hz, which is good for eye care.

Oppo Reno 13 Pro Performance

Performance has historically been an area where the Reno series has struggled. This year, Oppo has incorporated a MediaTek Dimensity 8350 processor inside the Reno 13 Pro. It’s built on a 4nm fabrication, with significant improvements in AI, gaming, and imaging experiences.

Currently, this is the only phone in the world that has this chipset. It has a claimed AnTuTu score of 14.8 lakhs, and the real-world performance is also commendable. I have put the phone through the wringer, trying my best to make it falter. After hours of multitasking, constantly opening and closing apps, and running everything in the background, the phone hasn’t budged. However, when it comes to heavy-duty gaming, the chipset does show its limitations. While playing rounds of BGMI, I noticed that the phone dropped some frames, especially when I bumped up the graphics to the highest setting. However, one good thing that came out of all this testing was the validation of Oppo's and MediaTek's claims about how power-efficient this chipset is. Not only did the phone retain its battery life throughout long hours of gaming, but it also did not overheat at all.

The Oppo Reno 13 Series is equipped with an AI Multi-Cooling System, including a 25% larger VC area on the Reno 13 Pro.

Oppo Reno 13 Pro Battery Life

The phone comes with a massive 5800mAh battery, the largest battery capacity in the Reno series to date. Oppo has also brought back the 80W fast charging to the Reno series, with the adapter still in the box. The phone takes less than 50 minutes to go from zero to full. Oppo also claims that the battery on the Oppo Reno 13 Pro has a lifespan of five years, making it extremely durable and reliable. In my heavy usage, I was easily able to make the phone last one full day with still some fuel left in the tank. For light users, the phone will last two days of usage with ease.

Oppo Reno 13 Pro Camera

The phone comes with a triple rear camera setup. It features a 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor with support for OIS. The secondary lens is a 50MP telephoto camera with 3.5x optical zoom. It also has 7x lossless zoom and up to 120x digital zoom. The third lens is an 8MP ultra-wide camera with a 115-degree field of view (FOV).

In terms of performance, the Reno 13 Pro takes decent shots during the day. The details are sharp, and edge detection is good. But it truly shines in low light, performing much better in challenging conditions.

The 3.5x telephoto camera is a really nice addition to the phone. Zoomed-in shots retain a lot of detail, with an equivalent focal length of 85mm. However, I would not recommend zooming in any further unless absolutely necessary. Images start losing detail and appear artificial the more you zoom in.

Oppo has also included an underwater camera mode, which disables touch input and allows you to take photos or videos with the phone fully submerged. I tried it out, and the results were very impressive, both for photos and videos.

Check out the photos and videos here.

Oppo Reno 13 Pro AI Camera Features

Oppo has bundled several AI features in the camera. AI Livephoto captures a video that records a video 1.5 seconds before you press the shutter button and continues recording for another 1.5 seconds after, creating a 3 second mini video, allowing you to choose the perfect shot in fast-moving situations. I found it most useful when taking shots of fishes swimming rapidly in an aquarium.

Another feature is the AI Reflection Remover, which can remove glass reflections in a shot. Additional features include AI Clarity Enhancer and AI Unblur, both of which were hit-and-miss for me in most cases. One important thing to note is that all these AI features require an active internet connection. None of the processing happens on-device.

Oppo Reno 13 Pro Price

The Oppo Reno 13 Pro starts at a price of ₹49,999 for the 12+256GB storage variant and ₹54,999 for the 12+512GB storage variant. It will be available for purchase starting January 11 at 12pm.

While the Oppo Reno 13 Pro is a premium offering, it might fall short of user expectations, especially in a hyper competitive Indian smartphone market where there is a new champion after every ₹1000 price bracket. It will be interesting to come back to the sales figures for the Oppo Reno 13 Pro in a few months' time to see how well it did.