Oppo Reno16 Pro Review Exceptional Battery Life but Overheating Issues

Today, we have a new high-end compact phone. This is the Oppo Reno 16 Pro. And besides this eye-catching 3D finish, it packs some pretty nice specs. So, if you're on the market for a compact device, is the Reno the choice for you? Let's find out in our Oppo Reno 16 Pro review. The Reno 16 Pro sits on top of the newest lineup and it's a refresh over its predecessor, which came out only 6 months ago. Still, the Reno 16 Pro does bring a few tweaks and refinements. Now, there's an additional hardware button called the AI Snap Key. And it can be remapped to other shortcuts you choose.

The phone also gets a new chipset and the display's refresh rate is bumped up to 144 Hz. The battery is larger, too, but only for the global version. More on that in a bit. Also, this 3D effect is something pretty unique. It's not just a print or a sticker. It's an etching that appears to float like a hologram. It shifts and casts a shadow. Besides that, the build has an iPhone vibe. You have a flat glass back here and an aluminum frame. And with this small profile, the 16 Pro feels comfy in hand and easy to wield.

There's advanced ingress protection here, too, rated up to IP69K against dust, water submersion, and water jets. On the front of the Reno is a 6.32-in OLED panel with Gorilla Glass 7 eye protection and a high 144 Hz refresh rate. In reality, the phone maxes out at 120 Hz, though, to smooth out swiping and scrolling. It'll dial down to 60 Hz when the screen is idling to save power. The 144 Hz mode is only available within supported games. And at the time of review, there's only a single game on that list, Mobile Legends: Bang.

Honestly, this seems like a bit of a gimmick just to spice up the spec sheet. That aside, the display is nice. It's quite sharp and has support for 10-bit color depth and HDR 10 plus video playback. The screen is bright, too. And on Oppo phones, there's an additional boost when you're in the gallery. There, we measured a maximum of nearly 1,600 nits in automatic mode and a little higher, north of 1,800 nits, when lighting up a smaller portion of the screen. For audio, the Reno 16 Pro has stereo speakers and we measured very good loudness if loudness boost is enabled.

Otherwise, the audio quality is quite well-balanced and competitive. You can listen for yourself with our comparison tool linked below. For biometrics, the Reno 16 Pro has an optical fingerprint reader and it performs well. We just think it would be more comfy to use if placed higher up. And the phone has an IR blaster, so you can use it to remotely control other devices with. You can get the Reno 16 Pro with the 256 or 512 gigs of storage on board, not expandable through microSD. And the interface of the phone is Oppo's ColorOS 16 running on top of Android 16.

It's the same as what we saw on the previous model and quite similar to what you get on any recent Oppo, Realme, or OnePlus phone. There's an AI-powered search function on the home screen that can search for functions within your settings and supported apps and give suggestions, too. There's also integration of not only Google's Gemini, but Perplexity and Deep Seek on this phone. The Mind Space is a place where you can keep your screenshots and notes and the AI sorts the info, so it's easier to find later.

The AI Snap Key I mentioned earlier opens the Mind Space by default. Other AI features include an AI writer, AI translation, and AI voice scribe, which can read text out loud to you. There are quite a few AI-based photo editing tools in the gallery, too. And for support, the Reno will get 5 years of major ColorOS updates and 6 years of security patches. Under the hood of the Reno 16 Pro is a new chipset, the Dimensity 8550. However, this chip is nearly the same as the Dimensity 8540 we saw in the previous model.

The main difference is that this one supports faster LPDDR5X RAM. In benchmarks, as expected, we didn't see much of a change in scores between the last model and the Reno 16 Pro. It earns roughly the same scores, which are solid, but far from chart-topping in this price bracket. And on top of that, the Reno 16 Pro's thermal management isn't too great. We observed dramatic throttling in both our prolonged CPU and GPU stress tests, down to around 35% of maximum. Our global version of the Reno 16 Pro has a 6700 mA hour battery, but units sold in Europe will only have 6000, which is actually less than the previous model. Anyway, the global one with the larger battery did an excellent job in

our battery life tests, earning an active use score of about 19 and 1/2 hours. It's one of the best in its class. Like the previous model, there's support for 80-W SuperVOOC charging here. Surprisingly though, the charging speed is on the slower side. We charged from 0 to 50% in half an hour, and a full charge took over an hour. There's no support for wireless charging here. The Reno 16 Pro doesn't change much in the camera department compared to the previous model.

Still, it's an advanced triple camera setup, including a 200-megapixel main cam, a 50-megapixel 3.5X zoom, and a 50-megapixel ultrawide with autofocus. Little has changed since the previous model, and the Reno 16 Pro delivers a balanced performance when taking stills. You can expect generally very good results from all three rear cameras in daylight, with detail quality just a notch behind what we like. But everything else is pretty much great. The phone is good at portraits, too, with pleasing skin tones and good facial detail.

Low-light performance is also without deal-breakers, but the detail is again leaving us a bit unimpressed. The 50-megapixel selfie camera is back with its extra wide lens. The results are great, and it's also nice to have autofocus here. And the cropped mode, which gives you a more typical field of view, is less sharp, but still quite solid. The Reno 16 Pro can record video in up to 4K at 60 FPS across the board, and the electronic stabilization is great. Video quality is very good from all three cameras in daylight. The cameras are well matched, and we'd even say that the sharpness is better than the previous model, especially on the ultrawide. And at night, the main cam and telephoto

continue to do a great job. Well, the ultrawide falls behind the other two when it comes to sharpness and So, that's the Oppo Reno 16 Pro. It's a solid and premium compact phone with excellent battery life, good cameras, and a nice display. The unique back cover design stands out, too. It isn't perfect, though. The thermals here could be better, and you wouldn't really encounter the 144-Hz refresh rate in real-world use. Also, this phone is a bit pricey at launch, at over a thousand bucks. Still, we should see the price go down over time, and when it does, getting the Reno 16 Pro could make sense if you're after a smaller smartphone with a good battery.

Thanks for watching, guys. Here are a couple of compact alternatives on the market, the Honor 600 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S26. Let us know what you think down below, and I'll see you on the next one.