OPPO K13 Turbo with cooling fan is now available under Rs 20,000: is it worth buying?

The past twelve months have been quite eventful for OPPO in India. The brand not only marked its return to flagship space after four years with the Find X8 series, but also dipped its toes in the mobile gaming segment with the release of the OPPO K13 Turbo series, comprising the K13 Turbo and K13 Turbo Pro. Both these handsets made a name for themselves with high-end chipsets, a dedicated cooling fan and an air duct to allow heat to escape from the phone’s body in an extremely efficient manner when running intensive games.

The OPPO K13 Turbo and K13 Turbo Pro were launched at Rs 27,999 and Rs 37,999, respectively. With the festive season upon us, the standard OPPO K13 Turbo, which runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 8450, is now available for Rs 19,999 (without bank offers) on Flipkart, making it one of the most powerful phones in this range. Here’s everything it brings to the table for that price if you’re on the hunt for a performance-centric phone on a budget:

Gaming innards and aesthetics

As stated above, the OPPO K13 Turbo’s major highlight is undoubtedly its active cooling fan, which rotates at high speeds to cool down the processor when running intense tasks, such as gaming at 120FPS in supported games. Working in tandem with the fan is the cooling air duct that gathers heat from the rear panel of the K13 Turbo and dissipates it from the left side of the phone.

While one can manually toggle the fan anytime, the software has been tweaked in such a way that the fan can activate on its own when it detects high internal temperatures. Aiding the fan and air duct is the 7,000mm square vapour chamber VC, which is arguably the largest on a phone at around Rs 20,000. The larger the VC sheet, the quicker the phone cools down during excessive load.

With gamers specifically in mind, the OPPO K13 Turbo’s rear design features gamery aesthetics with elements that give a 3D-like appearance. It comes in Phantom Purple, Midnight Maverick (black), and White Knight colour shades.

How does the performance compare against phones under Rs 20,000?

With the MediaTek Dimensity 8450, the OPPO K13 Turbo presents itself as an extremely powerful phone for the offer price of Rs 19,999. In our review of the OPPO K13 Turbo, we stated, “the phone delivers a stable average of 115FPS over an hour, and the temperatures also remained quite stable when running BGMI at 120FPS. After 1.5 hours of BGMI and COD: Mobile gaming, the average temperature increase was just 2.5 degrees Celsius.”

In terms of raw performance and benchmark numbers, here’s how the OPPO K13 Turbo fares against phones under the Rs 20,000 segment that focus a bit on performance:

Furthermore, the 7,000mAh battery of the K13 Turbo lasted 12 hours and 21 minutes on a single charge in our in-house PCMark battery test, which runs casual and day-to-day tasks on the phone in a continuous manner till 20 percent battery remains on the phone. However, with the same battery capacity, the Realme P4 lasted over 17 hours in the same test. Since the OPPO handset bears a more powerful chipset and a 1.5K (vs 1080p on Realme P4) resolution display, it may not offer as great battery endurance as its lower-priced counterparts.

Should you buy the OPPO K13 Turbo?

As you can see from the gaming data, AnTuTu and Geekbench multi-core stats above, the OPPO K13 Turbo is your best bet if you’re looking for a phone that can keep up with your performance needs on a budget. While the Flipkart listing mentions a Rs 22,999 price for the ongoing Diwali sale, an instant Rs 3,000 coupon is applied when you add the phone to the cart. SBI debit and credit card holders can get an additional Rs 1,000 off, resulting in the final price of Rs 18,999.

If you value performance, an eye-turner design, and a large battery, the OPPO K13 Turbo under Rs 20,000 is a no-brainer deal. Gamers get 120FPS support for highly popular games like BGMI, COD: Mobile, and others for a smooth gaming experience that too consistently thanks to the cooling fan and large vapour chamber.

However, even at this price point, users may be left wanting more out of the cameras as the K13 Turbo’s 50MP primary camera lacks OIS and isn’t assisted by an ultra-wide or telephoto lens. That said, the cameras are competent enough to capture serviceable to good photo outputs, as we stated in our review.