To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more
- Slim and sturdy design
- Sharp, colour-accurate display
- Ridiculous battery life
- Middling performance for the price
- Massively cluttered software
- HDR brightness is a letdown
We’re only a few months into the year but we’ve already had some heavy-hitter releases in the mid-range phone market, which means the Oppo Reno 13 Pro is stepping into an already crowded arena. With affordable flagship alternatives from Apple, Google and Samsung landing around the same time, does the Chinese brand have enough of a unique hook to stand out?
In short, yes. Just about. You can get faster performance and a better software experience from rivals, but most of them don’t include a dedicated telephoto camera, as the Reno 13 Pro does. Add to the tally excellent battery life, an elegantly slim chassis around and a massive amount of storage, and the Oppo Reno 13 Pro is a great alternative for those who prioritise zoom photography and stamina over software and performance.
Oppo Reno 13 Pro review: What you need to know
The Oppo Reno 13 Pro is the first phone I’ve tested that uses the Mediatek Dimensity 8350 chipset. This SoC is clocked at a frequency of up to 3.35GHz and comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space.
Also tucked away inside the phone is a massive 5,800mAh battery that supports 80W wired charging and 50W wireless – although there’s no plug included, so you’ll need your own.
The display is a large 6.83in AMOLED panel that curves slightly to all four edges, effectively hiding the bezels. The resolution is a razor-sharp 2,800 x 1,272 and the refresh rate tops out at 120Hz. Sitting in a hole-punch notch at the top is a 50-megapixel selfie camera with an f/2 aperture.
On the rear are three cameras, with the 50-megapixel (f/1.8) main shooter joined by a 50-megapixel (f/2.8) 3.5x telephoto lens and an 8-megapixel (f/2.2) ultrawide camera.
Oppo Reno 13 Pro review: Price and competition
At £649, the Oppo Reno 13 Pro sits right on the border between mid-range phones and full-blown flagships.
The most direct comparison is the Xiaomi 14T Pro, which matches the Oppo with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage and also includes a 2.6x telephoto camera. Originally launched for £699, it can currently be picked up for £499.
We also have options from the big three around this price, though none include a telephoto camera. Apple’s iPhone 16e starts at £599 for the 128GB model; for the equivalent 512GB, however, you’re looking at £899.
Samsung has the Galaxy S24 FE at the same £649 as the Reno 13 Pro, albeit with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, but you can get a 256GB model for £699.
Finally, we have the brand-new Google Pixel 9a. There’s no 512GB model here but you can get a 256GB version for £599, or the entry-level 128GB number for £499.
Oppo Reno 13 Pro review: Design and key features
The most striking thing about the Reno 13 Pro is just how slim it is. Measuring 77 x 7.6 x 163mm (WDH), it’s notably thinner than most other phones around this price, with rivals typically over 8mm thick. It’s reasonably lightweight, too, at 195g.
There are two colour options available: the Graphite Grey model I received for review is a little plain but Plume Purple is much more eyecatching, pairing a light lilac colourway with a subtle floral leaf effect on the rear that catches the light nicely.
Both styles have sturdy aluminium frames and a layer of Gorilla Glass 6i over the display for scratch protection. They also apparently pass the IP66, IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance tests, making the Reno 13 Pro one of the most robust handsets on the market right now.
IP ratings are classifications for how dust and water resistant a product is, with the first number after IP denoting the dust resistance and the second referring to the water resistance.
6 is the highest rating for dust resistance, while the water resistance ratings refer to different types of potential water damage:
IP66 means that the phone is able to withstand strong jets of water from any direction
IP68 means that the phone can survive being submerged in 1.5m of fresh water for up to 30 minutes
IP69 means that the phone can withstand high-pressure and high-temperature jets of water, including steam cleaning – though we still advise not testing that out for yourself
The Reno 13 Pro launches with Android 15 and Oppo’s ColorOS 15 launcher over the top. I’ve never been much of a fan of it, but this might be the most egregiously cluttered implementation of Oppo’s mobile OS I’ve come across to date, with no fewer than 70 apps preinstalled on the phone upon booting. Granted, some of these are system apps like settings and Google Apps, but far too many are obnoxious phone games or guff like Temu and Booking.com.
Software support is at least on the better end of things, with five years of OS updates promised alongside six years of security patches. The Google Pixel 9a and Samsung Galaxy S24 FE are still better options, with both promised seven years apiece, but otherwise, the Oppo Reno 13 Pro is very competitive.
Oppo Reno 13 Pro review: Display
The 6.83in AMOLED display has a resolution of 2,800 x 1,272 and a peak refresh rate of 120Hz, so everything looks crisp and flows smoothly. I recorded a decent peak brightness of 553cd/m2 in manual mode, while switching to adaptive and shining a torch on the light sensor pushed that up to a respectable 850cd/m2.
Both of those are fine, but HDR performance proved a little weak, topping out at just 725cd/m2 during testing – a fair way off the 1,200 nits claimed by Oppo. HDR10+ rated content still looks suitably impactful, so you aren’t likely to notice a dramatic difference, but it’s worth noting that rivals can get much brighter. The Xiaomi 14T Pro, for instance, peaked at over 1,500 nits in my HDR testing.
There are three colour profiles to choose from, with Vivid and Pro targeting the DCI-P3 colour space, producing vibrant shades more suited to streaming, while the Natural profile aims for the sRGB gamut, which is better for browsing. With the latter enabled, I recorded a coverage of 99.3% and a volume of 101.3%, with the 0.97 average Delta E colour variance score indicating top notch colour accuracy.
Oppo Reno 13 Pro review: Performance and battery life
If there’s one area in which the Oppo Reno 13 Pro really falls behind the competition, it’s raw performance. To be clear, I didn’t find it felt particularly sluggish during testing, it’s just that rivals offer considerably faster performance for the same money.
The GFXBench GPU tests proved more of an even playing field, with the Oppo Reno 13 Pro outpacing the Pixel 9 and delivering broadly similar results to the iPhone 16e. The Samsung and Xiaomi both still proved better, but I found the Reno 13 Pro to be a decent gamer, nonetheless. I ran Genshin: Impact on the default graphics settings and didn’t notice any lagging or stuttering.
Things get even better in the battery life test, with the Reno 13 Pro lasting an outstanding 32hrs 25mins. That blows the majority of competitors out of the water, with only the equally impressive Pixel 9a lasting any longer in the testing.
Charging is on the better end of things, too, with the 80W fast charging bringing the battery from empty to 50% in around 21 minutes and up to full in 55 minutes. That’s a little longer than Oppo advertises (49 minutes) but still better than most of the competition, with only the Xiaomi 14T Pro’s 120W charging getting the job done faster.
Oppo Reno 13 Pro review: Cameras
The 50-megapixel (f/1.8) main camera produces broadly excellent images, with OIS keeping shots nice and steady and the multi-directional PDAF snapping onto the focal point with pleasing efficiency.
Oppo’s colour science can be a little inconsistent at times, with some green shades looking overblown and some reds a little muted, but for the most part, images look punchy and bright without drifting into unnatural territory.
Night performance is decent, too, with moody shadows and a relative dearth of visual noise. You lose quite a bit of detail in the very dark areas (such as the trees and hedges in the below image) but, otherwise, this is on the better end of night photography.
Telephoto cameras are still something of a rarity outside of flagships, so it’s great to see one here. The 50-megapixel (f/2.8) 3.5x lens is a good one, too, with bold contrast and strong colours. OIS and PDAF are supported here, too, making this telephoto camera particularly adept at capturing moving objects.
While the zoom distance technically goes all the way up to 120x, you’ll probably not find yourself using it in this mode too often. Shots up to 30x still look pretty decent, but anything past that gets increasingly muddy.
Detail in the 8-megapixel (f/2.2) ultrawide camera isn’t as good as on the other lenses but, otherwise, it isn’t a bad shooter at all. The colour tone is roughly in line with the main camera and the exposure is well-balanced, keeping shots from feeling too dull.
Video can shoot up to 4K/60fps but the electronic stabilisation is only compatible with 1080p video, so you’ll be trading off image quality for stability.
Oppo Reno 13 Pro review: Verdict
There are a few points in which the Reno 13 Pro falls short of expectations: performance is middling at best for this price, HDR brightness is bizarrely unimpressive and the software is obnoxiously overstuffed with extraneous apps.
If these are dealbreakers for you, I’d recommend turning your eye instead to the Xiaomi 14T Pro. It’s much faster, brighter and cheaper. The software is just as cluttered as Oppo’s, however, and it lacks the Reno 13 Pro’s exemplary battery life.
And stamina is the main reason to give the Reno 13 Pro a second look. It’s one of the longest-lasting phones you can get at any price, thanks in the main part to its absolutely huge battery. It also includes a decent telephoto camera, which Apple, Google and Samsung don’t offer in their mid-rangers. All told it’s a solid effort, and well worth considering alongside the more established brands.
