The Realme P4R is a budget smartphone that’s big on battery life. But it misses the mark in every other area as we found out in our review.
The Realme P4R is priced from Rs. 20,499 in India
Advancements in smartphone chipsets and battery tech mean that most consumers don't really need mega, high-capacity batteries in their smartphones today. However, the memory crisis is forcing manufacturers to use cheaper (or older) hardware components in new smartphones. Older hardware like 6nm processors isn't energy efficient by any means. And so comes the requirement for a bigger battery to power said hardware at current-day levels of efficiency. However, the switch to newer silicon-carbon battery technology does let brands offer added value after meeting base expectations of budget smartphone users.
Realme recently launched its first budget smartphone with an 8,000mAh battery, called the P4R. Its moniker nearly reads like the P4 Power, which debuted the first 10,001mAh battery on a smartphone. The latter now belongs to the mid-range segment, while the new P4R is a budget offering. While nobody will complain about having a higher battery capacity on their next smartphone (provided it isn't too bulky), we find out whether the rest of the hardware has taken a step back to cater to this newfound direction by the brand.
The Realme P4R has a chunky design that is identical to the Narzo X100
Realme's P4R primarily uses polycarbonate for its rear panel and frame to keep things lightweight. Apart from keeping costs low, it also helps even out the added weight brought about by the high-capacity battery. The frame has a slippery matte-finished appearance with rounded edges that seamlessly meet the glass-covered display on the front. Around the back, the rough, matte-textured polycarbonate panel has some sharp edges that somehow don't seamlessly blend with the frame.
There are no extra AI buttons, but just the basics (power, volume rocker) on the right side. The overall design does not appear too chubby solely because the rear camera module is quite flat and does not pack any fancy hardware. Still, it does feel big and bulky to hold.
Given the polycarbonate (plastic) construction, it's good to see an IP65 rating for dust and water. But do keep in mind that any damage due to immersion in water is not covered under warranty.
The AI Pulse Light is quite practical
As is the trend these days among budget and even mid-range handsets, the notification LED is making a gradual comeback. Well, it's not the simple LED lamp we had back in the 2000s but a ring light that Realme has branded as an ‘AI Pulse Light'. Unlike what I've seen with similar implementations by other smartphone brands, the AI Pulse Light is genuinely useful. It can display 9 colours and can light up to alert the user about battery status and incoming calls. You can also set it to flash a particular colour for an app or for a specific contact. All in all, it is quite customisable and practical as a cryptic notifier.
The IPS LCD panel is very basic with a low resolution and noticeably thick borders. The glass protecting the display is a smudge magnet. The Realme P4R's display manages decent colour reproduction with strong red overtones. This reddish tone is visible no matter which display colour mode one chooses (Vivid or Natural) in Display Settings. Viewing angles are decent, and the blacks are tolerable, but it lacks that AMOLED punch.
The protective Panda glass is a smudge magnet
Perhaps what's most annoying about the viewing experience is that the phone only supports Widevine L3, which allows for SD quality playback on Netflix (and other OTT apps). Footage appears a bit pixelated and unclear when stretching SD content on a low-res HD+ panel with a diagonal of 6.81 inches. Content appeared clearer on the YouTube app (up to 1,440p), but it did not appear as sharp due to the display's HD resolution.
Another problem with the multimedia experience is the single bottom-firing speaker. It is sufficiently loud for video calls but lacks any bass whatsoever, sounding very treble-heavy. Gaming also isn't as immersive since there's just one driver that also lacks punch.
You can still enjoy HD content in apps like YouTube
The 144Hz high-refresh rate display claim only works in the Calculator app. When playing games and using the software interface, the panel still manages 120Hz. The amusing bit about playing games on the Realme P4R is that the underlying hardware can barely manage 60 fps. So, its 120Hz screen refresh rate only works when a user interacts with its software interface.
Keeping in mind the display's lower-than-usual resolution, the Realme UI 7.0 worked smoothly with minor hiccups from time to time. Realme UI is quite customisable and also comes with a few built-in AI features for image editing, AI voice recordings and more. Google's Gemini is also built-in and baked into the company's usual suite of apps.
Realme UI 7.0 has tons of preinstalled apps and games
Because this is a budget device, we also have tons of preinstalled apps and games. There are even more apps that the phone will recommend installing during the setup process, which you can opt out of. Now, a majority of these apps can be uninstalled, but it was annoying to see spammy notifications from the Game Centre, Theme Store and App Market apps on a daily basis (on some occasions, several times a day). Thankfully, Android lets you turn these off in Notifications Settings.
We received a review unit with 6GB RAM. Despite using 8GB of system memory as RAM expansion, the phone could not hold more than 4 apps in memory and resorted to restarts after launching 10 apps consecutively. Aside from this, general software performance is sufficiently smooth. However, synthetic performance (benchmark tests) sees the Realme P4R achieve the bare minimum.
| Benchmarks | Realme P4R | Oppo K14x | Redmi 15 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display resolution | HD+ | HD+ | FHD+ |
| Chipset | Dimensity 6300 (6nm) | Dimensity 6300 (6nm) | Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 (6nm) |
| AnTuTu v10 | 6,24,528 | 5,67,854 | 6,32,823 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 9,863 | 7,991 | 12,001 |
| Geekbench 6 Single | 782 | 761 | 939 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | 1,988 | 1,761 | 2,180 |
| Geekbench AI CPU (Quantized) | 1,058 | 1,050 | NA |
| Geekbench AI GPU (Quantized) | 489 | 923 | NA |
| 3DM Wild Life | 1,389 | 359 | 1,597 |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 1,366 | NA | 1,598 |
| 3DM Steel Nomad Light | NA | NA | NA |
The phone is equipped with a large vapour chamber (VC) cooling system that is meant to help maintain performance under stress. Given that the camera setup is quite basic, the VC cooling system mainly comes in use while playing games. However, given that the underlying hardware isn't as capable either, the VC is probably in place to maintain that baseline performance.
Call of Duty: Mobile (CODM) only allows for ‘Low' and ‘Medium' graphics on the 6GB RAM variant we tested, while frame rates go up to ‘Max'. The phone can handle first-person shooter (FPS) action in CODM at Medium Graphics and Max frame rate on an HD+ display, provided you have Performance Boost enabled, which makes the phone a bit warm. In standard performance mode, even guns take an extra second to show up in the middle of an ongoing tournament. The single bottom-firing speaker isn't useful for gamers either, as the audio does not sound immersive. Touch sampling is slow for fast-paced FPS titles, and all of the above reasons don't make the P4R ideal for gaming.
Realme P4R primary camera samples (tap images to expand)
The primary captures images with natural-looking colours. Colour saturation is under control even when using the default Vibrant colour preset. There is enough detail in the shadows as well. The camera tends to oversharpen details (a bit) when capturing people in the Portrait camera mode. In low-light settings, image quality takes a complete u-turn. The photos come out soft and lack depth. There is not much detail (even when the image is zoomed out), and textures appear smudgy. This is mainly down to the lack of OIS and shabby low-light processing.
Realme P4R primary camera 2X zoom sample (tap image to expand)
As expected, there is some loss of detail when using the 2X zoom setting, which basically crops images from the primary sensor. Colours also appear a bit different.
Realme P4R selfie camera sample (tap image to expand)
Selfies come out just fine in daylight. Edge-detection is average in terms of accuracy, with some noticeable blurring near the edges of the subject. Facial details are a bit on the lower side given the smaller 8-megapixel sensor. In low-light settings, facial details get softer, and noise creeps in, so the photos lack depth.
The Realme P4R has a single user-accessible rear-facing camera
The primary camera maxes out at 1080p for video recordings. 30 fps footage shows decent detail but appears very shaky when walking or panning. This is because the phone lacks electronic image stabilisation (EIS). Colours appear natural, but dynamic range could have been better. You will need to mount this phone on a tripod to get stable footage. 60 fps footage has a steady frame rate with the same global properties as the 30 fps footage.
With a large 8,000mAh battery, you can get a lot done even with 1 percent charge. In my case, I managed to play four CODM tournaments at the default graphics settings. Another reason this battery goes above and beyond is the humble hardware this phone is equipped with. The phone can easily last two days on a single charge with heavy use. With casual use, expect it to last even longer. PCMark's Work Battery Life test returned good scores of 24 hours and 7 minutes. I am pretty sure we could have seen even better numbers had there been a 4nm processor in place.
The basic 45W charger manages to charge the high-capacity battery (from zero) to 33 percent in 30 minutes and to 62 percent in one hour. The phone reaches a fully charged state in 1 hour and 51 minutes, which is a bit slow even for a budget device.
The Realme P4R's gigantic battery and its budget price (in 2026) may be a good enough reason for some to purchase the phone despite its underwhelming hardware specifications. As mentioned at the beginning of this review, the silicon-carbon battery technology not only overcomes the limitations of the 6nm processor but also offers additional value by delivering battery life in excess of what most people may require or expect from a basic budget smartphone.
Like all things 2026, the Realme P4R isn't a value-for-money proposition, but you will have a tough time finding something better at this price because stocks of older 2025 models (that had better value) have also run out. The Realme P4R at its "RAMegaddon" price of Rs. 20,499 (for the base 4+128GB variant) will get you a basic budget smartphone with smooth-running software and good battery life. But that's about it!
Oppo's K14x offers slightly better value for your money. It has the same internal hardware (packaged in a different design), but with a smaller 6,500mAh battery at Rs. 18,999. If you want something more, you can take a look at the Redmi 15 (Rs. 21,499), which has more RAM (6GB base variant), a slightly bigger and higher-resolution (6.9-inch, FHD+ LCD) panel, and slightly better performance from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 processor at the cost of a slightly smaller 7,000mAh battery.
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