Realme P4 Full Review: Is This the Best Phone Under ₹20,000?

The budget mid-range phone market is more crowded than ever, with every brand trying to outdo the next on specs and price. Standing out here isn’t easy. Realme’s P4 makes its case with a massive 7000mAh battery, a sharp AMOLED display, and a design that looks more premium than its price tag suggests.

After two weeks of daily use, the question is simple: Does the P4 make sense on its own, or are you better off spending more for its older brother, the P4 Pro?

PROS

• Huge 7,000mAh battery with fast charging
• Bright AMOLED display
• Lightweight design
• Good set of cameras
• Practical AI features

CONS

• Haptics are weak and buzzy
• Speakers distort at higher volumes
• AI Edit Genie is fun but inconsistent and prone to misuse
• AI Hyper Vision chip feels more gimmicky than practical

Price and Variants

Realme has kept the P4 in the sweet spot of the budget mid-range segment. It’s available in three configurations:

Every model comes with the same 7000mAh battery and the 80W SuperVOOC charger in the box. I have the top-end 8/256GB variant for review.

Design and Build

The Realme P4 goes for what the company calls a “Metal Heart” design, though the body is entirely plastic. My Steel Grey unit does a convincing job of looking like brushed aluminum, and at first glance, you might mistake it for metal. The back curves gently into the frame, while the front stays flat — practical if you like using screen protectors.

The overall look is clean. Apart from the Realme logo and a “50MP AI Camera” label on the large camera island, there’s nothing extra cluttering the back. Even the small orange circle near the bottom, styled to look like a screw, adds a bit of personality without being over the top.

What surprised me most is how easy the phone is to live with. For a device carrying a 7000mAh battery, it’s just 7.58mm thick and weighs about 185 grams. I used it almost caseless during my time with it, and it was genuinely a delight to hold — light, slim, and never top-heavy.

Realme has also given it an IP65 and IP66 rating for splash, water, and dust resistance, which adds an extra layer of reassurance in daily use.

Display

The 6.77-inch AMOLED screen is one of the Realme P4’s strongest features. It gets bright enough to stay legible under direct sunlight, and there’s even an Extra Brightness mode if you need that extra push outdoors. Colors lean punchy, which makes social media and streaming look lively, though at times they can feel a bit boosted.

Where things get less consistent is with the refresh rate. Realme advertises 144Hz, but in daily use, I’ve mostly seen 90Hz or 120Hz, depending on the app. WhatsApp and Google Keep, for example, still run at 90Hz. The full 144Hz only showed up during benchmarks, so it feels more like a marketing number than something you’ll notice everywhere.

Realme also bundled in its new Hyper Vision AI chip, which is supposed to enhance SDR-to-HDR video and smooth playback. In my testing, it hasn’t been particularly convincing. GT Mode, which boosts colors, is far more noticeable. Hyper Vision sometimes even caused stutters in YouTube playback at 1440p, though things ran smoother at 1080p.

Overall, the display hardware is excellent for the price — bright, sharp, and fun to use. The AI extras don’t add much, but they don’t take away from the fact that this panel is one of the P4’s biggest selling points.

Performance

Running on the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 Ultra, the Realme P4 feels reliable for day-to-day use. Scrolling through social apps, juggling a few tasks, or just browsing the web is generally smooth, though opening heavier apps can take an extra beat.

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores are in line with what you’d expect from this segment, and the best part is the phone stays cool during regular use, thanks to Realme’s cooling setup (more on that later).

Gaming Tests

I pushed the P4 with some demanding games, and here’s how it held up with GT Mode switched on:

The P4 packs a large 7000mm² VC cooling system with a 12,476mm² graphite sheet, which Realme says can bring CPU temps down by as much as 20°C. In my testing, the phone still got warm during longer Genshin and Wuthering Waves sessions, but it never reached the point where it felt uncomfortable to hold. The cooling clearly helps keep things in check.

Verdict: The Realme P4 isn’t built for sustained, high-end gaming. It can handle lighter titles and competitive shooters like BGMI comfortably, but if you’re chasing fluid graphics and top visuals in demanding RPGs, this phone won’t deliver the experience you’re looking for.

Cameras

When I first tested the P4, I said the cameras felt “fine.” Two weeks later, I think they’re a little better than that — not perfect, but enjoyable to use.

The 50MP primary sensor is easily the star here. Realme gives you two photo presets — Crisp and Vibrant. I’ve stuck to Crisp most of the time because it adds a little depth and shadow, almost like a subtle vignette, while still keeping HDR under control. Vibrant, as the name suggests, is all about boosted colors, but since Realme already dials up saturation by default, I’ve found Crisp to be more natural. The results look cinematic and focus attention on the subject without making the entire frame scream with color.

Zoom is limited to digital, but 2x is a sweet spot where photos still look sharp enough. Anything beyond that loses detail unless you’re shooting something large enough for the software to work with. Realme’s ProXDR mode also helps by lifting highlights and bright areas, giving images a lively, eye-pleasing look.

Night mode has been another pleasant surprise. I shot an Eiffel Tower replica at a mall, and the shadows and highlights came out balanced without crushing detail. Yes, there’s noise in the sky if you zoom in, but viewed normally, the results look solid — good enough for social media.

The 8MP ultrawide isn’t impressive on paper, but it does a decent job. Colors match surprisingly well with the main camera, and distortion is minimal. At night, detail drops quickly, but the photos are still usable and fun for wide, dramatic shots.

Portraits are another strength. I’ve always liked how Realme handles subject separation, and the bokeh blur here looks pleasing even if it’s not the best in class.

Then there’s the AI Edit Genie, which is equal parts fun and unpredictable. You can tell it to add sunglasses, hats, or even change clothes, and most of the time, the edits look convincing. Sometimes it even sharpens blurry shots and balances highlights on its own, which is genuinely useful.

But repeat edits quickly reduce resolution, and the AI occasionally goes rogue — once, when I asked it to change clothes, it replaced me with a completely different person. It’s playful and handy in bursts, but definitely not perfect.

For video, the limits are clear: the main camera tops out at 4K 30fps, the ultrawide is capped at 1080p 30fps, and the selfie camera also maxes out at 1080p 30fps. Ultra Steady stabilization helps, but it crops heavily and isn’t available at 4K. Realme’s AI Highlight Video mode is supposed to improve backlighting, but I didn’t see dramatic changes in my tests.

Lastly, the selfie camera itself takes soft shots, and I’d recommend turning beauty mode off for more natural results. For calls and casual video, it’s fine, but nothing more.

Audio and Haptics

The P4’s dual speakers get plenty loud, but push the volume near max and distortion creeps in. Realme’s Ultra Volume mode does make things louder, but it also makes the problem worse. At around 70–80 percent volume, the speakers sound decent enough for YouTube or casual music, but they’re not great for anyone who cares about audio detail.

Haptics are another weak spot. The feedback feels coarse and inconsistent, more like a buzz than a tap. After a few days, I switched them off entirely, and honestly, the phone felt better without them. It’s one of those areas where the P4 clearly cuts corners, and if you’ve used a device with refined haptics, you’ll notice the difference right away.

Software

The Realme P4 runs Realme UI 6.0 based on Android 15, and Realme has committed to three major Android OS updates and four years of security patches. That’s a solid promise for a phone in this price range and adds peace of mind for anyone planning to keep it long term.

The interface itself is smooth, with clean animations, a customizable control center, and only a few pre-installed apps — most of which can be uninstalled.

Where things get interesting is with the AI features. Some are subtle, like the AI Eye Comfort kicking in automatically during late-night scrolling, but others stand out as genuinely useful:

• AI Speak: I found myself using this often to listen to emails and order details. The speech sounds natural, you can adjust playback speed, and it adapts to the language used. It’s perfect when you want the gist of your inbox without sitting down to read it.
• AI Writer: A surprisingly handy tool for rephrasing emails and messages. It can check grammar, tweak tone, and even rewrite text to be polite, concise, or detailed depending on what you need.
• AI Summary: Probably one of the most practical features here. It condenses long articles or web pages into digestible snippets. I’ve used it when I only needed the gist of a story, and it saved me a lot of time.
• File Dock: My personal favorite. Think of it as an advanced clipboard — you can drag and drop text, images, email IDs, and more into the dock, then pull it up from any app to paste wherever you need it. It makes multitasking feel a lot smoother.

Taken together, these tools make Realme UI feel more productive than before. Combine that with long-term software support, and the P4’s software experience feels well-rounded for the price.

Battery

The 7000mAh battery consistently gave me two full days on a single charge. Even with heavy 5G use, long browsing sessions, and plenty of photos, I always had leftover juice heading into the next day.

For a big-battery phone, it’s also quick to recharge: the bundled 80W SuperVOOC charger takes it from nearly empty to almost full in under an hour.

The P4 also supports 10W reverse charging, so you can top up accessories like earbuds, a smartwatch, or even give another phone a boost when needed.

Verdict

The Realme P4 makes a strong case in the crowded mid-range segment. It balances design, display quality, endurance, and software features in a way that feels dependable day after day. For under ₹20,000, it’s a phone you can count on.

But if performance and gaming are your top priorities, the P4 Pro is worth the extra money with its Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 and brighter curved display.