Realme 11 Pro review

The competition

The Realme 11 Pro is an easy to like smartphone for its unique design and flagship-like specs such as the curved OLED with 120Hz refresh and HDR10+ support, the 100MP camera, the 67W fast charging, the Dolby Atmos speakers, among others.

The phone has already been launched in China and India, and it is expected to kick off in Europe soon, too.

The Realme 11 Pro starts at INR 24,000 (€270) for its 8/128 model and that is quite an attractive price tag.

Unfortunately, it is priced too close to the Realme 11 Pro+. The Plus model costs INR 28,000 (about €310), and for this small difference, you will get a much better 200MP primary camera (photos, videos, day and night), ultrawide and macro cams, better selfies, faster charging at 100W, and 256GB base storage. And we see no reason to get the Realme 11 Pro instead of the Realme 11 Pro+ at the current pricing.

The Redmi Note 12 Pro costs the same as the Realme 11 Pro. Its design may not be as fashionable, but the phone does beat the Realme 11 Pro with a better Dolby Vision display, splash-resistant glass design, and more versatile rear camera with better photo and video quality. We'd say this Note 12 Pro is the better deal.

The Poco X5 Pro has the same price as the Realme 11 Pro, and yet it offers a better Dolby Vision OLED, faster hardware, and a splash-resistant design. The phone is not as beautiful, sure, but it is more powerful across the board.

The Galaxy A34 is another interesting offer you could explore, about 20% more expensive than the Realme 11 Pro. It is a fully waterproof smartphone with a 6.6-inch 120Hz AMOLED, the same hardware platform, a better selfie camera with 4K videos, an extra 8MP ultrawide, and a 5MP macro camera. The photo quality is not as good as on the Realme 11 Pro, though.

Realme 11 Pro+ • Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro • Xiaomi Poco X5 Pro • Samsung Galaxy A34

Our verdict

The Realme 11 Pro is a real treat, there are no two questions about it. This exquisite smartphone impressed us with its design and look; offers an excellent OLED screen, snappy hardware, a good main camera, and a large battery with fast charging.

The Realme 11 Pro aced our display and battery tests, it did well when it comes to speaker and performance, and its main camera turned out to be a solid performer even if it had its hiccups.

Yes, we are talking about the poor video stabilization or the lack of it in 4K, the over-processed photos at times, also the noisy Auto Nightscape images.

Still, despite these shortcomings, the Realme 11 Pro is a great smartphone with a standout design that will not disappoint. We would, however, advise you to shell out the extra 10-15% for the Pro+ model, as this money will go towards a better main camera, an ultrawide, twice the storage, and faster charging - all features that more tech-savvy users would appreciate.

Pros

• One-of-a-kind fashion design.
• Excellent OLED, fast, bright, color-accurate.
• Superb battery life, fast charging.
• Adequate performance, no throttling.
• Good photos and videos in broad daylight.
• 5G, dual-SIM, NFC, stereo speakers, 2 major Android updates guaranteed.

Cons

• No ingress protection.
• Heavily overprocessed photos, the Nightscape could use some tweaks.
• No EIS for 4K videos; EIS is bad where available.
• No ultrawide or macro cameras, the microSD slot has been retired.
• Major downgrades from 11 Pro+, yet pricing is super close.