Like all good smartphone manufacturers, OPPO has its flagship devices (the Find X series), which are among the best on the market, but it also has a more affordable “mid-range” series, the Reno.
This year, they released the Reno15 Series, hoping to once again be one of their best-selling ranges. We recently reviewed the Reno15 F, the series’ most affordable phone ($679), and were impressed with what OPPO offered for such a low price.
OPPO also sent us the Reno15 Pro, and after using it for the last couple of weeks, I can comfortably say that it is just as impressive a device as any of their other Reno devices have been in the past. At more than double the price of the Reno15 F, it would want to be, and it is debatable whether its $1,399 price is mid-range – it is a stretch in my opinion.
With that price, it is getting towards the flagship products of manufacturers that may be more than six months old but still not out of date, and as such had better be impressive to make its mark on the Australian smartphone scene.
Read on to hear my thoughts on whether or not it was able to live up to the ambitious price.
The OPPO Reno15 Pro is an impressive-looking device, even in the strange Dusk Black that they sent us – I would call it more of a brown but someone somewhere thinks it is black so… *shrug* The Reno15 Pro is also available in an “Aurora Blue,” a great option for those who like colourful phones.
The rear of the device is “sculpted from a single piece of glass – it is a matte, frosted type of glass finish though, so it is not a fingerprint magnet, which is nice.
The phone features an aluminium frame and IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings for dust- and waterproofing. The ratings are such that OPPO even say that you can “capture crisp photos and beneath the surface of fresh water.” To do so, you will need to select “UNDERWATER” in the camera app for the photos and videos to be decent.
The camera island on the rear is very iPhone-like, though it has a nice cursive ‘Reno’ on it, making it distinctive OPPO.
The Reno15 Pro is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 8450, 12GB of RAM, and a choice of 256GB or 512GB of onboard storage. In the past, we may have been unimpressed with the choice of a Mediatek chipset but those times are long gone. The Mediatek chipset in this phone is not quite at the Find X9 Pro levels but it is still extremely capable.
I am not a fan of running benchmarks because, first, some companies cheat the benchmarks, and second, they often don’t provide a true indication of how a device performs in real-world scenarios. So, instead I use the phone as I normally would, play a few games, surf the web, watch a few videos etc.
My result? No dramas. No stuttering, no slowdowns, no slowness opening apps. Everything was good. It doesn’t have the buttery smoothness of a Pixel flagship, the speed of a Find X9 Pro, but it does what it does well, and still at a speed that you don’t notice it.
One major addition on nearly all OPPO smartphones is an IR Blaster. EVERY smartphone should have this, as it is surely no big deal to add it. OPPO’s implementation is excellent. Set up of the device is super simple and takes all of a minute, and from then on you can use your phone to control your devices such as TV, speakers, Google TV etc.
Kudos to OPPO for continuing to include this and double kudos for having it work so well, so easily.
This time, OPPO has included a clear TPU case for the phone – I’m not sure why they stopped including one with some phones, but it’s in the box. Fits well and allows you to see the full OPPO colouring and design underneath, so I’m a fan. For such a small cost, it’s a nice touch.
All in all, the hardware on the Reno15 Pro feels incredibly premium, with a very similar feel and design language to the Pixel smartphones these days. Mid-range no longer means cheap and nasty build quality.
OPPO has had great displays in its smartphones for a while now and the Reno15 Pro is no different. The 6.32-inch 120Hz AMOLED display is bright, crisp and colourful and at a resolution of 2640 x 1216 (460 PPI) you can be sure you won’t miss anything.
The max brightness of the display is 3600 nits and I found it to be bright enough to read outside in bright sunlight without any issues. What more do you need?
Underneath the display is an optical under-screen fingerprint sensor. It sits a long way down towards the bottom of the display which is different to my Pixel 10 Pro, so it took a while to get used to where it was. The speed and accuracy of the sensor is excellent though, as is the face unlock but more on that below.
The OPPO Reno15 Pro features a triple rear camera, including a 200MP main camera, a 50MP ultrawide camera, and a 50MP telephoto camera. Impressive specs that make it seem as good as a true flagship camera system but how did it fare in the real world?
Here are a few samples I was able to obtain:
The images are quite good and for most folks you won’t be able to notice a difference between this smartphone and a
I am not a fan of running benchmarks because, first, some companies cheat the benchmarks, and second, they often don’t provide a true indication of how a device performs in real-world scenarios. So, instead I use the phone as I normally would, play a few games, surf the web, watch a few videos etc.
My result? No dramas. No stuttering, no slowdowns, no slowness opening apps. Everything was good. It doesn’t have the buttery smoothness of a Pixel flagship, the speed of a Find X9 Pro, but it does what it does well, and still at a speed that you don’t notice it.
One major addition on nearly all OPPO smartphones is an IR Blaster. EVERY smartphone should have this, as it is surely no big deal to add it. OPPO’s implementation is excellent. Set up of the device is super simple and takes all of a minute, and from then on you can use your phone to control your devices such as TV, speakers, Google TV etc.
Kudos to OPPO for continuing to include this and double kudos for having it work so well, so easily.
This time, OPPO has included a clear TPU case for the phone – I’m not sure why they stopped including one with some phones, but it’s in the box. Fits well and allows you to see the full OPPO colouring and design underneath, so I’m a fan. For such a small cost, it’s a nice touch.
All in all, the hardware on the Reno15 Pro feels incredibly premium, with a very similar feel and design language to the Pixel smartphones these days. Mid-range no longer means cheap and nasty build quality.
OPPO has had great displays in its smartphones for a while now and the Reno15 Pro is no different. The 6.32-inch 120Hz AMOLED display is bright, crisp and colourful and at a resolution of 2640 x 1216 (460 PPI) you can be sure you won’t miss anything.
The max brightness of the display is 3600 nits and I found it to be bright enough to read outside in bright sunlight without any issues. What more do you need?
Underneath the display is an optical under-screen fingerprint sensor. It sits a long way down towards the bottom of the display which is different to my Pixel 10 Pro, so it took a while to get used to where it was. The speed and accuracy of the sensor is excellent though, as is the face unlock but more on that below.
The OPPO Reno15 Pro features a triple rear camera, including a 200MP main camera, a 50MP ultrawide camera, and a 50MP telephoto camera. Impressive specs that make it seem as good as a true flagship camera system but how did it fare in the real world?
Here are a few samples I was able to obtain:
The images are quite good and for most folks you won’t be able to notice a difference between this smartphone and a $2,000 flagship. It has some impressive cmaera specs as it is so it is not a surprise that it is no slouch in the photography department.
As with so many other companies, OPPO seems hell-bent on shoving AI down our throats. In the end, it is really just software, but everything is labelled AI. Here’s a list of the camera AI software included:
While they work well, they’ve been around for a while and are not earth-shattering. They are pretty much what everyone else is doing, so you don’t miss out on any of these Gallery gimmicks if you go with an OPPO device. They all seem to be derivatives of what Google has implemented with Gemini….
The Reno15 Pro 5G features a flagship-level 50MP Ultra Wide Selfie Camera. Its expansive 100° field of view (FOV) allows you to effortlessly fit a group of friends or magnificent landscapes into the shot, effectively eliminating the need for a selfie stick.
ColorOS
ColorOS is good enough these days that it doesn’t get in the way like it used to. It has some really good additions that can really make your life a lot easier.
They have implemented their open dynamic island, Aqua Dynamics, which includes some great little interfaces to quickly interact with apps such as the torch app, your media player, and more.
There are all their other little tweaks, such as fingerprint animations, quick gestures when the display is off, quick launch when unlocking your device, a smart sidebar for quick access to your most-used apps, and more.
Bloatware
I thought these days were behind us, but OPPO does include some pre-installed apps, such as Booking.com and TikTok, which, although annoying and really should be installed by a manufacturer, can be uninstalled. OPPO, you are bigger and better, than this, stop doing it, please.
AI is everywhere
AI appears in many more places than just the camera and the Photos app. It seems like OPPO has called everything AI.
I’ve said it every single time I’ve reviewed an OPPO smartphone. They have the best smartphone wired charging solution of anyone on the market. The Reno15 Pro is no different with its SUPERVOOC charger capable of charging the 6200mAh battery at 80W speeds.
That means you can charge the phone from empty to nearly full in just under an hour. Tested out, I charged the phone from 15% to around 80% in just over 30 minutes. I love having that safety net of the ultra-fast charging, should it be required at any time.
Battery-wise, I easily got a full day and a half of use out of a single charge, and that’s all we really should expect.
The OPPO Reno15 Pro is not cheap and is no longer a mid-range phone, although that could mean we need to adjust our scale of what is mid-range — especially given the rising costs of computer components, etc. At RRP $1,399 it is not cheap but it is also not at the price of fully fledged flagship devices.
So what do you get for your $1,399? You get a phone that is speedy without being lightning-fast, and you never notice any slowdowns while using it. You get a near flagship-quality camera with high-end specs. You get an extremely well-made, well-designed, stylish and good-looking smartphone. You get close to the fastest charging of any smartphone on the Australian market. What more do you actually need?
I came away from my Reno15 Pro review impressed with the phone. It is probably out of reach of many folks at that price but for those who want a phone that gives you near flagship-quality at nowhere near flagship price, then you should be looking at this. Those who want a true mid-range, affordable smartphone with more bang for their buck should consider the younger sibling, the Reno15F at $679
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
As with so many other companies, OPPO seems hell-bent on shoving AI down our throats. In the end, it is really just software, but everything is labelled AI. Here’s a list of the camera AI software included:
While they work well, they’ve been around for a while and are not earth-shattering. They are pretty much what everyone else is doing, so you don’t miss out on any of these Gallery gimmicks if you go with an OPPO device. They all seem to be derivatives of what Google has implemented with Gemini….
The Reno15 Pro 5G features a flagship-level 50MP Ultra Wide Selfie Camera. Its expansive 100° field of view (FOV) allows you to effortlessly fit a group of friends or magnificent landscapes into the shot, effectively eliminating the need for a selfie stick.
ColorOS
ColorOS is good enough these days that it doesn’t get in the way like it used to. It has some really good additions that can really make your life a lot easier.
They have implemented their open dynamic island, Aqua Dynamics, which includes some great little interfaces to quickly interact with apps such as the torch app, your media player, and more.
There are all their other little tweaks, such as fingerprint animations, quick gestures when the display is off, quick launch when unlocking your device, a smart sidebar for quick access to your most-used apps, and more.
Bloatware
I thought these days were behind us, but OPPO does include some pre-installed apps, such as Booking.com and TikTok, which, although annoying and really should be installed by a manufacturer, can be uninstalled. OPPO, you are bigger and better, than this, stop doing it, please.
AI is everywhere
AI appears in many more places than just the camera and the Photos app. It seems like OPPO has called everything AI.
I’ve said it every single time I’ve reviewed an OPPO smartphone. They have the best smartphone wired charging solution of anyone on the market. The Reno15 Pro is no different with its SUPERVOOC charger capable of charging the 6200mAh battery at 80W speeds.
That means you can charge the phone from empty to nearly full in just under an hour. Tested out, I charged the phone from 15% to around 80% in just over 30 minutes. I love having that safety net of the ultra-fast charging, should it be required at any time.
Battery-wise, I easily got a full day and a half of use out of a single charge, and that’s all we really should expect.
The OPPO Reno15 Pro is not cheap and is no longer a mid-range phone, although that could mean we need to adjust our scale of what is mid-range — especially given the rising costs of computer components, etc. At RRP
So what do you get for your
I came away from my Reno15 Pro review impressed with the phone. It is probably out of reach of many folks at that price but for those who want a phone that gives you near flagship-quality at nowhere near flagship price, then you should be looking at this. Those who want a true mid-range, affordable smartphone with more bang for their buck should consider the younger sibling, the Reno15F at 9
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
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