With advanced optics, the realme 12 5G is a powerful gizmo for expressing many moments and happenings.
realme is back and this time with the realme 12 5G smartphone. This latest offering is jam-packed, designed for everyone! Never miss any moments anymore with its rear cameras and long-lasting battery.
Unboxing
The realme 12 5G comes in a rectangular yellow box with the number 12 written in big on the cover. A specs rundown is written on the bottom of the box, so you can see what’s in store for you.
Our realme 12 5G features an onboard storage of 256GB and RAM of 8GB. It’s also the Twilight Purple color variant, which shimmers under sufficient lighting.
The packaging includes the unit itself, jelly case with the custom cutout for the circular camera island, some paperwork, card tray pin, charging cable, and the 45W charging brick. That means you can enjoy the device’s fast charging right out of the box.
Check out the unboxing clip below.
Build
Like other members of the realme 12 Series, the realme 12 5G sports a 7.69mm trendy watch design. It houses the rear cameras and LED flash, with a distinct stylish line as a final design touch.
The realme 12 5G appears solid. While the back cover feels a bit slippery, this is easily mitigated by the impressive grip.
If you look at the phone’s sides, you’ll see the metal-like finish around the body. This is what enhances the grip and comfort when you hold the phone. It won’t easily slip even if you grab and hold the realme 12 5G without its phone case.
But if you want to prevent accidental bumps when using the phone, use the given jelly case for extra protection.
The top part of the realme 12 5G features the card tray slot, speaker, and microphone, while another speaker is located at the bottom, alongside the USB port, microphone, and the much-loved 3.5mm headphone jack.
The left side of the handset is smooth and clean, which means the power key and volume rockers are placed at the right side. Generally, these physical buttons are very accessible but that still depends on your grip and reach.
Display
The display panel of the realme 12 5G spans 6.72 inches and supports 120Hz refresh rate, indicating up to 120FPS for gaming. It has a resolution of 1080 x 2400 for crisp and clear visuals when watching your favorite content and playing mobile games.
If you love the outdoors, the screen boasts 800 nits of max brightness and 950 nits of peak brightness in auto-brightness mode. Plus, the phone has IP54 rating for dust and water splash protection.
The realme 12 5G runs Android 14 with realme UI 5.0 on top. The UI is fast and smooth at 120Hz at Medium animation speed. If you ramp that up to Fast animation, navigation and scrolling are definitely faster.
To do that, go to Settings > Home Screen and Lock Screen > Choose between Fast and Medium under Animation Speed.
Performance
The realme 12 5G is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ processor, clocked at 2.2GHz, and Mali-G57 graphics. Managing the apps is the 8GB RAM, expandable by 4GB, 6GB, and 8GB via virtual RAM expansion.
Want to store lots of files? If the 256GB onboard capacity isn’t enough, insert a microSD card to expand the storage for up to 2TB.
Can you play numerous games on the realme 12 5G? You can! In fact, it comes with several handy features to boost gaming performance on-demand.
This is the HyperBoost engine that shows you a plethora of options during gaming. You can tweak the refresh rate and performance modes – available in Low Power Mode, Balanced Mode, and Pro Gamer Mode.
Keep in mind that choosing Pro Gamer mode will likely increase heat generation and battery consumption.
Love action or first-person shooting games? Play with realme 12 5G! It can handle Medium graphics and High FPS with ease on Call of Duty Mobile.
Are you a Mobile Legends player? If so, MLBB is super smooth on the realme 12 5G at Ultra graphics and High FPS.
Is RPG your thing? It can handle Genshin Impact on the lowest graphics at 60 FPS. You can lower it to 30 FPS and up select the graphics option for better visuals. Since it can run this title, it will likely handle other miHoYo titles like Honkai Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd.
Turn-based titles, such as Black Clover Mobile and Lord of Heroes, are expected to run on realme 12 5G at 60 FPS smoothly, at least on Medium graphics.
Check our gaming clip below.
Camera
The true strength of the realme 12 5G is its optics. It comes with a dual-rear camera setup led by the 108MP Clear Portrait lens with 3x zoom. This is paired with a 2MP Portrait sensor.
Below is the specs rundown of the rear cameras:
- Main: 108 MP Samsung HM6 with pixel binning technology
- Lens: 6P
- FOV: 84°
- Sensor size: 1/1.67
- Aperture: f/1.75
- Focal length: 24 mm
- Portrait: 2 MP
- Lens: 3P
- FOV: 89°
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 22 mm
The rear cameras can capture great details and have good color accuracy under well-lit conditions. What’s more impressive is the HDR in such settings. It really balances the lighting and shadows to bring out those elements concealed by very strong lights.
For Portraits, the rear cameras can take the best images without the ugly cutout found on other phones. The realme 12 5G can do Portraits in 3x as well.
If you want to tweak the blur effect, feel free to adjust the depth of field slider between f/1.4 and f/1.6. This should let you take the best perspective.
Selfies are handled by the 8MP sensor and it can give stunning captures with favorable lighting. It’s even capable of balancing lighting and shadows via HDR.
Watch the video clip below for the videos recorded using the realme 12 5G.
Extras
To keep you going, the realme 12 5G is packed with a 5,000mAh battery unit. As mentioned, you can automatically use the 45W SUPERVOOC fast-charging technology, thanks to the provided charging brick.
Music lover? Immersive yourself in the music world with stereo speakers and 3.5mm headphone jack.
The speakers support Hi-Res Audio and Ultra Volume Mode, which lets you boost the volume by 200%. This boost works on notifications, alarms, and ringtones as well.
The realme 12 5G also has the handy Mini Capsule 2.0. A dedicated section on your screen that displays specific activities:
- Battery and Charging status
- Data Usage
- Step Tracking
- Weather Notifications
- Event Reminders
- Music Playback and Control
If you drive a lot, the realme 12 5G features a Riding Mode found in the Settings menu. This is designed for your safety while driving by restricting notifications. But it also includes tools like Google Maps and Music for convenient user experience during your travels.
Suggestions
For its price range, the realme 12 5G has everything you need: from performance to photography. However, we offer a few suggestions:
- Higher IP rating: Having an IP54 rating is great because the phone has some protection when used outdoors. But with Riding Mode, some may use this often outdoors and that warrants at least IP56.
- Higher peak brightness: The bright sunlight during summer is a major challenge for outdoor lovers and even riders. Perhaps a peak brightness of at least 1,200 nits.
- Cooling system: With amazing optics, a smartphone needs some help in cooling down, especially when its cameras are used continuously outside under the hot sun.
Final Thoughts
The realme 12 5G has a suggested retail price of ₱14,999 and is available on the following platforms:
| Platform | First-Selling Duration | Freebies |
| realme Philippines TikTok Shop | April 25, starting 7:30 p.m until April 30 | realme Pocket Bluetooth Speaker (₱990) & TechLife Cooling Fan (₱1,999) |
| realme Lazada Flagship | May 5 to 10 | realme Buds T100 (₱1,299) & TechLife Hair Dryer (₱2,399) |
| realme Shopee Official Store | May 5 to 10 | TechLife Power Bank 2 20000mAh (₱999) & TechLife 4.5L See-Through Air Fryer (₱2,799) |
realme also has offline offers for the realme 12 5G:
- SRP: ₱14,999
- First-selling duration: April 26 to May 5
- Credit Card payments: Up to 6 months of installed payment plan with 0% interest
- Home Credit: Up to 9 months, 0% interest installment programs
- Mystery Box Promo:
- Get a chance to win freebies worth up to ₱24,999
- Lucky 12 Challenge
- If you get your realme 12 5G from 1 of 100 selected concept stores, kiosks, and exclusive stores, then you can play the Lucky 12 Challenge at its selected time slots to get additional freebies from a prize pool worth over ₱600,000!
