Realme P4 Pro review: smoothness backed by AI

• By G.S Vasan
Published On: 8 September 2025 | 11:15 IST

As Realme looks to streamline its smartphone lineup, the P-series continues to be one of the key pillars in its portfolio. The latest addition to this lineup is the Realme P4 series, and we have the Realme P4 Pro for review. It succeeds the Realme P3 Pro (review) in the midrange segment, bringing a mix of upgrades and a few compromises. Key highlights include the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset, a dedicated graphics chip called Hyper Vision AI, an ultrawide rear camera, the segment’s brightest AMOLED panel with 144Hz refresh rate and 1.5K resolution, a 50MP front camera, 4K60 rear video recording, and a 7,000mAh battery. We’ll see how these features perform in real-world use and how good a phone it is, especially compared to the OnePlus Nord CE 5 (review) and the Nothing Phone 3a (review).

Now, on to the Realme P4 Pro review.

Short verdict

Realme P4 Pro packs a 144Hz AMOLED display, Hyper Vision AI chip for 144 FPS gaming, Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, and a 7,000mAh battery with 80W charging. It is slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, with solid cameras and a distinct design. Tradeoffs include average audio and shorter software support than rivals. Despite that, it’s a strong pick for those prioritising gaming and battery endurance, and the rest of the package is also respectable.

Distinct looks, slim and light build

Realme P4 Pro comes in three colours, viz., dark greyish green, dark teal blue, and light beige. The latter two have a faux wooden texture. Our beige review unit, lent to us by the brand, feels nice in hand, thanks to its smooth back panel, a 7.69mm slim frame, and lightweight build (189 grams). It is slimmer and lighter than the Realme P3 Pro. The rear panel combines the strength of plastic with the clarity and surface hardness of acrylic. The phone’s back and front have subtle curves by the edges, and the surrounding frame is flat.

The rear camera panel resembles the rumoured iPhone 17 Pro camera layout, which is fine, but it is a separate unit with a contrasting chrome finish that feels out of place. The glossy surface doesn’t match the matte side frame, which breaks the overall harmony. On the positive side, the phone stays stable on flat surfaces, and the camera bump makes it easier to grip.

The volume rocker and the power button on the right side are easy to reach and are quite clicky. The bottom edge has the SIM tray, a mic, a USB-C port, and a speaker grille. The top side also houses mics. The phone has an IR blaster, placed within one of the rear camera rings.

Another thing about the P4 Pro design you should know is that the phone is IP65/IP66 rated for dust and water resistance. Compared to the IP68+IP69 rating of the predecessor, the newcomer can withstand high-pressure water splash/spray only, not immersion. But notably, the competing OnePlus and Nothing phones don’t offer any better.

So, Realme P4 Pro looks premium and slim with IP65/66 protection, but the glossy camera module feels mismatched against its matte frame. Let’s now check out the display.

Beautiful screen, average sound

While its competitors, the Nothing Phone 3a and OnePlus Nord CE 5, offer flat displays, Realme has used a quad-curved panel. This design choice will appeal to some users and not to others, making it a matter of personal preference.

At 6.8 inches, the Realme P4 Pro’s AMOLED screen is close to the size of its two key rivals. Thanks to very slim bezels on all sides, the Realme phone offers a higher screen-to-body ratio of 94 percent, while Nord offers 89.7 percent, and Phone 3a offers 88 percent.

Like the competitors mentioned above, Realme’s panel sports FHD+ resolution, 1 billion colours, and HDR10+ support, and the colours seem natural to the eye. I watched a few episodes of FRIENDS S01 and a new movie called My Oxford Years on Netflix, and the experience was good. The phone offers Widevine L1 and HDR10-HEVC support on Netflix.

You can play YouTube videos up to 2160p60 HDR on this screen. In our in-house YouTube video playback test, the Realme panel fared well with decent colours, contrast, and sharpness. It is better than the Nothing Phone 3a panel but not as good as the one on the OnePlus Nord CE 5.

Where it stands out is the refresh rate. While most competitors stick to 120Hz, this panel goes up to 144Hz. Realme says over 100 games can run at 144Hz, including BGMI as a key highlight. We tested this out, and you can read about it in the performance section below.

In terms of brightness too, the phone excels. It is plenty bright both indoors and outdoors. And if you enable the Extra Brightness option, that takes the typical brightness to 1000 nits, outshining the aforementioned competitors.

As for sound, the dual-speaker setup on the Realme phone is decently loud but lacks depth. When playing ‘Hear Me Now’ by Spinnin’ Records on YouTube, the Nothing Phone delivered better bass and a fuller sound. Still, I prefer the output from Realme over the OnePlus phone.

So, Realme P4 Pro impresses with a bright 144Hz quad-curved AMOLED display, though sound from dual speakers could have been better. The good thing is that Realme offers AI-based audiovisual enhancements, which we will discuss in a later stage.

Dependable cameras

The Realme P4 Pro uses the same 50MP Sony IMX896 sensor for its main rear camera. It supports OIS and records videos at up to 4K 60fps. The photos from the main rear camera can be shot in Vibrant or Crispy mode, with the latter offering more natural tones. We kept it on the default Vibrant mode. The other cameras include the 8MP ultrawide lens and the 50MP Omnivision OV50D front camera.

Now, let’s see how the phone performs under different scenarios, and for better contrast, we have taken the same shots from the OnePlus Nord CE 5, which has a 50MP main camera and an 8MP ultrawide at the back and a 16MP selfie shooter.

Daylight

The details are similarly sharp on both phones. While the colours are vibrant on the Realme, they look more natural on the Nord since it was an overcast day. The overall image is better exposed and offers better details in shadows and highlights on the Realme shot. Look at the plant pots on the left and right edges of both images.

Ultrawide

Realme maintains consistent colours, exposure, and contrast between the ultrawide and regular daylight shots. The OnePlus does a shoddy job at this.

Portrait

Again, on an overcast day, photos shot using the Nord seem more accurate than those from the Realme phone. When I zoom in, I can see the Nord portrait has more details, closer to real skin tones, and even edge detection and bokeh effect are done better.

Selfie

These shots were taken on a different day under sunny conditions. The P4 Pro selfie shows more detail and slightly better dynamic range. In the OnePlus shot, the truck in the background appears unnaturally close to the subject, while the Realme photo handles this better. OnePlus does recreate the colours and skin tone better.

Low-light, Night mode

In low-light mode, both phones produce comparable details. But the Realme P4 Pro is better in colours and exposure handling. But when I used night mode, the results from the Realme shot came out marginally better in all these aspects.

Videos

Realme’s rear camera can shoot 4K60 FPS videos with vibrant colours, but it shows more noise, weaker dynamic range, and occasional focus issues in low light compared to the Nord CE5. The front camera on the Realme also supports 4K60 FPS recording, but the footage looks less sharp and has poorer exposure control and dynamic range than the Nord CE5’s 1080p 60 FPS front camera video.

So, both the front and rear cameras on the Realme P4 Pro capture detailed, well-exposed, and vibrant images. You can switch to Crispy mode for more natural colours, but it can look dull in poor lighting. Vibrant mode delivers more visually appealing results. Overall, the Realme P4 Pro has a slight edge over the Nord in most scenarios. However, the Nord performs better in portraits and has superior video quality from both the front and rear cameras.

Reliable chip

Realme has equipped the P4 Pro with a 4nm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 SoC featuring Cortex A720 and Cortex A520 cores, clocked at 2.8GHz. This is coupled with Adreno GPU (at 1150MHz), Hyper Vision AI chip (more on this shortly), 8/12GB of LPDDR4x RAM, and 256/512GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

The company claims an AnTuTu score of over 11,10,000 with this chip, and has compared it to the Nothing 3a powered by Snapdragon 7s Gen 3. We’ve also included the Nothing phone in our comparison, alongside the OnePlus Nord CE5 with MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex SoC. The OnePlus phone has better memory standards (LPDDR5x RAM and UFS 3.1 ROM) than the other two.

Here’s how the three phones compare in our in-house benchmark tests:

AnTuTu score

OnePlus Nord CE 5 5G

MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex

1,402,278

realme P4 Pro

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4

1,088,192

Nothing Phone 3a

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3

798,022

AnTuTu assesses a smartphone's CPU, GPU, memory, and overall user experience (higher is better)

Realme outperforms the Nothing Phone 3a in our AnTuTu test, but can’t hold a candle to the Nord CE5. The Nord’s chip is faster and also has better memory bandwidth and GPU speeds.

Geekbench multi-core score

OnePlus Nord CE 5 5G

MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex

4,092

realme P4 Pro

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4

3,556

Nothing Phone 3a

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3

3,311

Geekbench assesses the efficiency of the CPU's single and multiple cores (higher is better)

The Geekbench multi-core results show a similar trend: OnePlus Nord CE5 leads, followed by Realme P4 Pro, and then Nothing Phone 3a.

Where Realme wins is in sustaining performance under stress, thanks to the very stable Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 SoC. You can check out our Burnout test results for reference:

Burnout Score

realme P4 Pro

60.7%

OnePlus Nord CE 5 5G

58.4%

Nothing Phone 3a

51.2%

Burnout assesses CPU throttling and sustained performance under heavy load (higher is better)

Realme P4 Pro is said to be the segment’s only P-series phone with a dedicated graphics chip called Hyper Vision AI. It is integrated on the motherboard near the main SoC, RAM, and storage. The chip works alongside the SoC to handle specific tasks such as gaming graphics and display visuals in select apps. To see the dedicated chip in action, you can turn on toggles like AI Hyper Clarity, AI Always-on HDR, and AI Hyper Motion in the Display & Brightness settings.

Or while playing videos in JioHotstar or YouTube, you can find the Hyper Vision AI toggle in the sidebar that enables all three enhancements together. This causes unnaturally smooth visuals, also called the Soap Opera Effect. It doesn’t seem to help in detail, though. Rather, the HDR upscaling may cause the scene to look darker. While Hyper Vision AI is toggled, Cinema Sound mode is enabled, but I didn’t notice any difference in sound quality.

Now, compared to the iQOO Neo 10 (launch price: Rs 31,999), with a similar dedicated accelerator (named Supercomputing Chip Q1) and AI features, the Realme offers more notable enhancements. Also, Realme gives easier access to these toggles in the sidebar, which iQOO doesn’t.

In games, too, you can benefit from the Hyper Vision AI Chip. By default, in a high-end game like BGMI, you can enjoy Smooth graphics and an Extreme+ frame rate. Meanwhile, the Nothing Phone 3a supports up to Max graphics and Max FPS only, and the OnePlus Nord CE5 supports up to HDR graphics and Extreme+ frame rate.

Extreme+ allows the best possible frame rate. While playing BGMI on Realme P4 Pro, we could get up to 144Hz with the following settings on: Screen Refresh Rate set to High in Display settings, GT Mode, AI Hyper Motion, and Boost Frame Rate (from in-app sidebar). The experience was buttery smooth. However, the device gets warm, even in an air-conditioned room.

The Realme P4 Pro runs notably warmer than the Nord CE5 and slightly more Nothing Phone 3a too in gaming thermals. The phone’s cooling system, a 7000mm² vapour chamber, isn’t keeping the temperature under check during extended sessions, especially compared to the Nord CE5.

On the whole, Realme P4 Pro offers smooth, sustained performance with gaming perks like 144 FPS on BGMI, but it still lags behind the Nord CE5 in raw benchmark scores and memory speed. The smoothness carries over to everyday use, including scrolling and UI animations. More on this in the next section.

More AI, more utilities

Realme P4 Pro runs on Android 15-based Realme UI 6.0. This is brimming with features. Go to the phone settings and you’d come across an abundance of toggles like the AI Hyper Motion, Heart Rate Measurement, Shelf on the right swipe from the home screen, Live Alerts for real-time updates on the notification drawer and status bar (like Dynamic Island), Smart Sidebar, and AI Smart Loop for quickly sharing onscreen content to relevant platforms.

In total, the Realme UI includes 59 preinstalled apps, which is much higher than the 27 apps on the Phone 3a and a few more than the 54 apps on Nord CE5. While some of these apps and features are useful to me, others, like Glance and Global Search, aren’t. Gladly, you can disable what you don’t want.

AI features make the experience more versatile. You can edit photos faster with tools like Edit Genie, erase distractions with AI Eraser, and fix blurry shots using AI Unblur. AI Ultra Clarity helps keep details sharp. Beyond photography, features like AI Gaming Coach can improve gameplay with relevant guides and alerts, while AI Smart Loop can ease multitasking, and Gemini is the ever-so-reliable and handy AI chatbot. These AI features make the device feel smarter and more helpful.

In the upcoming updates, the UI could be refined with more such features. Realme is offering three OS upgrades and four years of security patches. This is good, but could have been better considering Nord CE5 gets four OS updates plus six security updates, and Nothing also gives its Phone 3a users three OS upgrades and six security patches.

All in all, you get a feature-rich and smooth experience, though it includes more preinstalled apps and a shorter update policy than some competitors.

Long battery life, really fast charging

Powering all the above features is a 7,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging speed. The Nord CE5 has a tad bigger battery at 7,100mAh and the same 80W charging support. The Phone 3a has a smaller 5,000mAh cell and slower 50W charging.

PCMark Battery score (in hours)

realme P4 Pro

7000 mAh

17.3

OnePlus Nord CE 5 5G

7100 mAh

16.5

Nothing Phone 3a

5000 mAh

14.0

PCMark battery test measures phone battery life from 100% to 20% (higher is better)

Interestingly, the Realme P4 Pro lasted longer than both the Nord CE5 and Phone 3a in our PCMark battery test. But, in 30-minute tests for YouTube playback and gaming, its performance was mixed. For light use and video, it holds up well, but the Nord CE5 is better. In heavy games like Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI, too, it consumes more battery than the Nord CE5, while in Real Racing 3, it matches the Nord’s efficiency.

Notably, the Realme P4 Pro charges the fastest among the three. It went from 20 to 100 percent in 43 minutes, compared to 47 minutes for the Nord CE5 and 52 minutes for the Nothing Phone 3a..

So, overall, the P4 Pro has a massive battery, but it trades some battery life for smooth performance, especially in high-intensity games. However, its fast charging helps balance that trade-off.

Final verdict: more features, fewer compromises

Realme P4 Pro stands out in the midrange segment with features that feel ambitious for its price. It brings a bright 144Hz AMOLED display, a Hyper Vision AI graphics chip with gaming perks like 144 FPS on BGMI, and a large 7,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 SoC delivers stable performance, the UI is feature-rich, and the cameras are capable enough to make the phone worth considering. The design is also very distinct, and is lighter and thinner than the predecessor.

There are some trade-offs, though. The glossy camera module feels mismatched against the sober finish of the back panel. The IP65/66 rating is lower than the predecessor’s IP68/IP69 protection, but rivals do not offer better protection either. Additionally, audio from the P4 Pro and its software update policy falls slightly behind rivals like the OnePlus Nord CE5 and Nothing Phone 3a. The Nord CE5 also outperforms the P4 Pro in raw power, portrait quality, audio, and video recording. Meanwhile, the Phone 3a offers a cleaner UI, a fuller sound and a unique design, though it falls short in most performance metrics.

So, all things considered, the Realme P4 Pro remains a compelling option for those who value a premium curved display, smooth gaming performance, a big battery, and fast charging in a single package. If you are interested, the base price is Rs 24,999, and you can check it out via Flipkart and Realme.com.

Editor’s rating: 7.9 / 10

Reasons to buy:

• Big bright 144Hz quad-curved AMOLED display with 1.5K resolution and HDR10+ support
• Large 7,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging
• Smooth gaming performance with Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, Hyper Vision AI chip, and 144 FPS support in BGMI
• AI-driven features like AI Hyper Motion, AI Clarity, AI Eraser, and Edit Genie for photos and multitasking
• Good main and selfie cameras with strong low-light performance
• Slim, lightweight design with a distinct look

Reasons not to buy:

• Speaker output lacks bass or depth
• Falls short in benchmark scores, video recording quality, and heat management