Imaging goes beyond just specs to focus on features.

In November last year, the OPPO Reno15 series was released. At the time, we considered it a fairly versatile small-screen phone, although its chipset performance was slightly lacking. Half a year later, the Reno series has been updated again, with the new Reno16 series making its debut.

Leitech (ID: leitech) has gotten its hands on the OPPO Reno16 Pro. Compared to its predecessor, its chipset has been upgraded to Dimensity 9500s, offering significant performance improvements and a richer set of imaging features. After several days of use, it's time to share our experience with everyone.

(Image source: Leitech)

The overall design of the OPPO Reno16 Pro remains largely unchanged, appearing at first glance to simply have moved the position of the camera module compared to the Reno15 series. However, OPPO has introduced new design elements on the back cover. The model we have is the main "Heartthrob" color option. The back cover of this phone is still made of glossy glass, but the lower half features a 3D floating pattern.

Specifically, this is a starry sky concept design with a sparkling starlight effect underneath, creating the illusion of a matte material. The highlight of the pattern is the star trail design, which has a strong 3D effect, making it look as if the pattern jumps out of the phone's surface. It must be said that phones have reached new heights in terms of design competition. The OPPO Reno16 Pro differentiates itself in an unexpected way.

(Image source: Leitech)

On the front, the phone features a full-screen display with a centered punch-hole camera. The main highlight is its very narrow bezels, providing an excellent visual experience. In our previous review of the Reno15, we criticized its bezel control. Now, the Reno16 Pro has improved in this aspect, marking a detail-oriented progress.

(Image source: Leitech)

Additionally, its mid-frame is made of metal, offering a great feel. Slightly regrettable is the presence of a plastic frame between the bezel and the screen, although it is not very noticeable.

Overall, the OPPO Reno16 Pro is quite attractive, featuring ultra-narrow bezels on the front and a 3D floating design on the back, resulting in an excellent overall feel. As a model aimed at offline channels, its outstanding appearance can easily attract users at first glance.

As we mentioned at the beginning, the OPPO Reno16 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9500s chipset. This chipset is positioned as a near-flagship, one tier higher than the Dimensity 8 series and slightly weaker than the Dimensity 9500.

First, let's look at the benchmark scores. In the AnTuTu test, it scored 2.76 million, basically surpassing mainstream flagship phones released last year and only trailing behind a few flagship models in this year's performance rankings.

(Image source: Leitech)

In terms of configuration, this phone has another less noticeable upgrade: its flash memory has been upgraded from UFS 3.1 to UFS 4.1. Given the soaring prices of storage, this is quite a considerate move.

In the AndroBench test, its sequential read and write speeds both reached around 2000MB/s, and its random read and write speeds were also strong, with read speeds exceeding 300MB/s and write speeds reaching 84MB/s.

(Image source: Leitech)

Of course, actual performance depends on real-world gaming tests. The first game tested was Genshin Impact. MediaTek stated when releasing the Dimensity 9500s that it could run Genshin Impact at a full 60 frames per second.

In our tests, with high frame rate mode enabled, the Reno16 Pro averaged 89 frames per second, with a minimum of 50 frames per second. The gameplay felt very smooth. Moreover, its maximum temperature was only 39.2°C, indicating the effectiveness of TSMC's 3nm process.

(Image source: Leitech)

However, it must be said that while the metal mid-frame of the Reno16 Pro conducts heat well, it also results in noticeable heat sensation. Playing high-load games for extended periods can make the hands slightly uncomfortable.

The smartphone industry has been focusing on imaging capabilities for many years, typically emphasizing hardware specifications and software algorithms. The OPPO Reno16 Pro takes a slightly different approach by focusing on imaging features that are more user-friendly and accessible for beginners. Additionally, it includes many popular camera features such as film camera and live stickers.

Let's briefly introduce the Reno16 Pro's camera setup. It features a triple-camera combination: a 200MP main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide camera, and a 50MP periscope telephoto camera (3.5x optical zoom). The range of focal lengths is quite comprehensive, which is quite surprising for a non-top-tier flagship phone.

(Image source: Leitech)

For everyday photography, this phone continues OPPO's consistent performance in the imaging field, delivering stable results with good color reproduction, resolution, and imaging speed, among other aspects.

(Image source: Leitech)

To highlight the selling point of the 200MP camera, a "High Pixel" mode is included in the camera. However, in terms of actual results, we still hold our previous view—form over substance. The 200MP mode puts significant pressure on the camera's performance, requiring more time for imaging and giving a sense of lag.

In terms of imaging results, the overall performance is not significantly different from the 50MP mode. Moreover, viewing and zooming in on 200MP photos can also feel laggy, with a rendering process that transitions from blurry to clear. Overall, the experience is just average.

(Image source: Leitech)

Personally, I feel that the most practical use for the Reno16 Pro's 200MP main camera is for 2x zoom photography. Due to its high pixel count, it still delivers excellent results when used for 2x cropping, filling the gap between 1x and 3.5x zoom.

Additionally, the periscope telephoto camera on this phone performs well. At 3.5x optical zoom, the phone essentially becomes a small telescope, capturing distant scenes clearly with good image quality. The camera also offers 7x zoom, which is achieved through cropping with the telephoto lens, delivering similarly good results and making it practical for everyday long-distance photography.

(Image source: Leitech)

When the focal length is adjusted to 10x, 30x, or even 120x, it is purely digital zoom combined with AI algorithms, which is not very practical. When I tried to use it to photograph a distant drink bottle, I found that the words "Net Content" could barely be made out, while the ingredients list was completely "optimized" into blocks.

(Image source: Leitech)

Portrait photography has always been OPPO's forte, and our tests confirmed this. In the sample photos, the background blurring effect is excellent. Upon closer inspection, you can see that individual strands of hair are accurately separated.

(Image source: Leitech)

Additionally, in portrait photos, skin tones appear very natural without excessive beautification. As a core aspect of smartphone imaging, OPPO demonstrates deep expertise in this area, handling it very well.

(Image source: Leitech)

The OPPO Reno16 Pro includes a built-in POP Camera feature, which is further divided into nearly 10 modes such as Instax Film, CCD, Light Leak Film, and NC Film, covering all current retro photography styles. The actual shooting results are quite good, allowing users to easily capture film-like photos with a strong sense of nostalgia.

(Image source: Leitech)

More importantly, this shooting method requires almost no post-processing work—no need to apply filters or add borders. Photos can be directly shared on social media or platforms like Xiaohongshu, with virtually no learning curve.

Interestingly, film photos can also enable Live mode, where elements in a retro-style photo suddenly come to life, creating a fascinating effect.

(Image source: Leitech)

The previous "Live Collage" feature on OPPO phones has now been further upgraded to "Live Stickers," allowing users to add up to 9 static stickers and 5 dynamic stickers. The key technology behind this feature is AI image segmentation, which can accurately extract various elements such as people, animals, buildings, and food, allowing users to freely resize, arrange, and combine them.

Moreover, these stickers can be in Live format, meaning each added pattern can move and can be saved as a video or GIF with a single click, making it very convenient to use.

(Image source: Leitech)

Based on these interesting features, users can create various engaging works of their own. When I introduced this feature to my colleagues in the office, they were all very interested and couldn't stop playing with it, unanimously considering it the most novel feature of this phone.

The Reno series is arguably OPPO's most successful product line. While the Find X series undoubtedly represents OPPO's highest-end and most technologically advanced offerings, the Reno series has consistently been the main driver of sales, firmly capturing the hearts of offline users.

As indicated by the number in its name, the Reno16 Pro has now reached its 16th iteration. OPPO has become highly skilled in handling the Reno series, effortlessly creating product selling points.

(Image source: Leitech)

Regarding the OPPO Reno16 Pro, we believe that after addressing its minor performance shortcomings, it has become a well-rounded, solid product. Additionally, its expansion of imaging features represents a relatively breakthrough selling point. It is evident that OPPO has accurately identified the needs of its target users, with features like the film camera and live collage being well-received on social media platforms.

It is foreseeable that when OPPO heavily promotes these features as core selling points, it will undoubtedly attract a significant number of interested users. The OPPO Reno16 Pro will be released on the evening of May 25, so those interested should stay tuned.

Following tradition, let's summarize the pros and cons of this phone.

Pros:

1. Highly attractive and distinctive design

2. Rich camera features with a low learning curve

Cons:

1. Noticeable heat on the mid-frame during high-load gaming scenarios

OPPO Reno16 Dimensity 9500s

Source: Leitech

Images in this article are from the 123RF licensed image library. Source: Leitech