The budget segment is getting interesting in India this month we have two new entrants around Rs 20,000. The Realme 12+ 5G and the LAVA Blaze Curve 5G are two new phones in this price segment. Both are different from each other in terms of design, but they do come with a few similarities such as the same MediaTek SoC.
We have had both devices with us for a while now and if your budget is around Rs 20,000 and you are looking for a good phone, in this article we will do a detailed comparison between the two phones and let you know which is the best pick for you based on our testing.
Table of Contents
LAVA Blaze Curve 5G vs Realme 12+ 5G: Specs at Glance
LAVA Blaze Curve 5G
Realme 12+ 5G
Display
6.67-inch AMOLED
120Hz, Full HD+, 800nits
6.67-inch AMOLED
120Hz, Full HD+, 2000nits
Processor
MediaTek Dimensity 7050
MediaTek Dimensity 7050
Software
Android 13
Realme UI 5.0 Android 14
Camera
64MP + 8MP (UW) + 2MP (macro)
50MP (OIS) + 8MP (UW) + 2MP (macro)
Front Camera
32MP
16MP
Battery
5,000mAh
5,000mAh
Charging
33W
USB Type-C
67W
USB Type-C
LAVA Blaze Curve 5G vs Realme 12+ 5G: Price
Configuration
LAVA Blaze Curve 5G
Realme 12+ 5G
8GB + 128GB
Rs 17,999
Rs 20,999
8GB + 256GB
Rs 18,999
Rs 21,999
LAVA Blaze Curve 5G vs Realme 12+ 5G: Design
The major differentiator between these two phones comes in terms of design. While the Realme 12+ 5G comes with plain and flat edges, the LAVA Curve 5G, as the name suggests comes with a curved panel on the front and a curved back panel on the rear as well. Although the Realme 12+ 5G has a plain design, it features a luxury watch design with golden-fluted bezels and a polished sunburst dial. The phone also flaunts a vegan leather textured back, which adds a bit of a premium look and feel.
In terms of display, both phones offer the same specs on paper with a 120Hz screen refresh rate panel and a 6.67-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen with a punch-hole cutout for a selfie snapper. LAVA offers a peak brightness of 800 nits while the Realme phone offers up to 2,000 nits of brightness.
Both devices support HDR playback on YouTube, but the Realme phone struggled a bit to play YouTube videos in the highest quality as the video started to lag a bit. However, in terms of the quality of the screen, during our testing we found the Realme 12+ 5G’s screen to be more vibrant and close-to-natural colour; on the other hand, the LAVA’s display looks slightly washed out.
LAVA Blaze Curve 5G vs Realme 12+ 5G: Performance
On the inside, both phones are powered by the same Dimensity 7050 SoC from MediaTek. This is an octa-core CPU with two performance cores clocked at 2.6GHz and six efficiency cores clocked at 2.0GHz. Both devices come with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage.
Both phones performed pretty well and consistently during our day-to-day usage with social media apps, utility apps, and games. In terms of opening the apps, LAVA Blaze Curve could open most of the day-to-day apps a couple of seconds quicker than the Realme 12+ 5G.
One weird thing we noticed with the Realme device is that some apps were automatically closed from the background even without us closing it一 this could be a bug and we hope the company will fix in the upcoming software update.
In terms of gaming, both phones perform well without any heating issues. While both devices’ hardware is the same, smartphones’ real-world performance also depends on several other factors such as software optimisations and memory management. Take a look at the synthetic benchmark comparison scores.
realme 12 Plus
595,408
Lava Blaze Curve 5G
575,509
AnTuTu Overall benchmark score analysis
Lava Blaze Curve 5G
1,103
realme 12 Plus
973
Geekbench single-core benchmark score analysis
Lava Blaze Curve 5G
2,628
realme 12 Plus
2,413
Geekbench multi-core benchmark score analysis
LAVA Blaze Curve 5G vs Realme 12+ 5G: Software
Things are slightly different here. While the Realme 12+ 5G runs on the Realme Ui 5.0 based on the latest Android 14, the LAVA Blaze Curve 5G runs on Android 13. While Realme offers the latest OS experience, it also brings a whole bunch of pre-loaded apps, bloatware and services that are not uninstallable. However, LAVA on the other hand offers a clean and near-stock Android experience.
Realme has promised two years of software, which means the 12+ 5G will get up to Android 16. On the other hand, LAVA has also promised two Android updates and the phone will get Android 14 and Android 15.
LAVA Blaze Curve 5G vs Realme 12+ 5G: Cameras
On the LAVA Blaze Curve 5G, you get a triple camera setup with a 64MP Sony sensor with EIS, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 2MP macro sensor, and an LED flash. There is a 32MP selfie snapper on the front. The Realme phone offers a triple camera led by a 50MP Sony LYT 600 OIS sensor followed by an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2MP macro sensor. It offers a 16MP selfie camera.
In terms of camera performance, the Realme 12+ 5G offers better images with popping colours, contrasty, and vibrant images compared to the LAVA counterpart. While the HDR output is average in both the phones, the details were once again much better on the Realme smartphone 一 the same goes for portrait as well as ultra-wide lens images as well. Overall, we’d rate the Realme 12+ 5G a 6.5/10 and the LAVA Blaze Curve 5G a 6/10.
LAVA Blaze Curve 5G vs Realme 12+ 5G: Battery
Both phones packs a large 5,000mAh battery and supports Type-C fast charging. While LAVA offers 33W fast charging, the Realme device offers much faster 67W fast charging capabilities. In terms of a better life, both phones offer one day’s battery life easily. It is also worth mentioning that both phones come with a charger in the box.
Verdict
Both the LAVA Blaze Curve 5G and Realme 12+ 5G offer the same set of hardware in terms of SoC, battery, and storage. However, Realme comes ahead in the display, camera, and fast charging departments. On the other hand, LAVA offers a curved design and display under sub-Rs 20,000 and also brings a clean Android experience 一 however, it is a one-generation software. Based on these aforementioned pointers and your priorities, you can pick one of these devices which will serve your purpose.
