OPPO A6 Pro 5G Review

There is a peculiar honesty about budget smartphones that flagship devices simply cannot match. A phone that costs upwards of ₹80,000 has to justify itself constantly, showering you with features you never asked for and technology you will never fully use. But a budget phone? A budget phone just has to work. It has to make calls, run your apps, take decent photos, and not die before lunchtime.

The OPPO A6 Pro 5G, priced around ₹18,000 to ₹20,000 depending on where you buy it, seems to understand this assignment rather well. It does not pretend to be a flagship killer or a revolutionary device that will change how you see the world. It is simply a phone that does phone things, and there is something rather refreshing about that.

A no-nonsense display and solid build quality

Let us start with what you actually see when you pick this thing up. The display is a 6.72-inch IPS LCD panel running at 1080 x 2400 pixels, which gives you a perfectly respectable pixel density of around 392 pixels per inch. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. It is not AMOLED. The blacks will not be as deep, the colours will not pop in quite the same way, and there will be no fancy always-on display. And you would be correct. But here is the thing.

For the money OPPO is asking, this display is absolutely fine. It is sharp enough that you will not see individual pixels when scrolling through Instagram or watching YouTube videos, and the 120Hz refresh rate means everything moves with a smoothness that would have been unthinkable at this price point just three years ago. The Moto G85 5G, which costs roughly the same, offers a pOLED display at 120Hz, so if screen quality is your absolute priority, that might be worth considering. But the OPPO’s LCD is bright enough for outdoor use at 680 nits peak brightness, and for most people, that will be more than adequate.

Build quality appears solid enough. The phone measures 165.5 x 76.1 x 7.7mm and weighs 187 grams, making it relatively thin and light for a phone with such a large battery. There is no official IP rating for water or dust resistance, which is expected at this price. You get a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for biometric security, which is generally faster and more reliable than under-display optical sensors found on more expensive phones.

The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button, so you can unlock your phone as you pick it up in one natural motion. Facial recognition is also available, using the front camera rather than any dedicated sensors, so it will be less secure than fingerprint but faster in certain situations.

Performance that does the job and decent memory options

Under the hood, OPPO has fitted the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chipset, and this is where we need to have an honest conversation. The Snapdragon 695 is not new. It was announced back in late 2021, and by smartphone standards, that makes it practically ancient. However, and this is important, age does not automatically mean inadequacy. The 695 is built on a 6nm process, which means it is reasonably power efficient.

It comes with an Adreno 619 GPU that can handle casual gaming without breaking a sweat. You will not be playing Genshin Impact on maximum settings, but BGMI and Call of Duty Mobile will run smoothly at medium settings. Qualcomm’s chip also means you get proper 5G support across both sub-6GHz bands, so when 5G coverage expands in India, your phone will not suddenly become obsolete.

The competition at this price points includes phones like the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G with its Exynos 1380 and the Realme 12 Pro with its Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, both of which offer slightly newer silicon. But in daily use, the difference between these chips is measured in milliseconds rather than anything you would actually notice while ordering food on Zomato or scrolling through WhatsApp.

Memory options come in two variants. You can get 8GB of RAM with 128GB of storage, or step up to 8GB with 256GB. Both versions support storage expansion via microSD card up to 1TB, which is genuinely useful if you like hoarding photos and videos. The 8GB of RAM is respectable and should handle multitasking without too much complaint. OPPO also includes virtual RAM expansion, which uses storage as extra memory when needed.

This is one of those features that sounds better in marketing materials than it works in practice, but it is there if you want it. The phone runs ColorOS 14 based on Android 14, which is mostly a good thing. ColorOS has matured considerably over the years and no longer feels like a cheap iOS imitation. It is smooth, reasonably well organized, and comes with fewer pre-installed apps than it used to. You will still find some bloatware, because apparently no smartphone manufacturer can resist the temptation, but nothing too egregious.

What you can expect from the camera

The camera situation is interesting. OPPO has fitted a 50MP main sensor at the back alongside a 2MP depth sensor. Now, before anyone gets excited about that 50MP number, let us be clear about what this actually means. The sensor uses pixel binning to combine four pixels into one, so your actual output will be 12.5MP images with better light sensitivity. This is standard practice across the industry and not something to complain about.

The main camera should perform admirably in good lighting conditions. You will get sharp images with decent colour accuracy, and the phase detection autofocus should lock onto subjects quickly enough. Low light photography will be more challenging, as it always is with budget phones, but OPPO includes a night mode that helps extract more detail from darker scenes. The 2MP depth sensor exists purely for portrait mode, adding background blur to your photos.

It is functional rather than impressive. For selfies, there is an 8MP front camera housed in a punch-hole cutout at the top left of the display. This will do the job for video calls and Instagram stories without any real complaints.

Battery Life and connectivity options in the OPPO A6 Pro 5G

The battery is a 5100mAh unit, which is generous by any standard. Combined with the efficient Snapdragon 695 and the LCD display, which is naturally less power-hungry than AMOLED, you should comfortably get through a full day of use. Heavy users might need a top-up by evening, but moderate users could potentially stretch this to a day and a half. Charging happens through a USB Type-C port at 45W, which OPPO claims can fill the battery from empty to full in about 70 minutes.

This is not the fastest charging in this segment. The Realme 12 Pro offers 67W charging, and the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite goes up to 80W. But 45W is still quick enough that you can get significant charge during a lunch break, and for most people, that will be perfectly acceptable.

Connectivity options cover all the basics. You get dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC for digital payments, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Yes, a headphone jack. In 2024. This might seem like a small thing, but there are still plenty of people who do not want to carry Bluetooth earbuds everywhere or deal with the hassle of keeping them charged. The inclusion of a headphone jack is a practical decision that costs OPPO almost nothing but adds genuine convenience for certain users.

Should you buy the OPPO A6 Pro 5G?

So, should you buy the OPPO A6 Pro 5G? That depends entirely on what you want from a phone. If you need the absolute best camera in this price range, the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G has a more versatile triple camera setup. If you want faster charging, the Realme 12 Pro or OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite will serve you better. If display quality is paramount, the Moto G85 5G with its pOLED panel is worth a look.

But if you want a reliable, well-rounded smartphone that handles everyday tasks without drama, charges reasonably quickly, lasts all day, and happens to support 5G for future-proofing, the OPPO A6 Pro 5G makes a compelling case for itself. It is not trying to win any awards. It is just trying to be a good phone. And in the noisy world of smartphone marketing where every device claims to be the best at everything, that simple honesty is worth something.