Introduction

Oppo has launched its latest Reno phones globally, and as usual, the Pro model is looking to bring flagship features to a more affordable price point. Compared to last year, though, something is very different with the Reno 13 Pro.

The Reno 12 Pro started at just £499 in the UK, and it was a great value option if you wanted flagship-level AI features at a more approachable price. However, the Reno 13 Pro starts at £649, a massive £150 price hike compared to its predecessor.

This puts the phone up against a completely different set of competitors, but thankfully, it seems the Reno 13 Pro has risen to the occasion.

It now has a premium construction with a metal frame, a higher-tier processor and plenty of camera upgrades. The question is, does it do enough to stand out against the competition? After over a week of testing, here’s what I found.

Design 

• 162.73×76.55×7.55mm, 195g
• Aluminium frame, sculpted glass back
• IP68/IP69 rated

The first thing that struck me when I picked up the Oppo Reno 13 Pro was how premium it felt. The cold aluminium frame and smooth glass back mean that this phone looks and feels a lot closer to a flagship than its plastic-framed predecessor.

It has gained a bit of weight, but I think that’s a good thing. It means the phone feels dense and confidence-inspiring.

What I was less pleased about, though, is the design. Don’t get me wrong, the Graphite Grey Reno 13 Pro that I have in for testing looks classy and professional, but I do think it’s a little bit boring. By contrast, last year’s Reno 12 Pro had one of the most outlandish rear panels in recent memory, with a silvery-purple finish that looked like ripples in a pool of liquid metal.

To be fair, you can make a bit more of a statement if you opt for the Plume Purple version. But it just doesn’t quite excite me the way the Y2K-ish metal ripples of last year’s model did.

The phone has a fairly boxy, almost iPhone-like construction. The rear glass panel is completely flat, and the side rails are mostly flat too. Unusually, though, the front glass has the same quad micro-curves as last year.

I’m mostly happy about that. I like micro-curves on my screen, but it feels a little strange having curves on the front and a flat panel on the back. Most manufacturers take a more symmetrical approach. I suppose if you put a case on it, you won’t notice anyway.

A big upgrade this time around is the addition of an IP68/IP69 rating for dust and water resistance. This phone can withstand dunks at up to 2 metre depths, and it even has an underwater photography mode.

The front glass is made from Gorilla Glass 7i, which is more of a sideways move, as the previous model had Victus 2. It’s hard to figure out how they compare (without smashing things), but Victus 2 has been used on flagships, whereas 7i seems to be constrained to the mid-range market. So, it’s probably safe to call this a downgrade.

On the other hand, there are no marks on my screen after using it for over a week, and that’s more than I can say for a lot of devices.

Screen 

• 6.83-inch 120Hz 1272×2800 OLED
• Quad micro curves
• 1200 nits peak brightness

The Reno 13 Pro has a spacious 6.83-inch display, which makes it slightly smaller than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but slightly larger than the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

It has an ample 1272×2800 resolution and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate that can dynamically shift down to 60Hz to save some battery. It’s an OLED panel, so of course, you get deep, inky blacks and vibrant accurate colours as standard.

There are plenty of options available if you want to calibrate the display, but I found it looked great on the default settings. That’s especially true for HDR content from apps like Netflix, which looks brilliant on this display.

The screen peaks at 1200 nits brigthness, which doesn’t sound like that much, but I found it plenty bright enough. We’ve had a very sunny week in the UK, and I never struggled to see the on-screen content.

I’ve already mentioned the quad curve design, but it’s worth bringing up again. This phone has an overfilled glass of water appearance. It’s a mostly flat screen, but the edges have a smooth curve that only begins around the bezel.

I like it, mainly because gesture controls feel super smooth, but it also matches most of the Chinese flagships from the past year, and it adds to the premium feel. However, it seems the trend is shifting towards flat displays for 2025, though I really hope some of these curvy units stick around.

Cameras 

• 50MP main camera (1/1.56-inch sensor)
• 8MP ultrawide
• 50MP 3.5x telephoto
• 50MP selfie camera with AF

The Reno 13 Pro has seen some serious camera upgrades compared to last year. It now has a considerably larger 1/1.56-inch main sensor, a 3.5x telephoto (up from 2x), and the ultrawide now has autofocus.

There don’t seem to be any changes to the selfie camera, but that’s no bad thing. It was already a top performer, and it continues to impress a year later.

As is often the case, the main sensor vastly outperforms the auxiliary lenses. It resolves the most detail and can focus pretty close for macro shots. At night, it’s the safest option, as it’s far less prone to blurring and grain.

That said, the telephoto is very useful, much more so than its 2x predecessor. It exceeded my expectations when it comes to digital zoom, providing usable results up to around 20x zoom. You can go all the way to 120x, if you wish, but I wouldn’t recommend that.

Unfortunately, it can’t quite keep up in low-light conditions; details become muddied and blur is hard to avoid. It also lacks macro capabilities, so you need a good distance between your subject and the lens.

The ultrawide is the weakest of the trio. I was pleased to see that it has autofocus, but honestly, it’s such a noticeable downgrade in quality, I’d recommend using the main sensor and taking a few steps back whenever possible. At night, the ultrawide only gets worse.

The selfie camera is a highlight. It has autofocus, so your group shots will look tack-sharp, and it captures tonnes of detail. The portrait mode effects are very reliable too, and there’s a bunch of beautifying stuff included, if that’s your kind of thing. If you’re an avid selfie snapper, this phone might be a good fit.

Overall, I have been quite impressed with the camera setup. The lack of consistency means it’s not up to flagship standards, but the main and selfie cameras are excellent. I’m a fan of the image processing, too. It reminds me of the Oppo Find X8 series, and that can only be a good thing.

For video shooting, the phone can capture at up to 4K 60fps on every camera except for the ultrawide. That’s nice to have, especially on the selfie camera, as many rivals are still stuck at 1080p. 

Performance 

• MediaTek Dimensity 8350
• 12GB RAM, 512GB storage
• Dual stereo speakers

My main gripe with the Reno 12 Pro was that it couldn’t really keep up in the gaming department. In normal use, the phone felt quick enough, but its gaming performance lagged behind similarly priced competition.

This year, though, we’ve been upgraded to a higher class of processor, the MediaTek Dimensity 8350, and it makes a huge difference.

In normal daily tasks like browsing social media, editing images and navigating the OS, I don’t think I’d be able to tell this apart from a flagship. It’s always snappy and speedy, even while you’re multitasking.

In gaming, it can’t keep up with the best of the best, but it’s likely good enough for most people. I was able to run the graphically demanding Zenless Zone Zero on the highest graphics preset and maintain a constant 30fps – and that’s without needing to enable features like Game Boost.

Pushing it to 60fps resulted in frame rates that were always above 30fps, but they weren’t consistent, jumping from 40fps or so to the mid-50s, depending on what was on screen. That makes it very hard to get your timing right.

Just like last year, you get a capacious 512GB of storage as standard. Which is really nice to have. And this time, at least, it doesn’t feel like you’re sacrificing performance to get it.

Software 

• ColorOS 15, based on Android 15
• New AI features
• Longer software support

The Reno 13 Pro runs ColorOS 15, based on Android 15. It hasn’t always been a favourite of mine, but I’m growing quite fond of it. It’s extremely customisable, packed with useful features, and most importantly, it’s super quick and efficient.

What I’m not so fond of is the amount of bloatware on this device. It comes loaded with a selection of random apps and games, and while it doesn’t take too long to clean them all up, it’s not something I want to deal with on a £650 device. If the CMF Phone 1 can manage a clean install at less than a third of the price, there’s no excuse here.

A lot of Oppo’s marketing efforts centre around this phone’s AI capabilities, and there are plenty of features here, definitely more than your average mid-ranger. They’re mainly variations on things that we’ve seen on other phones, like summarisation, translation and transcription features.

There’s one feature that I wish I had access to on every phone, though, and that’s AI Speak. It’ll take any webpage (regardless of which browser you use) and read it aloud to you in a natural-sounding voice.

It’s perfect when you come across an article you want to read, but you don’t have time to sit and read it. For instance, I can learn what Mobile Editor Lewis thought of the Pixel 9a while I do the dishes. It’s super handy.

The majority of the new stuff is centred around image editing, and again, these are features we’ve seen before, but they’re as useful as ever. There’s a clarity enhancer, a reflection remover, a blur remover, and an object eraser. There’s also some more outlandish stuff, like AI Reimage, which can turn your photos into generative AI artwork, but I don’t find that quite as useful.

These tools are quite impressive, and it was the object remover that I found myself gravitating towards the most. The accuracy seems to be a lot better than some of its competition (cough, iPhone), but there’s a caveat. The AI effects aren’t processed on the device, so you’ll need an active internet connection in order to use them.

The Reno 13 Pro also benefits from a longer term of software support. Oppo now promises five major Android upgrades and six years of security patches – at least in the UK. It’s not class-leading, but it’s a pretty good showing.

Battery life 

• 5800mAh battery
• 80W wired charging
• No charger in the box

The Reno 13 Pro has a massive 5800mAh battery inside, and as you’d expect, that results in excellent battery life. 

Of course, exactly how long the phone will last varies greatly depending on what you’re doing with it. With my average use, which includes plenty of camera use, navigation, video streaming and hotspotting, I rarely went to bed with less than 40% remaining.

If you’re more reserved with your usage, two days on a charge is definitely achievable.

There’s no wireless charging on this model, but it does benefit from speedy 80W fast charging. That’s enough to take the phone from dead to 50% charged in less than half an hour.

In the UK, at least, there’s no charger in the box. So if you want the maximum advertised speed, you’ll need to factor in the cost of a suitable SuperVOOC charger.

Should you buy it?

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