Several months after its predecessor graced Philippine shores, the OPPO Reno14 5G has arrived, doubling down on the series‘ familiar focus on design, battery life, and, of course, camera chops.

But in a crowded market, can it truly stand out? We’ve used the phone as our daily driver for several weeks to see if it’s a worthy successor and, more importantly, a worthy upgrade for you.

Crafted to impress

Visually, the Reno14 5G isn’t reinventing the wheel — and that’s actually a good thing. It’s a clear descendant of the flagship OPPO Find X8, borrowing its aesthetic playbook but with a few crucial tweaks. The lineage is undeniable, but unlike its premium cousin, the Reno14 drops the circular camera module in favor of a more familiar rectangular assembly. The rest of the design is just as polished, featuring a glass back with a smooth matte finish, a flat display, and a sleek aluminum frame with flat sides and subtly rounded corners for a comfortable grip.

This year, OPPO is making a big deal out of its “Iridescent Mermaid Design” on the Opal White variant. While that’s a mouthful of marketing, the “industry-first Iridescent Glow Process” does look great in person. The back shimmers with an almost pearlescent glow when it catches the light — a look so good you might think twice about covering it with a case.

@revuphilippines The OPPO Reno14 Series 5G is here to #MakeYourMoment! Starting at P21,999, check out the sleek innovations of the Reno14 5G, the mid-level gem of the series. It’s now available nationwide on OPPO’s official stores and e-commerce platforms. #OPPOReno14Series5G #OPPOAIPhone #RevuDotComDotPH @OPPO Philippines @OPPO @monch @Alora Uy Guerrero ♬ original sound – Revu Philippines

The features we love, summarized

For those who prefer a more understated look, the phone is also available in Luminous Green. This colorway, which gives a nod to the Luminous Blue version of the OPPO Reno13 5G we reviewed earlier this year, makes the rear camera system pop. The lighter green shade seems to create a subtle glow around the camera module, almost as if it’s being highlighted by a built-in LED light. It’s a clean, sophisticated look that adds a nice touch of personality without being too flashy.

The device feels every bit as premium as it looks. Picking up the OPPO Reno14 5G for the first time, you immediately notice its solid, balanced feel. It’s surprisingly substantial, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that it packs a larger 6,000mAh battery without changing its footprint from the previous model.

However, the real story here isn’t just about looks; it’s about toughness. OPPO is highlighting the smartphone’s durability — and for good reason. The Reno14 5G is rated IP69, which means it can withstand being submerged in two meters of water for half an hour, or even hit with high-pressure jets of near-boiling water. We’ve taken it for a swim ourselves, and it held up nicely, letting us capture some fun underwater shots using the model’s dedicated Underwater mode. This is flagship-level durability on a non-flagship phone.

@revuphilippines Whether you're filming swimming adventures 🏊‍♀️ or capturing everyday life underwater 🏖, the #OPPOReno14Series5G has your back to #MakeYourMoment. With its IP69 water- and dust-resistance rating and dedicated Underwater mode, you can dive in worry-free. 🥽🩱 It's now available in the Philippines with a starting price of P21,999, so visit your nearest OPPO store and get ready to make a splash! 💦 #DiveIn4K #RevuDotComDotPH www.revu.com.ph @OPPO Philippines @OPPO @monch @Alora Uy Guerrero ♬ original sound – Revu Philippines

Diving in, worry-free

That thoughtful design extends beyond the obvious. It’s the little details that show the company’s been paying attention. That flat aluminum frame isn’t just for aesthetics, as it provides a practical way to prop the phone up on a flat surface without it toppling over. The volume rocker is positioned above the power button — a logical arrangement that some Android OEMs inexplicably get wrong. And bless OPPO for keeping the IR blaster, a feature many others have ditched for reasons we’ll never understand.

It’s worth a quick mention that the camera system gets a significant upgrade, too, with the inclusion of a 50-megapixel telephoto lens. It’s a massive step up from its predecessor, which had none, and it promises to dramatically improve both zoom shots and portraits. We’ll dive into this in a lot more detail later.

Moving on to the display, OPPO stuck with the same panel as the last generation, and we’re totally fine with that. It’s a gorgeous 6.59-inch AMOLED screen with a pixel density of 460 dots per inch and a silky-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. It can hit a peak brightness of 1,200 nits and a typical brightness of 600 nits, which is more than enough for excellent HDR performance, as its HDR10+ certification proves.

Protecting that vibrant AMOLED is Corning’s Gorilla Glass 7i, which the brand claims is twice as scratch-resistant as your garden-variety screen glass and can handle drops from a meter — even onto asphalt. And thanks to Widevine L1 certification, you can stream all your favorite shows and movies in high definition and enjoy HDR content on YouTube at up to 4K at 60 frames per second.

For the nerds among us, OPPO even throws in granular control over the refresh rate. You can manually set it to 60Hz, 90Hz, or 120Hz per app. Want to prioritize smooth scrolling in your X feed while saving some juice? You got it. There’s a limit, of course. You can’t force a higher refresh rate on an app that’s hard-coded to a lower one. The smartphone respects those app-specific caps, so your favorite mobile game won’t suddenly jump to 120Hz if its developers capped it at 60Hz. Still, the ability to fine-tune this setting is a welcome feature and a definite win for power users.

On the software side, the OPPO Reno14 5G inherits some of the best display tricks from its premium siblings. Features like Image Sharpener and Video Color Boost do exactly what they say, though they’ll drain your battery faster. Adaptive Tone automatically adjusts the screen’s colors based on ambient lighting, while a suite of eye-care options like Bedtime mode and Eye Comfort are here to reduce blue light and help you sleep faster.

Live Alerts makes its way to this model, too. This is OPPO’s answer to Apple’s Dynamic Island, and frankly, it’s better. Instead of a permanent space hog, these pill-shaped notifications dynamically expand and contract around the front camera cutout, providing glanceable information and quick interactions without taking over your screen. They feel less like intrusive notifications and more like mini-widgets you can easily engage with and dismiss. It’s still a work in progress, and currently only works with a handful of apps like Grab, for example, but it’s everything we wish a feature like this could be.

A midrange powerhouse

Shifting gears to performance, the OPPO Reno14 5G delivers a smooth one. At its core lies the 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 8350 processor, a 5G-enabled upper-midrange silicon paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a generous 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. While you can’t expand the storage, that potent combination translates to a device that simply flies through most daily tasks.

In real-world use, this OPPO Reno14 Series 5G model feels snappy. App launches are near-instantaneous thanks to ColorOS 15’s slick optimizations, and navigating the interface is butter-smooth. We had no trouble juggling multiple apps in the background, from social media to Chrome and Netflix, with everything remaining perfectly responsive.

Obviously, the real test is in gaming, and we’re pleased to report that the Reno14 5G has proven to be a highly capable machine, with some titles even unlocking 120 FPS, a level of ultrasmooth responsiveness that competitive players will appreciate. Just don’t expect rock-solid consistency at the highest setting, as frame rates will occasionally dip during intense action or prolonged sessions. Not to mention, you may need to dial down the graphics to hit those high numbers. With regard to synthetic benchmarks, the OPPO Reno14 5G pulled in an Antutu score of 1,369,070 and Geekbench single-core and multi-core scores of 1,301 and 3,970, respectively.

The OPPO Reno14 5G pulled in an Antutu score of 1,369,070 and Geekbench single-core and multi-core scores of 1,301 and 3,970, respectively

The phone also supports bypass charging, a feature that lets it run directly on power from the charger instead of using the battery. A boon for those marathon gaming sessions, it keeps the battery at its current level, which not only reduces heat but minimizes stress on the battery’s longevity as well, all while ensuring peak performance. You can enable bypass charging, plus other gaming-focused features, with a quick swipe from the left side of the screen, right inside OPPO’s built-in overlay tool.

Of course, we had to put it through its paces. Graphics-intensive titles like Genshin Impact, Solo Leveling: ARISE, and GRID Autosport all ran without a hitch on our review unit. But to really push the boundaries, we did what any self-respecting tech reviewer would: We tried to run a PC emulator on it. We’re happy — and, frankly, a little shocked — to report that we got Grand Theft Auto V to run at a stable 720p at around 35 FPS. Yes, we got the current GTA to run on a handset before GTA VI is even out. Welcome to the modern smartphone era.

Raw power means nothing without proper thermal management. Thankfully, the built-in vapor chamber with a 4,700mm² cooling area, coupled with a large graphite heat-dissipation system, does a fantastic job of keeping things under control. The benchmarks back this up. Our unit only ever felt warm after a full hour of gaming, and in 3DMark’s punishing Steel Nomad Light and Solar Bay stress tests, it recorded an impressive 98% stability score in both. Maintaining those levels of stability under heavy load is a rarity at any price point. Meanwhile, the CPU Throttling Test, which runs for a grueling 30 minutes, saw the phone maintain 68% of its maximum performance.

In 3DMark’s punishing Steel Nomad Light and Solar Bay stress tests, the OPPO Reno14 5G recorded an impressive 98% stability score in both

The company packed a hefty 6,000mAh battery into the OPPO Reno14 5G. Those claims of two-day battery life? Apparently, they’re the real deal. In our testing, the device proved to be quite a marathon runner, clocking 14 hours and 41 minutes in PCMark’s battery-rundown benchmark. In the real world, which for us included a healthy mix of social media, video and audio streaming, web browsing, and, naturally, plenty of gaming, we consistently squeezed a full day of battery life from a single charge. We can personally attest to this after using our unit to take photos and videos all day during a media event in Bohol without ever needing to plug it in every night.

But even the longest-lasting phones eventually need a top-up, and when you finally need to recharge, OPPO’s 80-watt SUPERVOOC fast charging has your back. In our tests, we were able to go from zero to 100% in a little over 45 minutes. This rare combination of marathon-level battery life and blazing-fast charging basically means you’ll spend less time tethered to an outlet and more time actually using your handset.

Other benchmarks

New camera, new possibilities

While the Reno13 Series 5G played it safe with its camera hardware, the Reno14 5G arrives with a new rear-facing setup that feels like a significant step up. This time, OPPO has packed two 50-megapixel sensors — one for the main camera and another for the telephoto — both featuring optical image stabilization and phase-detection autofocus.

The 8-megapixel ultrawide is a holdover from the last generation, and while it isn’t as sharp or detailed as the smartphone’s other sensors, its stills are generally fine for a quick snap. But don’t write it off just yet. This ultrawide now supports autofocus, which allows it to pull double duty for closeup shots, effectively replacing the usual low-res 2-megapixel macro camera most OEMs insist on including. It’s a welcome implementation we definitely prefer, and thanks to that same autofocus, you can also use it to capture those trendy ultrawide selfies with flash in clubs and at parties without worrying about them being blurry.

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Brilliant shots, even in the dark

The main camera, on the other hand, produces great-looking images in all sorts of conditions. We have little to complain about with the overall quality, as it delivers sharp, well-defined objects and pulls out plenty of detail from the shadows. The dynamic range is impressively wide, too. The results hold up well when you use the 2x zoom for both standard photos and Portrait mode.

Up front, the OPPO Reno14 5G packs a sizable 50-megapixel selfie sensor with autofocus and a bright f/2.0 lens. The results speak for themselves, with natural color reproduction, a wide dynamic range, and excellent sharpness. The inclusion of autofocus ensures you’re always in focus, making this a serious upgrade from the afterthought selfie cameras we often see on many mid-tier handsets.

But for us, the real star of the show is the 50-megapixel telephoto camera with its 80mm-equivalent 3.5x optical-zoom lens. This adds incredible versatility, allowing you to shoot everything from distant subjects to stunning portraits without having to move a muscle. It performs remarkably well for mid- to long-range shooting, delivering clean and sharp photos with just a hint of digital detail processing. More importantly, that 3.5x focal length is great for portraits, and retains fine details while rendering natural-looking skin textures and accurate colors. The camera app will even automatically switch to the telephoto lens when shooting at 10x in Photo and Video modes, or 3.5x in Portrait mode.

Sample shots. More in the videos

For video, the OPPO Reno14 5G supports recording at up to 4K at 60 frames per second on its main and telephoto cameras. The ultrawide camera is limited to 1080p at 30 FPS, and it’s frustrating that you can’t switch to it directly while recording in 4K — you have to first drop the resolution to 1080p before the ultrawide toggle becomes available. The selfie camera is likewise capable of 4K at 60 FPS, but you’ll have to drop to 1080p to use Ultra Steady mode, which minimizes stutters and jittering, making it ideal for vlogging on the go.

And while you’ll probably rarely use it, the phone even has a dedicated Underwater mode that lets you take photos and record 4K 30 FPS footage. However, since the screen is unresponsive in this mode, the camera is left to its own focusing abilities. This means there’s no guarantee your shots will be consistently crisp, or even in focus.

On the software front of things, the Reno14 5G is packed with AI smarts under the AI Editor 2.0 tool. Like the brand’s high-end models, it’s designed to make your photos look their best even when you’re not a pro photographer.

Features like AI Eraser and AI Reflection Remover allow you to magically edit out unwanted objects or reflections from your pictures. Additionally, it includes tools like AI Recompose, which automatically adjusts the crop, and AI Perfect Shot that can fix closed eyes in group shots.

And for creative expression, this model comes preloaded with the fantastic AI Studio app. It’s essentially a generative AI playground for your pictures, allowing you to transform them into a variety of wild and creative styles, such as a rugged cowboy or a retro, pixelated character. AI Studio recently introduced new features like AI Group Photo Composer and AI Style Transfer, along with AI Reimage and AI Motion, which can turn your pet images into animated 3D avatars or your landscape shots into quick, 3-second time-lapse videos.

Ultimately, while the core camera hardware delivers solid results, it’s the software, particularly the constantly evolving AI Studio app, that really sets this smartphone apart from the competition.

Final thoughts

The OPPO Reno14 5G is the most compelling — and complete — base Reno smartphone yet. It’s a design win, a midrange powerhouse, a versatile camera phone, and a battery-life champion all rolled into one. While it may not be perfect, the overall package is undeniably strong, delivering a polished user experience from top to bottom. It truly raises the bar for base models in this price bracket.

Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the price. In the Philippines, the OPPO Reno14 5G with 256GB and 512GB storage retails at P31,999 (around $562) and P34,999 ($615), respectively. Both configurations come with 12GB of physical RAM. It puts the Reno14 5G in a tricky spot, especially when you consider that discounted flagships and sub-flagships from last year are now available in the same price range, often packing even more power under the hood.

OPPO Reno14 5G specs

• 6.59-inch flat AMOLED display, 1.5K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, OPPO Crystal Shield
• 4nm Mediatek Dimensity 8350 5G processor
• Mali-G615 MC6 GPU
• 12GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 512GB UFS 3.1 storage
• Triple 50-megapixel main camera, 50-megapixel telephoto with OIS, 8-megapixel ultrawide rear cameras
• 50-megapixel front camera with autofocus
• ColorOS 15 based on Android 15
• 6,000mAh battery with 80-watt fast charging
• IP69 rating
• Color options: Luminous Green, Opal White

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