Realme 9 Pro+ review

Android 12 and Realme UI 3.0

The Realme 9 Pro+ is among the first phones to run on Android 12 with Realme UI 3.0. The third version of Realme's launcher offers an improved and more fluid interface, even richer customization options across the entire system, enhanced privacy dashboard and privacy indications, better floating window, Omojis and more.

The phone supports fingerprint unlock, and the under-display scanner works great - it's fast as they come. You can also set up face unlock for an even speedier unlock - though this is not as secure.

Biometrics

Always-on screen is available, and it can show the usual content - clock, date, notifications icons, battery. There are plenty of themes available, including a new one called AOD Sketchpad. You choose a portrait photo of yourself, and the software makes a sketch based on it. Then it applies the sketch as an AOD background. Once you unlock the screen, you will see the sketch transition into the original portrait photo. Neat, if you love watching your mug all day long, that is.

The AOD can be battery saving (hide after a short motionless period), scheduled, or always-on.

Always-on display

Edge Lighting is available, too, and it's quite useful as there is no notification LED light on the Realme 9 Pro+. It is independent of the AOD, too, so you can save some battery and still have a proper indication of missed important notifications.

Finally, you can change the fingerprint scanner animation, too.

Edge lighting • Fingerprint scanner animation

And while we are talking about personalization, the Realme UI 3.0 is flexible when it comes to this. There is an entire Personalizations page in Settings. You can change wallpapers (static or live), AOD themes, switch to different icon packs, different quick toggles icon shape, change fonts, and choose completely different colors that will change the entire Realme UI look.

Personalization options

The launcher has no-nonsense homescreens, a simplistic and clean notification/toggles area, and an easy-to-use task switcher. An App drawer is available, too, and it is as clutter-free as one could hope for. You can opt out of the app drawer if you prefer.

Realme UI 3.0

Dark Mode is available, and it supports three different dark styles - black, dark gray or light gray. You can also opt for Automatic Contrast - the Dark Mode will choose its style based on the available ambient light.

Dark Mode

There are many powerful tools within the settings menu if you want full control over your Android OS. Or you can leave everything as is and enjoy a hassle-free Android experience optimized by Realme's AI algorithms and machine learning.

Settings

You can also minimize an app to a floating window, now called a flexible window, because it's super easy to resize it on the go. You can exchange files between the full-screen and flexible apps by drag and drop.

Flexible windows are available from within the Task Switcher or the Sidebar. If an app is compatible, you can do either of these or use the familiar Split Screen.

Task Manager • Flexible window • Flexible window

And speaking about the Sidebar, it's quite familiar - a small visible mark on the edge of the screen that expands into a menu anytime you swipe on it. You can customize the actions for this menu and the app shortcuts that appear there.

Smart Sidebar

The Realme 9 Pro+ also supports Dynamic RAM Expansion (DRE) feature. As evident from the name, DRE lets you expand your smartphone's RAM - albeit virtually - by using the phone's internal storage. You can add from 2GB up to 5GB virtual RAM. This feature is active by default, and Realme has chosen 3GB for the default setting.

RAM expansion

Within the Realme lab section, you will find Heart Rate and DC dimming. The heart rate uses the under-display fingerprint scanner to measure your heartrate. DC dimming reduces the screen flickering on low brightness, but it may cause some issues (hence it's found in the experimental section).

DC Dimming • Heartrate measuring

The multimedia apps such as Photos, Music, and Videos - are provided by Realme. There is also a revamped File Manager and even a Phone Manager app. This completes the non-Google app list.

Photos • Music • Videos • Phone Manager • File Manager

We liked the Realme UI 3.0. The interface is clutter-free and easy to use, and it feels great when working with 90fp. Yet, it retains plenty of powerful tools should you choose to dig deeper and use them.

Performance and benchmarks

The Realme 9 Pro+ employs the new Dimensity 920 chipset by MediaTek. It's a 6nm chip with an integrated 5G modem.

The Dimensity 920 has an octa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A78 cores @ 2.5GHz and 6x Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0GHz.

This SoC has a quad-core Mali-G68 GPU, which should offer pretty decent graphics performance for the mid-range class.

Realme 9 Pro+ is available with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM. The storage options are 128GB and 256GB, and the storage is of the UFS 2.2 kind.

The Dimensity 920 chip supports the latest connectivity standards - dual 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band GPS.

And now, it's benchmark time!

The Dimensity 920 processor is a true champ in this price bracket. The Cortex-A78 cores are true beats and easily score among the best in this class. The CPU scores are about 40% higher than the ones we've captured on the Realme 8 Pro.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2801
• OnePlus Nord 2
  2792
• Motorola Edge 20
  2550
• Realme 9 Pro+
  2335
• OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
  2157
• vivo V23 5g
  2140
• Realme 9 Pro
  2020
• Realme 7 Pro
  1811
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  1780
• Realme 8 Pro
  1678
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  1673
• Realme 6 Pro
  1666
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  1599
• Samsung Galaxy A32
  1277

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 9 Pro+
  814
• OnePlus Nord 2
  814
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  771
• Motorola Edge 20
  762
• vivo V23 5g
  739
• OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
  728
• Realme 9 Pro
  694
• Realme 7 Pro
  576
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  569
• Realme 8 Pro
  566
• Realme 6 Pro
  565
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  534
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  505
• Samsung Galaxy A32
  361

The four-core Mali-G68 seems to be more than adequate for the class, too. It is about 50% more powerful than the Adreno 618 as part of the Realme 8 Pro and offers a lot of oomph for the class.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  38
• Motorola Edge 20
  29
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  28
• Realme 9 Pro+
  27
• vivo V23 5g
  22
• OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
  19
• Realme 9 Pro
  16
• Realme 8 Pro
  16
• Realme 6 Pro
  16
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  16
• Realme 7 Pro
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A32
  8.1
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  7.9

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  57
• Motorola Edge 20
  51
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  49
• Realme 9 Pro+
  41
• vivo V23 5g
  40
• OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
  35
• Realme 8 Pro
  31
• Realme 9 Pro
  29
• Realme 6 Pro
  27
• Realme 7 Pro
  25
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A32
  13

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  4224
• Motorola Edge 20
  2494
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2491
• vivo V23 5g
  2315
• Realme 9 Pro+
  2296
• OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
  2036
• Realme 9 Pro
  1211
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  1185
• Realme 8 Pro
  1051
• Samsung Galaxy A32
  686
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  482

Finally, the Realme 9 Pro+ did very well on both AnTuTu tests confirming our conclusions that it has competitive performance across the board.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  512164
• Realme 9 Pro+
  495096
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  429675
• Motorola Edge 20
  424031
• vivo V23 5g
  406498
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  295442
• Realme 8 Pro
  286666
• Realme 7 Pro
  278414
• Realme 6 Pro
  268785
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  226561
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  218788
• Samsung Galaxy A32
  174332

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  598022
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  506432
• Motorola Edge 20
  488574
• vivo V23 5g
  476058
• OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
  436640
• Realme 9 Pro+
  416031
• Realme 9 Pro
  401894
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  222125

The Realme 9 Pro+ has a vapor chamber-based cooling system, and it's enough for the Dimensity 920 chip. The phone scored 89% on the CPU Stress Test and 99.7% on the GPU stress tests - both excellent marks. Even better, the Realme 9 Pro+ is barely warm after such stress tests, so you won't feel any discomfort when playing for long hours. No throttling will occur either.

CPU stress test • GPU stress test

The Dimensity 920 5G chipset seems like a great choice for the Realme 9 Pro+ - it is a modern piece of hardware with more than just a capable processor and graphics. The cooling solution works great as well. .

There is only one thing that stops the Realme 9 Pro+ from being an excellent performer, and that's the locked 60fps gaming. No game or benchmark ever goes beyond the 60fps limit, and it's not because the hardware is lacking, it's because Realme is still hesitant to offer unlocked refresh rate on its phones for some reason.