OPPO’s Reno13F 5G is a stylish midrange smartphone contender aimed at the savvy buyer looking for a well designed phablet with really good camera performance and battery life, excellent value for money, and smart and actually useful AI features to help make their lives easier and their actions more productive. OPPO itself states that the purpose of this smartphone is “to deliver high performance and elegant design, with smart privacy tools that quietly protect users in the background, so they can focus on living their lives, not managing their data.” Does it live up to the hype and billing?
Measuring 162.20 x 75.05 x 7.76mm the phone is big enough for your content consumption needs without requiring rugby forward sized hands to operate single-handedly, whilst also tipping the smartphone weight scales at 192g. Our review model is Plume Purple but it also comes in the classic Graphite Grey and an elegant Luminous Blue. You take in content on the sublime 6.67″ 1080 x 2400 Pixels (394 PPI) AMOLED display with a viewer-friendly 92.2% body to screen ratio, with mobile gaming fans also being catered to, thanks to the phablet’s 120Hz refresh rate on the screen to keep things buttery smooth.
Keeping to the blistering theme, the smartphone boasts 12GB RAM and snappy 512GB internal storage for all your photos, videos, documents, downloads and applications, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Mobile Platform keeping things smooth and snappy within ColorOS 15.0 (based on Android 15). This CPU packs 8 cores plus the Adreno 710 handling graphics processing at 676MHz.
Private AI eye protecting your data
The OPPO Reno13 F 5G comes with a number of privacy smart features including Auto Pixelate 2.0 which comes into affect when you take a screenshot, the phone can automatically blur out sensitive information the likes of contact names and profile pictures, as well as Privacy Dashboard and Permission Manager, which enables users to see which apps are accessing your microphone, camera, or location in real-time. If something doesn’t feel right, you can revoke access with a single tap.
Another one worth mentioning is Photo Information Protection, which allows the Reno13 F 5G to automatically strips location data when snapping photos, keeping your whereabouts private — even when you’re just posting a selfie on the Gram.
Speaking of selfies, the smartphone packs a 32 MP (f/2.4, wide-angle FOV 82°) shelfie shooter that can capture full HD video at 30fps, and on the rear, you find a wide-angle 50MP (f/1.8; FOV 78°) main camera as well as an ultra-wide-angle 8MP (f/2.2; FOV 112°) lens and Macro 2MP (f/2.4; FOV 89°) shooter.
Moreover, the Reno13 F 5G brings OPPO’s powerful AI editing tools to many more midrange users, making pro-level photo enhancements effortless by including features such as the AI Editor suite that enhances photo quality with tools like Reflection Remover, AI Unblur, and AI Eraser 2.0, while AI Studio introduces dynamic effects such as 3-second video transformations and artistic portrait styles.
Whether you’re a creator, entrepreneur, student, or just someone who values your digital space, the Reno13 F 5G is here to make your smart life safer. It goes for a recommended retail price of R16 000, but some local retailers like Takealot and Makro are currently running discounts on it of between R500 and R800. It is a very worthy upgrade even over last year’s OPPO Reno12 Pro. Other devices in this price range worth considering includes Samsung’s Galaxy S24 FE (R14000) and HONOR 200 or camera fans who are not explicitly tied to Google services can also consider the venerable Huawei Pura 70 from Amazon.co.za. This Reno13 F 5G is our favourite midrange pick for 2025 thus far.
