The realme 9 Pro+ acts as the current flagship of the brand’s numbered series. As a midrange device, it comes with several attractive features including a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen, a MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G chipset, a 50MP f/1.8 main lens with a Sony IMX 776 sensor, and 60W fast charging. But are these enough to keep realme at the top of their midrange game?
| Chipset | MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G |
| Screen | 6.4-inch Super AMOLED, 2400 x 1080, 90Hz, Gorilla Glass 5 |
| RAM | 6GB, 8GB UFS 2.2, expandable via MicroSD |
| OS | Android 12, realme UI 3.0 |
| Rear Camera | 50MP f/1.8 Sony IMX 776 Main, 8MP f/2.2 Ultrawide, 2MP f/2.4 Macro |
| Front Camera | 16MP f/2.4 |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB UFS 2.2 |
| Network | Dual-SIM, 5G |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, USB Type-C |
| Battery | 4,500mAh, 60W Fast Charging, USB PD 3.0 |
| Others | In-Display Fingerprint Scanner |
| Dimensions | 160.2 x 73.3 x 8mm |
| Weight | 182g |
| Colors | Midnight Black, Aurora Green, Sunrise Blue |
The 9 Pro+ comes in a traditional realme yellow box with black font and base. Inside is the smartphone itself, a silicone case, its 60W SuperDart Charge adapater and USB Type-C cable, silicone case, SIM ejector pin, and documentation.
The realme 9 Pro+ has a rather vanilla design that doesn’t standout too much from the crowd. The one we for review here is the Aurora Green variant, which has a dark hue that twinkles when light hits it. The 9 Pro+’s Sunrise Blue variant, however, can switch colors when exposed to sunlight or UV light.
Regardless of the variant, the smartphone’s rear is glass while the chassis itself is made out of plastic. The device feels hefty at 182g but is far from being heavy. The edges are curved while the sides are flat to be comfortable in the hand.
Its volume rockers are located at the left-hand side while its power button is located at the other side. All its buttons offer decent tactility but are slightly stiff. Just at the top of the volume buttons is it’s Dual-SIM card slot that can house two nano SIM cards. realme has left out the MicroSD card in the 9 Pro+, which means that users will have to make due with its internal storage.
The bottom houses all of the ports of the smartphone. A USB Type-C port is present for charging and data transfers while a bottom-firing speaker is located at its side. The brand is still offering a 3.5mm audio jack on the 9 Pro+ for those who want a wired listening experience.
The 9 Pro+ does lack an IP rating for both water and dust resistance while some might dislike its plastic frame. Other midrange smartphones have started including both features and it would be nice if realme added these in the future.
The smartphone sports a 6.4-inch 2400 x 1080 SuperAMOLED screen running at 90Hz. realme has included Gorilla Glass 5 on the 9 Pro+ to increase its screen’s durability. Colors do tend to prefer green hues with red and blues taking a slight back seat from the screen. Some people, however, may dislike the slightly slower 90Hz screen compared to others with 120Hz.
Fortunately, the 9 Pro+ has a fairly wide color gamut at 97.40% sRGB and 89.50% DCI-P3. Brightness isn’t too shabby either at 418cd/m2 allowing for easy usage even in direct sunlight. Blacks can get fairly deep thanks to the SuperAMOLED panel.
The realme 9 Pro+ has dual speakers despite appearances. The earpiece can get loud when the device is put on loudspeaker. Audio is pretty good and the volume can get loud at maximum. Theirs is okay soundstage and good vocal reproduction. Sound performance at higher frequencies, however, is mediocre.
The realme 9 Pro+ does come with Android 12 out-of-the-box with the brand’s realme UI 3.0. The new UI sports several new improvements. The experience is much more fluid than before and more customization settings have been implemented. realme is also implementing their Dynamic RAM Expansion on the 9 Pro+, which extends RAM to local storage by up to 5GB.
The sidebar can be accessed by swiping at the side and offers additional shortcuts at any time. Privacy options are improved with an enhanced privacy dashboard and privacy indications. All unlocking options like Face Unlock and Fingerprint Scanner are fairly fast and users can customize the animation for the latter.
It’s SuperAMOLED screen does give it access to always-on display. realme does give more customizations on the always-on display including several images and the ability to turn portraits to AOD silhouettes.
The true highlight of the realme 9 Pro+ are its cameras. It packs three cameras: a 50MP f/1.8 Main with an IMX 776 sensor, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide with a Sony IMX 355 sensor, and a 2MP f/1.8 macro powered by an OmniVision OV02B10 sensor. Selfies are taken with a 16MP f/2.4 lens with a Sony IMX 471 sensor.
The camera app sports all of the expected features from a realme device. Additional features include Street Mode which allows for easy focal length switching, Film Mode, Dual-View Video, Starry Mode, and 50MP among many others. AI Scene Enhancement is also present to boost colors or saturation of photos depending on the scene.
The main camera can capture videos of up to 4K 30fps or at 1080p 60fps. Its ultrawide secondary can handle both 1080p at 30 and 60fps while the macro lens cannot be chosen for any kind of video.
Its main 50MP f/1.8 camera takes 12.5MP by default and can be expanded to its full resolution when using 50MP mode. It takes remarkable photos with good exposure and proper white balance for the most part. Colors are well-preserved though HDR tends to pop out color quite a bit.
Details can get a bit soft especially at the edges. Toggling its AI Scene Enhancement can increase contrast and other parameters but can get a bit too much at times. Overall though, the 9 Pro+’s 50MP camera is a good snapper. Evening shots will show some noise especially in high contrast areas but most pictures will still have good color and detail.
The realme 9 Pro+’s 8MP f/2.4 ultrawide sensor is able to take decent snaps reliably. Details are good while colors are fairly accurate. Even performance in low-light is reasonable with details still clear despite dark areas though there is still noticeable noise. Theirs is minimal distortion at the edges though images might not be as clear compared to the main camera.
The 2MP f/2.4 macro lens remains as a spec sheet filler on the 9 Pro. There are almost no redeeming qualities for the macro snapper. Details are lost due to the low pixel count and colors look drab. It can get you close to subjects but again, just use the main camera to get proper photos.
Inside the smartphone is a MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G chipset. It was designed with midrange devices in mind and packs two Cortex-A78 cores, six Cortex-A55 cores, and a Mali-G68 MC4 GPU. General performance is good without any delay nor lag.
The 9 Pro+ performs well in synthetic benchmarks. It scores just above the half million mark in AnTuTu and is able to produce an impressive 11,349 in PCMark Work 3.0. GeekBench 5 numbers hover at around the 800 and 2,300 score in single-core and multi-core performance, respectively.
Gaming performance on the device is solid. Mainstream games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile, Apex Legends Mobile, and various MOBAs on the play store will run like butter on the device though they don’t officially support 90Hz yet. Genshin Impact, however, remains a harder game to run with the device’s GPU struggling to hold a steady framerate in combat even though it averages at 30fps.
realme has packed the device with a 4,500mAh battery, which is pretty average for a midrange smartphone. The battery should be able to last for around a day with medium use. According to PCMark Work 3.0, the device will last nearly 15 hours with medium brightness and volume.
Filling up its battery is a speedy affair. Charging the device from 0% to 50% will take just around 25 minutes while filling it up to 100% from empty will take just below an hour using its included charger. A pretty fast charging solution for those who are always on-the-go.
The realme 9 Pro+ offers a competent main camera, incredibly quick charging, and overall solid performance, which is expected from the brand. Its screen is also a delight to see offering good colors and deep contrast while its battery can chug around throughout the day.
It does have a few downsides including a redundant 2MP f/2.4 macro lens, plastic frame, and some might dislike the slower 90Hz display compared to the 120Hz screens in the range. Performance might also dip in graphically-intensive games but performs fine in major mainstream titles.
The realme 9 Pro+ is definitely a step in the right direction for the brand. It has solid strengths and its downsides can be written down as just minor. Those who are upgrading from older platforms can get a lot of mileage with the device, which is why we are giving it our seal of approval.
The realme 9 Pro+ is now available in the Philippines for PhP 23,990. Those who will get it until March 18, 2022 with a PhP 2,500 discount, bringing its price down to only PhP 21,490 when purchased through Lazada.
Those who will get it from realme official stores and partner dealers nationwide until March 20, 2022. can get a free realme Cobble Bluetooth Spaker, realme Cooling Back Clip Neo, and one year’s worth of extended warranty.
