realme 9 Pro review: A 5G upgrade with a color-changing back and a Snapdragon 695.
A budget phone with a party trick.
realme 9 Pro's photochromic Sunrise Blue was a genuine talking point — the back changed colour in sunlight — wrapped around a sensible Snapdragon 695 / 120 Hz / 5G mid-range package. The LCD and modest chip were the unavoidable price tag.
01Display
68/10068/100 is one of the weaker display results among mid-range phones of 2022 — 10 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
02Camera
64/10064/100 trails the 68-point cohort average for mid-range phones of 2022.
03Performance
58/10058/100 is one of the weaker performance results among mid-range phones of 2022 — 9 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
04Battery
78/10078/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2022.
05Build
70/10070/100 trails the 75-point cohort average for mid-range phones of 2022.
06Value
68/10068/100 trails the 72-point cohort average for mid-range phones of 2022.
- Photochromic colour-changing back — a genuine fashion novelty.
- 5G + 120 Hz + 64 MP at $280.
- 5,000 mAh + 33 W.
- Stereo + jack + microSD.
- Snapdragon 695 is modest.
- LCD, not AMOLED.
- 2 MP macro filler.
- realme UI ads.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 125-phone cohort of mid-range devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .