Slowly but surely, Realme has amassed a huge fan base in India, and the company is giving veteran smartphone sellers a tough time, especially in the affordable segment. And with the launch of Realme GT 2 Pro, the brand is taking the fight to the big dogs in the premium segment as well. For intelligence, the smartphone offers eerily similar specs to the OnePlus 10 Pro (Review) and despite this, the phone underestimates OnePlus’s display by a significant margin. So, today let’s take a closer look at the duo’s performance and camera prowess to find out which phone is right for you.
performance
In terms of specifications, both devices use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform for their processing needs. Furthermore, the phones are also shipped with LPDDR5 memory, as well as fast UFS 3.1 storage. It is understood that phones are at a link level in the performance department. Case in point, the benchmark results of the OnePlus 10 Pro and Realme GT 2 Pro where the device scored similar scores in synthetic test apps like GeekBench.
That’s not all, phones can play graphics-demanding titles like BGMI and CoD Mobile with the same graphics and FPS presets as well. To get smart, I can turn on BGMI with graphics locked in HDR and FPS set to the Extreme preset on both phones. You also get the option to download and use the UHD texture pack on the devices, which is great.
Now, I must add that while both phones perform incredibly well out of the box, the SoCs perform a bit conservatively. To my understanding, manufacturers have limited the performance of the phone in favor of better temperatures and longer battery life. Don’t get me wrong, the phones perform remarkably well, to begin with, however, you can squeeze more performance out of the pair by going into their battery settings and enabling High Performance Mode on OnePlus 10 Pro and GT Mode on Realme GT 2 Pro.
With the utility enabled, I noticed that the OnePlus 10 Pro produced much higher numbers on GeekBench. However, both phones saw performance stability drop to 70 percent in the CPU throttling test as well. All said and done, the Realme GT 2 Pro and OnePlus 10 Pro are among the fastest Android phones on the market and make a great buy for anyone looking for a performance-focused device.
cameras
If you have a knack for photography, you’ll find plenty to like in the camera arrays of the OnePlus 10 Pro and Realme GT 2 Pro. In terms of specs, the OnePlus rendering uses a 48MP Sony IMX789 main sensor that works in tandem with a 50MP Samsung JN1 ultrawide sensor with 150° FoV and an 8MP 3.3x telephoto sensor.
On the other hand, the Realme GT 2 Pro uses a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor which is assisted by a 50MP Samsung JN1 ultra wide angle sensor and a 40x micro-lens camera. For selfies, both phones come with a 32MP Sony IMX615 camera up front.
Daylight HDR
With the specs gone, let’s take a closer look at the daylight shots from the two phones. Off the bat, you should know that the OnePlus 10 Pro’s 48MP sensor squeezes out a bit more detail from a particular scene compared to the 50MP GT 2 Pro shooter. For intelligence, the phone consistently yielded photos full of detail with slightly better angle resolution. However, the GT 2 Pro images provided more accurate colors. For example, in the slider attached below, the image of the Realme GT 2 Pro, while very attractive, made the objects placed towards the edges of the frame a little soft.
The same becomes evident if you zoom in on the green seat, which looks much more orderly in the photo of the OnePlus 10 Pro. However, colors look more natural in the GT 2 Pro shot. In fact, the OnePlus 10 Pro’s color science swings in favor of warmer tones, so you’ll notice that the foliage appears yellow in photos. On the bright side, both images display excellent dynamic range and stellar exposure control.
Here’s another example that supports my findings – in the slider attached above, you’ll notice that the colors appear muffled in the image of the OnePlus 10 Pro. Furthermore, I noticed that the phone’s main sensors and UW sensors were more prone to lens flare as well. In fact, you can clearly see a glare from the sun passing through the middle of the OnePlus 10 Pro shot. On the other hand, the GT 2 Pro produced a more pleasing picture with attractive colours. However, the shot offers less detail around the bezel than the OnePlus 10 Pro photo.
High accuracy
Both phones can click high-resolution shots using their main sensors as well. As for the image quality, well, the hardware is neat and tweaked here too. In fact, while the Realme GT 2 Pro clicks slightly overdone images, the phone swaps colors better as well. So, you win some and lose some with either phone.
For example, if you look at the slider attached above here, the edges of the canopy are more visible in the GT 2 Pro image. On the other hand, the 10 Pro’s photo looks a little better when cropped closer. However, the phone has smeared the color of the tree bark, which appears reddish in the image.
ultra wide
The OnePlus 10 Pro and Realme GT 2 Pro both use the same ultra-wide angle sensor and in turn, produce nearly identical images with the main difference being the contrast in color temperature in shots.
Furthermore, as already mentioned, the OnePlus 10 Pro’s sensor isn’t as good at handling lens flares as the Realme GT 2 Pro’s UW snapper.
Telephoto and Macros
There are no surprises here, as the OnePlus 10 Pro’s dedicated telephoto lens takes sharper photos compared to the Realme GT 2 Pro, which must rely on a software processor to zoom in on subjects digitally.
For example, if you look at the slider attached above here, the garden bench, as well as the bushes at the bottom provide a much better definition in the OnePlus configuration.
On the other hand, Realme GT 2 Pro allows users to get very close to the subject as it charges the device with a 40x-minute lens. To demonstrate the sensor’s versatility, take a look at the slider above, where the shot on the left is from the phone’s main camera, while the image on the right – which highlights dust particles on the paper – is from the fine lens. Rest assured, both phones tout enough features to get the photographer’s creative juices flowing.
Selfie
While the images from the dual rear cameras are neck and neck, the OnePlus 10 Pro is the obvious choice for selfie enthusiasts. To be smart, even though all the beautification features are disabled, Realme’s rendering shines through on the details of the subject’s face.
On the other hand, OnePlus 10 Pro presented a great picture full of details and presented more realistic colors.
telephoto
For the most part, I found the Realme GT 2 Pro to be more efficient at capturing close-up shots. For example, the smartphone was able to create a convincing blur effect around the petals of a white flower while keeping much detail near the bits in focus as well. Moreover, the colors look more realistic in the GT 2 Pro shot as well.
Now, the phone is smearing red tones a bit more, which is evident from the slider attached below where the orange flower petals appear to be merging with each other.
The OnePlus 10 Pro did a commendable job here and the device swapped the texture on the petals to a tee. However, the smartphone’s color science is, again, not up to the mark and the device has muted the vibrant orange of the flower a bit.
low light
Realme GT 2 Pro takes the lead in low-light scenarios as well. While both phones are guilty of scene lighting to the point that images look a bit unnatural, the OnePlus 10 Pro doesn’t offer the same sharpness as the Realme GT 2 Pro. On top of that, there’s noticeably more noise in the OnePlus configuration as well.
For example, if you look at the slider attached above here, the GT 2 Pro was able to keep the definition of papers on top. On the other hand, the image of the OnePlus 10 Pro looks less desirable and the leaves of the trees seem to merge with each other.
Rule
Realme GT 2 Pro starts at Rs 49,999 and for the price, it offers tremendous value to buyers. Not only can the phone match the performance of the OnePlus 10 Pro, but the device offers a capable camera array that can go toe-to-toe with the OnePlus display as well. I’ll have more to say about other aspects of the phone soon, so stay tuned for our full GT 2 Pro review. However, if you prioritize the smartphone’s camera and performance over anything else, then I think you should choose the Realme GT 2 Pro over the OnePlus 10 Pro.