Realme’s origins as a budget-friendly smartphone brand designed to take on the likes of Xiaomi’s Redmi devices hasn’t exactly been lost to time. In fact, while Realme has launched some rather impressive handsets over the years, its latest Realme 13 model goes back to the brand’s affordable origins, as the specs will show. The phone recently made its debut for Indonesian markets, although we can probably expect it to launch in more regions worldwide soon.
Priced starting at around $185 (when converted) it’s a great option for people on a tight budget, but there are some considerations to keep in mind. As such, maybe you’re wondering if Realme’s newest budget smartphone is a right fit for your needs, especially if you’re just looking for something to handle the basics, a phone that’ll get you through the day without much fuss. That being said, let’s check it out.
External Design and Display
As far as looks are concerned, the Realme 13 isn’t designed to feature cutting edge looks or revolutionary product design. Instead, we get a phone that while managing to keep a bit of uniformity with the rest of Realme’s smartphone lineup doesn’t stray too much from the design trends seen on other Chinese brands. This includes the large circular camera bump on the rear, which is encased in an IP64-rated chassis.
Turn the phone over to the front and you’ll be greeted by a 6.67-inch OLED screen, with a pretty smooth 120Hz refresh rate. Due to budget constraints, the phone only features an FHD+ resolution, although we weren’t expecting something sharper anyway. Thankfully though it gets considerably bright at a maximum of 2,000 nits, the same as on an iPhone 15 or Pixel 8 for example.
Internal Specs and Cameras
The Realme 13 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 685 chipset, yet another telltale sign of the phone’s affordable price. With that said though, Qualcomm’s lower end chipsets aren’t exactly terrible, and will get the job done for most users. The phone also packs 8GB of RAM inside, which is available alongside two storage configurations at 128 and 256GB. There’s also a seven-layer cooling system inside the Realme 13, which even features a vapor chamber. Powering the phone is a 5,000 mAh battery with 67W charging speeds – according to Realme, the phone can charge to 100% in just 47 minutes.
For camera hardware, the Realme 13 comes with a 50MP main camera which works in tandem with a depth camera, a common configuration seen on phones of this price. Meanwhile, selfies are handled by a 16MP selfie camera – nothing too fancy here, but this isn’t exactly the point of this phone. Video capture maxes out at 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second.
Software and Other Details
The phone runs on Android of course, albeit with Realme’s custom skin. This means that users get some additional apps and software features both from Realme as well as third-party developers. Additional specs include a 3.5mm headphone jack, dual speakers, as well as an in-display fingerprint reader with support for heart rate tracking.
