Realme invited us to Denmark for a first-hand experience with the new Realme 14 Pro+. This is more of a preview than a full announcement as key details about the Pro+ and its sibling, the Realme 14 Pro, have been kept under wraps.
The company will make full disclosure soon. For now let’s talk about the exterior. It’s no coincidence that here we are, Realme has partnered with Copenhagen-based Velur designers for the exterior.
They also brought a color-changing look to the rear that we haven’t seen before. In the past, there have been phones that change color in sunlight (Realme 9 Pro+ for example). It is different and reacts to cooler temperatures – which is perfect for the season.
The back of the Realme 14 Pro+ normally looks pearly white, but when the thermometer drops to 16°C (61°F) or lower, vibrant blue swirls appear on the back. Once the phone heats up, they immediately change back to off-white. This is the first time that such material has been used on a smartphone. Note that Realme considers this a “bonus feature” – this effect will fade over time as sunlight degrades it. It is expected to last about 12 months under normal use.
Here is a demonstration. We used an ice bath to speed up the process and, no, the Realme is not afraid of water, hot or cold. However, you don’t need water to show your friends the effect, a cold winter day will work just as well.
Pearl white is not just a name, by the way, Realme has used real seashell pearl powder for the back, mixed with microcapsules that contain special color-changing pigments. The powder mix is not homogeneous so each phone has a unique pattern on the back panel.
The aquatic theme continues with the underwater photo mode. Since the touchscreen doesn’t work well when submerged in water, you use the volume keys to take a photo. The phone is rated IP68 for submersion and IP69 for hot water jet.
Unfortunately, we can’t talk about the camera right now. Not in detail anyway. We can say that the Realme 14 Pro+ will be the only one in the series with a periscope camera.
And take a closer look at the back – three LED flash modules arranged in a circle and spaced 120° apart. Realme calls it “MagicGlow” and it is used to evenly illuminate night-time pictures. This creates more natural lighting for your subjects. When we turn on the flash, you can also notice something else – different color temperatures on the light. This allows the camera to control the color temperature of the portrait it takes.
The 14 Pro+ will also be the only one in the series with a quad-curved display. The curves are only at the very edge of the display and make the already thin 1.6mm bezels even thinner – the display looks almost bezel-less all the way around. And it is also a great quality panel, but we will have to wait for the full details to be revealed about it.
The back has a matte finish, which combined with its light color makes fingerprints invisible. The frame color is gold, as is the frame around the camera island.
The Realme 14 Pro+ is powered by the new Snapdragon 7s Gen 3. Unlike the 7s Gen 2, it is built on a 4nm TSMC node (rather than the 4nm Samsung node) and uses ARMv9 Cortex-A720 and A520 cores, plus. Next-generation Adreno 810 GPU (vs. A78/A55 CPU cores and Adreno 710 on the older chip).
Official figures from Qualcomm indicate that the 7s Gen 3 has a much faster GPU (+40%) than the 7s Gen 2, as well as better CPU performance (+20%) and a boost for AI tasks (+30%) Is. And it also uses less power – 12% overall, but the new CPU cores are 45% more efficient than the older ARMv8 cores.
Realme will be launching the 14 Pro series soon – this includes the Realme 14 Pro+ that we’ve seen as well as a more affordable Realme 14 Pro model – so stay tuned for more news.
