The midrange smartphone market in the country is maturing with really good devices in this price category. We put the recently launched OPPO Reno10 5G against its rivals of equal measure – the Samsung Galaxy A54 and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro+.
UNBOXING
Reno10 comes in a silver-white box containing the phone, a clear TPU case, a 67W charging brick, a Type-C cable, a sim ejector tool and documentation.
Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G comes in a white box and inside it, you get the phone, a protective case, a SIM ejector tool, a USB-C cable, a 120W charger, and the usual documentation inside the box.
Galaxy A54 comes in a barebones white box containing a white charging cable with both ends being Type-C and a sim ejector tool. You’ll have to buy a charger and a case separately.
So far, in terms of what you are getting in a retail box, OPPO and Xiaomi offer more accessories inside the box and you can save some coins here.
DESIGN
All three phone look really good in their respective colours. Reno10 comes in Silver Grey and Ice Blue, the A54 comes in Lime, Graphite, White and Violet while the Redmi comes in Obsidian Black, Arctic White, Iceberg Blue, and Trend edition.
All three are premium with glass fronts and glass backs. The A54 has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protecting both the front and back, Redmi has the same Gorilla Glass 5 protecting only the screen and the Reno10 uses Asahi Glass AGC DT-Star2 for its screen.
Only the A54 and the Redmi have water and dust resistance rating at IP67 AND IP53 respectively. All three phones have dual nano-SIM, dual microphones and have stereo speakers. Samsung and OPPO opt for optical under-display fingerprint readers for their phones while Xiaomi goes for a side-mounted fingerprint reader.
Coming to the front we have a 6.7-inch 10-bit 1080p AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and 950 nits peak brightness at 394ppi density for the Reno10.
Redmi has a 6.67-inch 10-bit 1080p OLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, 900 nits peak brightness, and Dolby Vision at 395 ppi density.
A54 sports a smaller 6.4-inch 1080P SuperAMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support and 403ppi density.
All three screens will serve you well if you consume a ton of multimedia content, browsing the web and social media.
While it has a smaller and relatively bright screen, its high IP rating and Corning glass protection on both front and back give the A54 an edge over its rivals.
It’s worth noting that only the Reno10 and the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ have an IR blaster.
PERFORMANCE
OPPO Reno10 is powered by a Dimensity 7050 5G chipset with 16GB RAM(8GB onboard and 8GB Virtual) and 256GB storage. It has Android 13 and ColorOS 13.1. OPPO has promised that the phone will get up to 2 years of major Android OS updates and 3 years of security patches.
Redmi Note 12 Pro+ comes with Dimensity 1080 processor, 13GB of RAM(8GB onboard and 5GB Virtual) and 256GB storage. It ships with Android 12 and MIUI 13. Our unit got updated to Android 13 and MIUI 14. Xiaomi has promised up to four years of quarterly security patches and two years of software updates so we expect the phone to get Android 14.
The A54 has Exynos 1380 chipset paired with 6/8GB RAM and 128/256GB storage. It comes with Android 13 and OneUI 5.1 upgradeable to 4 years of major Android OS updates and 5 years of security patches.
Synthetic benchmarks put the A54 in the lead with the Reno10 and Note 12 coming in close. Overall day to day use will not vary that much so you’ll be getting fair performance across the board.
However, Samsung’s update policy might sway some users to the A54 which shares the same upgrade cycle as its flagship siblings in the S23 series.
CAMERAS
Reno10 goes with a 64MP triple setup featuring a 32MP portrait telephoto(2x Zoom) lens and an additional 8MP ultrawide camera. It can record video at 1080p 30fps UltraSteady and 4K 30FPS.
For selfies, we get a 32MP front-facing camera in the cutout and support video recording with 1080p 30/60fps with Ultra Steady.
OPPO Reno10 5G Camera Performance Review: Solid Upgrade
The Redmi’s cameras are led by a 200MP primary lens with OIS backed by an 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro. It also has a 16MP front-facing camera housed at the cutout. Selfie videos are capped at 1080p 60fps while videos from the main camera are capped at 4K 30fps and 1080p 60fps.
The A54 has a triple setup as well led by a 50MP main with OIS, a 12MP ultrawide and a 5MP macro. We also get a 32MP selfie camera. Video recording is capped at 4k 30fps for the main and selfie cameras.
All three phones will give you dependable photography and videography performance. OPPO on the other hand has an Achilles heel which is that it doesn’t feature OIS which comes in handy for taking steady videos – something its rivals come with.
Also, only the A54 can take 4K 30fps video from the selfie camera which gives the phone an added advantage over its competitors.
All in all, it will come down to your preferences whether you’re a person who likes taking videos or vlogs.
BATTERY LIFE
All three phones come with 5000mAh batteries which is really good for that solid battery life. Charging speed is where they all draw the line with Redmi leading the way with its 120W charging followed by OPPO’s 67W wired charging and Samsung comes in third with its 25W wired charging(You’ll need a 25W Samsung charger to get these speeds).
A 30-minute charge will get you from empty to 56%, 100% and 74% for the A54, Note 12 Pro+ and Reno10 respectively.
All three phones will give you a full day of charge with some left in the evening. If you care about how fast your phone charges, then the Reno10 and the Note 12 are your top choice.
Samsung takes the L here with its slow charging and the fact that you need to buy your own charger.
VERDICT
All three phones are very capable mid-range smartphones. They nail it – from design, performance, cameras, build quality and battery life performance. Samsung Galaxy A54 takes the lead here overall with its higher build quality, IP rating, performance and software upgrade support. The Reno10 and the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ follow right behind.
Pricing also gets competitive and will be the deciding factor for most consumers.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
Samsung A54 goes for Ksh 62,995 at their official brandcart online store, Ksh 63,999 on Jumia, Ksh 64,499 on Kilimall and Ksh 59,999 on PhonePlace Kenya.
Redmi Note 12 Pro+ goes for Ksh 64,999 at Xiaomi stores and Ksh 62,500 on PhonePlace Kenya. When the phone launched early this year, it was on offer for Ksh 49,999.
OPPO Reno10 starts selling from Ksh 56,999 and Reno10 Pro goes for Ksh 69,999 on Jumia, Kilimall and Skygarden. You can get it in OPPO’s official stores and partner retailers countrywide.
You can also trade in your old OPPO device for the Reno10 as well.
From the pricing, you can tell that the OPPO Reno10 give you more value for your money relative to the other phones.
Anyway, the ball in your court, which phone are you picking?
