Every product we review or recommend is thoroughly tested by our in-house experts in real-world conditions, following our
review methodology
and
ethics statement
to ensure honest, independent, and data-driven results.
This phone belongs in Hogwarts. | Image by PhoneArena
It's been roughly three decades since J. K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book rolled out of the presses, and the franchise has been literally printing money ever since. After seven books in total for the main, eight movies, and an upcoming TV show reboot over at HBO, the Harry Potter franchise is one of the most influential intellectual properties worldwide.
Insightfully realizing that, Oppo-backed Realme announced a special, Harry Potter-themed version of its Realme 16 Pro phone with the hope to marry the world of wizardry and magic with the great value of a mid-range device.
And I have to come clean, I was a sucker for anything Harry Potter-related in the early 2000s, but a lot of time has passed since then, and I'm now what's best described as a middle-aged Muggle.
Could something as the Realme 16 Pro Harry Potter Edition rekindle that childish joy for the Wizarding world?
Well, almost. The magic is there, but Muggle hardware holds everything back.
A breathtaking presentation that immerses you in the Wizarding World
Let's kick things off with the presentation first. The Realme 16 Pro Harry Potter Edition arrives neatly tucked inside a high-quality, vegan-leather box that resembles those old-school trunks the Hogwarts students travel with.
Image by PhoneArena
This one opens to reveal the phone itself as well as a bunch of awesome accessories and Harry Potter-related movie props.
Image by PhoneArena
Speaking of trains, we are immediately reminded of the Hogwarts Express train that leaves from platform 9 3/4 from King's Cross Station as one of the very first real-life props we get to see is a train ticket.
Image by PhoneArena
Next up, there's an envelope addressed to one Mr. Harry Potter, residing at "The cupboard under the stairs" at 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey. Inside, we find Harry Potter's personal acceptance letter to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as well as the list of supplies first-year students would need.
A lovely selection of props. | Image by PhoneArena
But wait, that's not even half of it.
The box also contains four stills from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the first movie in the franchise. There's also a nifty bookmark that you can customize with the crest of your favorite Hogwarts house.
Recommended For You
Image by PhoneArena
There's also a themed SIM ejector tool, as well as a brown TPU case that feels quite Potter-ish. Finally, there are matching wall adapters and USB-C cable that fit the Harry Potter theme quite well.
Image by PhoneArena
Overall, I have to admit I spent an obscene amount of time enjoying these props, and I have to admit that they would be a fantastic gift to any Potterhead out there.
The Realme 16 Pro itself is also designed excellently
Image by PhoneArena
Moving to the star of the show, the phone inside, it's also a complete and total homage to J. K. Rowling's magical universe. Although it's made of plastic through-and-through, the phone feels awesome in the hand, and its back plate takes center stage.
Image by PhoneArena
The nut-brown rear of the phone features a textured finish with a lozenge pattern that exudes quality, with a massive Hogwarts logo and the Harry Potter and Realme logos displayed beneath. The frame is muted gold-colored and goes perfectly with the back of the device.
Image by PhoneArena
The device is 7.8 mm thin, which is pretty decent considering it still packs a massive 7,000 mAh battery in the back. While it sits well in the hand, it's still moderately large, but what phone isn't these days.
Image by PhoneArena
There's also an IR blaster here, and to a casual observer, that one can help you "perform magic" by controlling any IR-enabled appliance around you.
The hardware is average at best and the interface leaves a sour taste in the mouth
Up at the front, we have a 6.78-inch AMOLED display that can go up to 144 Hz in some cases but would usually max out at 120 Hz. The peak brightness we measured is 1,400 nits, which is average these days, so legibility might suffer in some extreme cases. Other than that, it's a decent screen in terms of accuracy.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
In the back, the phone boasts a 200 MP wide and an 8 MP ultrawide cameras. The main camera delivers decent dynamics and vibrant colors. The ultrawide camera is too narrow, so it doesn't bring a ton of value to the camera experience. At the front we have a sharp 50 MP selfie camera which does a good job, but make sure to disable the skin smoothing and beautification filters before you snap a selfie.
Realme 16 Pro Harry Potter Edition samples
The Realme 16 Pro is powered by the 4 nm MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Max chip, which delivers good performance most of the time, but might struggle with heavier games and more intensive workflows. If you juggle between apps a lot and tend to be a heavy user, you will get less than optimal experience, but for basic to moderate usage, this one is a-okay.
In synthetic benchmarks, this one is a humble performer at best. No points for Gryffindor here!
GPU Performance
3DMark Extreme(High)Higher is better
realme 16 Pro863
Google Pixel 103368
3DMark Extreme(Low)Higher is better
realme 16 Pro857
Google Pixel 102025
Wild Life Extreme is a heavy graphics workload used to measure a device's sustained GPU performance and thermal throttling. It uses older mobile rendering techniques and is friendly to older or lower-end mobile devices.
In terms of battery life, the Realme 16 Pro Harry Potter Edition really pulls out a magical trick, courtesy of its 7,000 mAh silicon-carbon battery.
There's room for a stylus here, and it could have been styled like a wand, but what do I know. | Image by PhoneArena
The phone achieves a battery life estimate of a little over nine hours, which is excellent. It lasts for 16 hours and 23 minutes in our custom web browsing test, over 14 hours in our video playback test, and over 17 and a half hours in our 3D gaming exercise, which is truly among the highest I've seen. The latter is surely due to the humble graphics performance.
Charging-wise, the device accepts up to 80 W of wired power, and it fully charges the phone in just 66 minutes, which is quite a feat. Bravo!
One thing I'm definitely not a fan of is the default Harry Potter-inspired interface theme.
I know, I know, it makes sense that Realme would pre-apply this theme given that everything here is Harry Potter-styled, but come on, this has to be the ugliest interface I've seen this decade. Thankfully, you can easily right this wrong by changing the icon appearance to a more stock Oppo/OnePlus/Realme one, but the initial impression certainly leaves a sour aftertaste.
That interface is a crime against humanity.
The device runs Android 16 and will get five years of software support in Europe, which is okay. The interface is smooth and you might notice some lag from time to time. There's also a lot of bloatware, but thankfully, most of that can be easily uninstalled.
Conclusion
Starting at €699 in Europe, the Realme 16 Pro Harry Potter Edition is a proper homage to the Harry Potter universe, one that any fan will most certainly enjoy using.
Other than the overarching Harry Potter theme here, the device itself is a decent mid-ranger, though you can definitely do better at the price point.
Yet, to a Potterhead, nothing would come even remotely close.
Peter is a skilled writer with over 13 years of experience at PhoneArena. He has published nearly 300 phone reviews and comparisons. This vast experience helps him navigate the mobile tech landscape with ease. He enjoys everything Android but relies on a MacBook Pro daily.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: