Mobile Phone Reviews

The Oppo Reno13 series is out and about, so you are probably wondering which one to get. But unlike last year, this year’s Oppo Reno13 and the Oppo Reno13 Pro are more different than you’d think. There’s a non-trivial price difference too. The Reno13 Pro 256GB is about €150 more expensive than the vanilla Reno13 256GB, while the gap in India is about 12,000.

The difference in size and camera count are obvious from the specs sheet alone, so we will take a deeper dive into the nitty and gritty to see how different these two handsets are in practice. Some may find the Reno13 a more suitable solution..

Size comparison

Oppo
Reno13 181 g 157.9 x 74.7 x 7.2 mm
(6.22 x 2.94 x 0.28 in)

Oppo
Reno13 Pro 195 g 162.8 x 76.6 x 7.6 mm
(6.41 x 3.02 x 0.3 in)

The standard Reno13 is obviously the more compact solution, having a smaller 6.59-inch display and as a result, it’s lighter, shorter and narrower. It’s also thinner in theory, but there’s a nuance in practice.

Even though the Pro is thicker on paper, it feels thinner in hand. That’s because the extra few millimeters of thickness come from the bulging display, whereas the frame is noticeably thinner. Keep in mind that the front glass on the Reno13 Pro is slightly curved from all sides, so it’s slightly bulging. In contrast, the vanilla Reno has a completely flat front glass panel.

Reno13 Pro vs. Reno13

Build-wise, there’s practically no difference. Both devices use Gorilla Glass 7i protection on the front, standard glass on the back, and an aluminum frame all around. The devices are even IP68/IP69-protected.

Display comparison

Oppo
Reno13 6.59″ AMOLED
120Hz 1256×2760
pixels 460
ppi 1204
nits max

Oppo
Reno13 Pro 6.83″ AMOLED
120Hz 1272×2800
pixels 450
ppi 1168
nits max

There’s essentially no difference in the display features – both have similar resolutions, 10-bit color depth support, 120Hz refresh rate, and are HDR10+ compatible.

The only real difference is size, so the choice is pretty obvious. Get the Reno13 if you want a more compact solution, or the Reno13 Pro for a big-screen experience. Even by today’s standards, the Reno13 Pro’s 6.83-inch diagonal is pretty big.

Battery life

The Reno13 Pro has a 200 mAh bigger battery than the Reno13, but also slightly bigger display too. The two handsets share the same chipset, so don’t count that as a variable in the equation. At the end of the day, though, there’s no difference in battery endurance, at least according to our tests.

The Active Use Scores of both phones are very similar, with the Reno13 edging out the Pro likely due to its smaller display. And it’s quite evident from the screen-on tests like web browsing and video playback.

In either case, you will get excellent battery life. Both devices are great performers in their respective price classes.

Charging speed

Oppo
Reno13
5600 mAh 80W 15min
41% 30min
74% Full
43min

Oppo
Reno13 Pro
5800 mAh 80W 15min
42% 30min
77% Full
42min

The two siblings boast one of the fastest-charging solutions in their class. They both support up to 80W over Oppo’s proprietary SuperVOOC charging protocol and can go from 0 to 100% in just 42-43 minutes. No real-world difference between the two, though.

Notably, the Reno13 Pro supports fast 50W wireless charging, which is a bonus some of you will appreciate.

Speaker test

While the two handsets’ speakers are similarly loud, you can tell the difference in tuning. The Reno13’s sound is warmer with more pronounced bass but with slightly muffled vocals and highs, whereas the Reno13 Pro presents a more balanced sound tuning.

Performance

The Reno13 and the Reno13 Pro share the same Dimensity 8350 SoC, so there are no surprises here. The chip has an octa-core CPU and a mid-range GPU. Both are decent enough for even for gaming.

Oppo
Reno13 Dimensity 8350
4 nm 128GB 8GB RAM
base config

Oppo
Reno13 Pro Dimensity 8350
4 nm 256GB 12GB RAM
base config

Depending on the region, the Reno13 proper offers 8GB/128GB as base memory configuration, while the Reno13 Pro starts from 12GB/256GB. Some regions skip the 128GB Reno13 version and start from 256GB. In both cases, storage caps at 512GB as the 1TB versions seem to be China-exclusive.

Benchmark performance

Oppo
Reno13 AnTuTu 10
1,378,614 Geekbench 6
4,208 3D Mark Wild Life
2,868

Oppo
Reno13 Pro AnTuTu 10
1,360,669 Geekbench 6
4,138 3D Mark Wild Life
2,914

So it’s no surprise that there’s no notable difference in performance. The small gap you see between the results is probably due to statistical error.

Camera comparison

The two Renos’ biggest feature gap lies within the camera hardware. While the 8MP ultrawide cameras match, the Reno13 Pro boasts a considerably larger 50MP main sensor and adds a 3.5x 50MP telephoto camera into the mix.

On the front, the two siblings share the same 50MP selfie camera with AF.

We don’t expect a massive difference in post-processing since they also share the same ISP and chipset.

Image quality

On paper, the Reno13 Pro should deliver better-looking stills with its main camera, but in reality, the difference is minute. You have to take a really close look to spot the difference. The Pro has a slight advantage when it comes to fine detail, but that’s about it. It also tends to render reds and blue better, making the daylight photos slightly livelier but not good enough in terms of overall color saturation. Surprisingly, the non-Pro has more balanced highlights.

Reno13 vs. Reno13 Pro: 0.6x • 0.6x • 0.6x • 0.6x • 1x • 1x • 1x • 1x

The ultrawide unit on the non-Pro offers the same quality, as expected, but slightly better color saturation.

We couldn’t spot any disparity in the 2x crop zoom photos, but the difference between the 3.5x stills is night and day, which is to be expected.

Reno13 vs. Reno13 Pro: 2x • 2x • 2x • 2x • 3.5x • 3.5x • 3.5x • 3.5x

The low-light photography goes to the non-Pro. Overall quality is the same, with the Pro rendering slightly more details, which could be due to the added sharpness, but producing muted colors. Although the vanilla Reno doesn’t offer the liveliest of colors, it’s still better compared to the Pro.

Reno13 vs. Reno13 Pro: 0.6x • 0.6x • 0.6x • 0.6x • 1x • 1x • 1x • 1x

Ultrawide quality and the nighttime rendering are the same.

No surprises here, the 3.5x zoom photos at night are much better on the Reno13 Pro.

Reno13 vs. Reno13 Pro: 2x • 2x • 2x • 2x • 3.5x • 3.5x • 3.5x • 3.5x

As expected, the selfies look identical. Nothing worth noting here.

Selfies: Reno13 • Reno13 Pro • Reno13 • Reno13 Pro • Reno13 • Reno13 Pro

Video quality

Below, we have a few framegrabs from the videos taken by the two phones at each focal length so it’s easier to compare to one another.

We didn’t find any meaningful difference in how these phones record videos. Overall quality is the same, with the 13 Pro’s main camera producing slightly better colors. The low-light videos tend to be with lower exposure, making the shadows darker and highlights more balanced. Aside from that, there’s nothing worth noting.

Reno13 vs. Reno13 Pro 4K video screengrabs: 1x • 1x • 2x • 2x

We had an interesting finding, though. It turns out the Reno13 Pro can’t record 4K videos using its telephoto. Zooming in at 3.5x crops from the main camera, hence why we recorded 1080p videos as well. It’s quite evident that the 1080p videos from the dedicated 3.5x zoom camera on the Reno13 Pro are far superior..

Reno13 vs. Reno13 Pro 1080p video screengrabs: 0.6x • 0.6x • 3.5x • 3.5x

We recommend checking out the Oppo Reno13 vs. Reno13 Pro playlist on YouTube with the actual footage here.

Verdict

As you can see, the two devices are very similar to each other, but the Pro pulls ahead with slightly better speakers and a more versatile camera system. It will also be the more desirable choice for anyone looking for a big-screen experience. So, if you absolutely need that 3.5x telephoto camera and the extra screen real estate, the price difference will likely be justified.

However, the vanilla Reno13 will give you about the same user experience at a lower price, making it the more sensible choice. Especially if you are into the more compact form factors.