Realme 10 Pro 5G and 10 Pro+ 5G First Impressions: New 5G Champs?

The Realme 10 Pro series has finally been launched in India. The company has launched two new mid-range smartphones as part of its new number series. The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G sits at the top of the lineup and is the successor to the Realme 9 Pro+ 5G (Review). The Realme 10 Pro 5G on the other hand, comes with just incremental upgrades over the Realme 9 Pro which launched earlier this year in India.

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G is currently the most affordable smartphone to sport a curved AMOLED display. The company has launched it in three variants. The base model with 6GB of RAM + 128GB of storage is priced at Rs. 24,999. It is also available with 8GB of RAM + 128GB of storage for Rs. 25,999, and 8GB of RAM + 256GB of storage for Rs. 27,999. The Realme 10 Pro 5G arrives in two storage options. The 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant is priced at Rs. 18,999, whereas the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant is priced at Rs. 19,999.

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G and Realme 10 Pro 5G are available in three colours. We have the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G in its Hyperspace colourway, which has a mirror finish. Although the rear panel primarily has a gold shade, it has a prism-like effect in blue when light falls on it or when you look at it from certain angles. The Realme logo on the back gets a glittery finish, which fades as you move to the top of the phone. There is a lot going on here in terms of design, which might not suit everyone's taste.

Realme 10 Pro+ 5G in its Hyperspace colourway

While glitter and the shifting colours gives the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G a refreshing look, I am not a fan of the fingerprint-friendly glossy finish. However, you can always slap on the transparent case that the company has provided in the box. While we are at it, the box contains a 67W charging adapter, SIM ejector tool, and some documentation. The Realme 10 Pro 5G has the same in-box contents, except for the fast charger, which is 33W.

I really like the in-hand feel of the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G, despite it being a tall device. The curved rear panel sits nicely in the hand, and because the phone weighs just 173g, it is fairly light to hold. The device is also just 7.78mm thick. The right edge of the 10 Pro+ 5G has the power and volume buttons, whereas at the bottom, you get the primary speaker grille, a USB Type-C port and a dual-SIM tray. The left side of the phone doesn't have anything, while the top has the secondary microphone.

The highlight feature of the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G is its curved AMOLED screen. The display measures 6.7 inches diagonally and is said to have a 61 degree curvature on the sides. I have not yet experienced any issues with accidental touches, which is a good sign. The display also boasts of many features such as a HDR10+ certification, support for a 120Hz refresh rate, and a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The display also has a very thin chin bezel, which is something I have not seen in phones at this price point.

Realme claims that the thickness of the chin bezel is thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Review) at 2.33mm. The 10 Pro+ 5G also comes with a quick and responsive in-display fingerprint scanner. I'll leave my final verdict about this curved display for the full review, after using it for a longer period.

Realme 10 Pro 5G (top) and Realme 10 Pro+ 5G (bottom)

Coming to the Realme 10 Pro 5G, it features a polycarbonate casing and back panel. The flat sides of the phone definitely make it easier to hold. The 10 Pro 5G's frame has a matte finish, which means it shouldn't attract fingerprints easily, but I can't say the same about the back panel, at least on the variants which have the glossy finish. The SIM slot is on the phone's left side, while the power button with embedded fingerprint scanner and the volume buttons are on the phone's right side. At the bottom, we have the USB Type-C charging port, speaker grill, microphone, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The main attraction of the Realme 10 Pro 5G is its display, which is a 6.72-inch IPS LCD panel with very narrow bezels on three sides, except for the chin. The display is fairly sharp, has a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and produces good colours. This smartphone has a 16-megapixel front-facing camera, as well as a front-firing top speaker.

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G comes with a dual speaker setup. While the speakers are quite loud and offer rich sound, there is definitely some channel imbalance. The Realme 10 Pro 5G also comes with a dual speaker setup and offers descent audio output. One thing to note is that Realme 10 Pro 5G comes with a headphone jack. which is missing on the 10 Pro+ 5G.

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G features a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 SoC and supports up to eight 5G bands in India, whereas the Realme 10 Pro 5G uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC. The 10 Pro+ 5G packs a 5000mAh battery with support for 67W fast charging. The company claims that users can get up to 50 percent charge within 17 minutes. The 10 Pro 5G has the same 5000mAh battery capacity, but supports only 33W fast charging.

Realme 10 Pro+ 5G features a hole-punch cutout

The rear panel of both phone houses two large circular cutouts for the cameras. The Realme 10 Pro+ features a triple-camera setup with a 108-megapixel main camera sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The Realme 10 Pro 5G offers a dual-camera setup with a 108-megapixel main camera and a 2-megapixel portrait camera.

For selfies, the hole-punch cutout houses a 16-megapixel front camera on both the phones. We noticed that the front camera quality differed quite a bit between the two models when we tried it out, side by side. Colours from the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G looked way more natural in comparison to the contrast-heavy look from the Realme 10 Pro 5G. Of course, this is just our initial impression based on the available ambient lighting at the time, so we should have a more definitive answer when we test both these phones at length. 

Lastly, the Realme 10 Pro series runs on the Android 13-based Realme UI 4.0 software, out of the box. The new custom skin gets a new design, including a revamped control centre, textured icons with vibrant colours, and an improved Always-on Display (AoD). The new update also comes with Realme's Dynamic Computing Engine, which claims to offer the perfect balance between high performance and low power consumption.

We will be testing the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G and the Realme 10 Pro 5G thoroughly to see if the devices do justice to their respective price tags and the claims made by the company. Stay tuned for the full review coming soon on Gadgets 360.

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