Despite launching the previous generation at the start of the year, OPPO are back with a new Reno16 series. Announced last month, the Reno16 F and Reno16 Pro have hit Australian stores, so it’s time to take the Reno16 Pro for a spin.
The Reno16 series is creator focused, with OPPO stating the series offers ‘standout design, powerful cameras, expressive AI editing tools and long-lasting performance to make shooting, editing and sharing content feel effortless’.
Priced at $1,599, the Reno16 Pro offers just a little more hardware than it’s series-mate, the Reno16 F, adding in a higher-end MediaTek Dimensity processor with more memory and storage.
While the Reno16 Pro comes with a smaller display than the 16 F, it’s a more pixel dense display with a higher refresh rate. The phone also gets a higher-end 200MP main camera on the rear and some sad ouches. .
I’ve been using the Reno16 Pro for the last two weeks and here’s how it went.
Hardware
Design
The Reno16 Pro brings flagship level specs in a compact design using a smaller 6.32” AMOLED display which has a small, yet uniform bezel around the display.
The compact design makes it lovely to hold your hand. It’s lightweight, weighing in at just 185 grams, and small enough that I can reach up to hit the notification pane without stretching too much.
The phone comes in two colours: Starlight Black – which Oppo sent over for review, and their Pop White model, which includes a ‘3D Pop Planet Design’ that creates an eye-catching look, if you’re after something to stand out from the crowd.
The phone uses a lightweight aluminum frame with glass on the front and what feels like a composite plastic back. The rear doesn’t show up fingerprints which is a bonus – as there’s no free case included in the box.
Rather than a free case in the box, OPPO prices their Reno16 Pro Magnetic Case at $49. While the case includes the magnetic ring for attachments, the phone does NOT support wireless charging – but having a phone with a magnetic ring on it means you can use MagSafe holders and more – like the OPPO Bubble Mag E-Badge.
If you do want the case, it works quite well and fits snugly without being an issue to get on and off.
The volume rocker and power button remain on the left, with the addition of the ‘Snap Key’ on the right.
The ‘Snap Key’ adds a shortcut button – which OPPO would love for you to use AI to add to their AI Mind Space (more on this later), however you can also configure it to take a screenshot, photo, record a meeting and lots more – or just choose to have it do nothing.
I actually found the camera and torch to be great ways to make use of the key, if you can remember to use it.
The base of the phone includes your SIM tray with the USB-C port for charging and data transfer in the middle, and the downward firing speaker that pairs with the earpiece for stereo sound.
On the top of the phone, OPPO also still includes an IR Blaster on the top of their phones – something EVERY manufacturer should be doing. It’s small, yet convenient and you can add TVs, Fans, Air-Conditioners, motorised blinds and lots more.
Display and Audio
There’s a 6.32” AMOLED display in the Reno16 Pro. It’s a smaller display than the previous Reno15 Pro, which came with a 6.78” display, and it also loses the LTPO component – with the Reno16 Pro only able to step down to 60Hz, though the Reno16 Pro display can support up to 144Hz max refresh.
The higher 144Hz refresh is only supported by few publishers, with most opting to support 120Hz – there’s lists of games ‘supposed’ to support 144Hz out there, but games that do ACTUALLY support 144Hz are few and far between. The only game I could reliably get to show 144Hz was Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – and only after you delve into settings.
The Reno16 Pro comes with a peak brightness of 1800nits using High Brightness Mode – the same as the Reno15 Pro. It looks great outdoors, though the gloss reflection on the screen tends to be more of an issue.
There’s an in-display optical fingerprint scanner in the Reno16 Pro which works well, unlocking the phone almost instantly. I tend to prefer the Ultra-Sonic scanners which are usually faster, but for accuracy the optical works well here.
Performance and Connectivity
There’s an octa-core Mediatek Dimensity 8550 SUPER processor with 12GB DDR5 RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage running the Reno16 Pro.
It’s a good spec, and shows another differentiator between the Reno16 Pro and Reno16 F. The Reno16 Pro uses DDR5 memory, while the Reno16 F uses slower DDR4 RAM – a sign of the current state of affairs in the RAM/Memory market.
In terms of performance though, the Reno16 Pro is very good. The Mediatek Dimensity 8550processor handles everything you can throw at it with no hiccups while loading apps or multi-tasking.
As far as benchmarks go, here’s how it handled GeekBench and 3DMark:
Camera
On the connectivity side, the phone includes WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 for local connectivity. Moving further afield, the phone has dual-SIM capabilities and a “5G NR” (New Radio) modem in the phone capable of covering multiple 5G bands from sub-6GHz through mmWave – it means you’re able to connect to almost any network.
The Reno series phones from OPPO have had good cameras historically, and the Reno16 Pro doesn’t disappoint – though it appears nothing has changed from the Reno15 Pro camera setup.
The phone includes a 50MP selfie camera embedded in a punch hole notch in the display, while on the rear you get a fully featured triple camera array with a 200MP main sensor paired with a 50MP Ultra-Wide sensor with 116° field of view and a 50MP telephoto sensor with 3.5x optical zoom.
The main sensor takes a great shot in most lighting conditions,though low-light scenes are still a little behind some of the flagship models in terms of processing.
The ultrawide and zoom adds in a lot to the conversation, with the 50MP sensors able to capture a generous amount of light. The Telephoto works best within the optical zoom range, but can produce a nice crop at 120x.
Battery and Charging
OPPO includes a 6,000mAh LithiumIon battery in the Reno16 Pro, with support for 80W SuperVOOC wired – with no wireless charging support.
As far as battery goes, the 6,000mAh battery got me through a full day, even with heavy use with no issues.
On the charging front, the Reno16 is a rarity these days in that they STILL supply a charger (though frustratingly no TPU case), with an 80W SuperVOOC charger included in the box – Big Ups to OPPO on this one. Charging speeds are good, as you’d expect with SuperVOOC charging, getting the phone from flat to full in just under an hour – impressive no matter which way you look at it.
Software
Android and ColorOS 16
The Reno16 Pro runs ColorOS 16, based on Android 16 with the ColorOS 16.0.8 and the June 2026 security update pre-installed.
There’s currently no further updates, however OPPO has advised they have committed to five major OS updates and six years security updates across the Series.
ColorOS itself runs well, and has a lot of small touches that improve on the generic Android 16 experience, including an improved rendering engine that offers superior performance for app animations, and processing.
Pre-installed Apps
ColorOS comes pre-installed with a number of OPPO utilities essential to run the phone.
Anywhere from basic note-taking, calendar and file management to the Infrared Remote utility to run the IR Blaster.
What it also comes with social media apps including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, as well as other apps including Spotify, AliExpress, CapCut and Amazon pre-installed. There’s also Candy Crush and JigsawCard pre-installed.
As with all these third party apps, you can uninstall them, it’s just painful that you have to do so with a new phone.
AI
OPPO has included Google’s Gemini which brings options including Circle To Search, and AI powered editing tools in the Photos app, as well as baking AI into the OS at a core level. You can find all the OPPO AI features in Settings > OPPO AI. There’s a multitude of AI features, including AI Search, AI Writer, AI Translate and AI VoiceScribe.
There are also two tentpole AI features for OPPO though, Mind Space, a place to ‘capture, organize, and summarize on-screen text, links, voice memos, and images’, and Mind Pilot, OPPO’s AI Assistant – which can call on the likes of Gemini, Perplexity and ‘GPT Model’ – OPPO’s own in-house model – AndesGPT – that powers generative AI features in ColorOS.
Both work as advertised – how much you use them, is up to you.
Final Thoughts
For the $1,599 price tag, the Reno16 Pro brings a lot to the table.
The compact design feels fantastic in the hand with a premium fit and finish. It performs like a pro offering flagship performance, and includes impressive battery life with extremely fast charging, and photography that can compete with the best, all in a compact form-factor.
The software is excellent, with ColorOS offering some good inclusions over stock Android, and it’s supported for up to five years – which isn’t the longest support window out there, but it’s still a good option.
You can find the OPPO Reno16 Pro for $1,599 in Pop White and Starlight Black at JB Hi Fi, Officeworks, Harvey Norman, and OPPO Australia’s Online Store .
Daniel has been talking about, learning about and using tech since he was able to toggle switches and push buttons. If it flashes, turns on or off or connects he wants to use it, talk about it and learn more about it. Like this article? Buy me a coffee!
