Oppo’s Reno family sits between the Find flagships and the mass-market A models. This week the Reno7 series was unveiled with three new models that offer mostly the same specs – the major differences are in the choice of chipset and the camera department.
All three have 90Hz AMOLED displays, though the Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G stands out with HDR10+ support and higher typical brightness (800 nits vs. 600 nits), plus a slightly larger diagonal of 6.55″ compared to 6.43″ for the other two. All three have 1080p+ resolution with a 20:9 aspect ratio and Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
Also, all three have 4,500mAh batteries, though charging speeds differ. The Pro is again on top with 65W support, but the vanilla Reno7 5G almost matches it at 60W. The Reno7 SE 5G is that one that noticeably lags behind with 33W charging. None of these have wireless charging. No 3.5mm headphone jacks or memory card slots either, in case you were wondering.
Finally, we get to the real differences. The Reno7 Pro is powered by a custom MediaTek Dimensity 1200 Max chipset, though it’s not quite clear what the “Max” customization entails. The vanilla Reno7 gets a Snapdragon 778G, while the SE gets a Dimensity 900. All three are 6 nm chipsets fabbed by TSMC.
The Pro model gets a 50MP sensor for its main camera, a fairly large one – 1/1.56″ type (Sony IMX766). Not huge by any means, but it has 1.0µm pixels, quite alright for a premium mid-ranger. The vanilla phone has a smaller 1/2.0″ 64MP sensor instead, while the SE settles for a 48MP sensor. The vanilla and Pro models also have ultra wide-angle cameras and 32MP selfie cams (the first with the new IMX709 sensor), the SE skips the ultrawide and gets a 16MP selfie module.
Both the Reno7 and 7 Pro get the IMX709 front camera sensor, only the Pro has the IMX766 on the rear
One last thing – the Pro model has a neat trick, the camera bump on the back is encircled with LED lighting and acts as a notification light.
The three phones are launching in China in December and we have no doubt that we will see them go global. Though there may be some hardware changes as we’ve seen with the Reno6 series.
A closer look at the IMX709 • Pricing details
Anyway, we only have Chinese prices for now: CNY2,200 for the SE, CNY2,700 for the Reno7 and CNY3,700 for the Pro. So, instead of converting them to dollars or euros, we’ll look at some other phones in China – the rivalry should carry on once the Renos go global and the various phones should maintain their relative costs.
We’ll start with cousins OnePlus 9 and 9RT. These currently sell for CNY2,900 and CNY3,300, respectively, so they are quite close to the Reno7 and Pro. However, these are powered by the flagship Snapdragon 888 chipset and have 120Hz AMOLED displays – 6.55″ for the 9 and 6.62″ for the 9RT. Both have 65W fast charging. Also, while the 9RT has a camera setup nearly identical to that of the Reno7 Pro, the OnePlus 9 features two large sensors – 1/.43″ 48MP for the main and 1.56″ 50MP for the ultrawide.
OnePlus 9 • OnePlus 9RT 5G
Then there are the Realmes – the artsy GT Explorer Master for CNY 2,600 and the regular GT for CNY 2,400. These have Snapdragon 870 and 888 chipsets, respectively, and 120Hz AMOLED displays (6.55″ and 6.43″), plus 65W fast charging. The Explorer Master has a camera setup similar to that of the Reno7 Pro, the regular GT doesn’t focus on the camera much.
Considering the price of the Realme GT, there isn’t much point in looking at alternatives to the Reno7 SE, but you can always have a look at the Realme GT Neo2 (or Neo2T).
Realme GT Explorer Master • Realme GT 5G • Realme GT Neo2
The Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G costs just CNY2,000, cheaper than the SE, but has a Snapdragon 780G chipset, the 5 nm sibling of the 778G inside the vanilla Reno7. This one has a 6.55″ 90Hz AMOLED display, 33W fast charging (with a slightly smaller 4,250 mAh battery) and a 64MP main camera, plus an 8 MP ultra wide (it’s not great, but it’s better than not having any like the SE).
The Redmi Note 11 Pro is CNY 1,800, even cheaper, but boasts a Dimensity 920, 6.67″ 120 Hz AMOLED, 108 MP main camera plus 8 MP ultra wide and 67W fast charging (5,160 mAh battery).
Of course, there’s always the regular Xiaomi Mi 11, which goes up to a Snapdragon 888, a 6.81″ 120Hz AMOLED, 108 MP main camera and 55W fast charging. This one goes for CNY3,800, so slightly more expensive than the Reno7 Pro.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G • Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro • Xiaomi Mi 11
Don’t forget that the Reno6 series still exists, so the new models have to compete with those as well.
So, the Oppo Reno7 series is not exactly price competitive in China. And it’s not like they have exclusive software to fall back on, the OnePlus phones already run ColorOS in China and will run the unified OS globally starting with Android 13.
Even so, we have to ask – is anyone here interested in one of the Reno7 models? We know there aren’t any reviews out yet, but does one of the three look like it can be your next phone?
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