2025 Midrange Comparo: realme 14 5G vs Infinix NOTE 50 Pro+

The latter week of April was packed with several releases from different brands. Among those releases, the intriguing ones are with the Infinix NOTE 50 Pro+ and realme 14 5G, both having the same official price but have different features to offer. The realme 14 5G showcased an all-new processor from Qualcomm, while the NOTE 50 Pro+ decided to pack as many features as possible at an Php 18k price point.

Having used both phones for a few weeks, we have enough insights to share on which is the better phone. While it’s easy to say that the NOTE 50 Pro+ is the better phone overall, there are other aspects that the realme 14 5G has an advantage.

Design

We wouldn’t question the NOTE 50 Pro+ having a more superior build with an aluminum frame and a glass back, but the realme 14 5G has a higher IP68 rating despite only having a polycarbonate frame and back. The NOTE 50 Pro+ does have a respectable IP64 rating, but the realme 14 5G’s IP68 rating makes it safe to use underwater at up to 1.5m deep.

Both phones do get an LED notification light, but the NOTE 50 Pro+ spices things up with RGB lighting and a sensor for measuring heart rate and blood oxygen–a nice feature to have especially for health conscious individuals.

Display and Speakers

Both phones get AMOLED displays with optical fingerprint scanners, but the NOTE 50 Pro+ takes the lead with slimmer symmetrical bezels and a smoother 144hz refresh rate. While it may appear that the NOTE 50 Pro+ has it all, the realme 14 5G uses a panel that has a higher peak brightness at 2000nits (vs 1300nits). Those differences aside, both are on even ground with Widevine L1 support for watching Netflix videos in Full HD.

It’s a different story with audio, as the NOTE 50 Pro+’s JBL-tuned stereo speakers have better audio quality even if the realme 14 5G also comes with stereo speakers.

Cameras

While the realme 14 5G has a respectable main camera that uses a 50-megapixel IMX882 sensor, the NOTE 50 Pro+ blows it away with a better IMX896 sensor for the main camera and a 50-megapixel 3x periscope camera–making it the only under Php 20k phone to have such a feature. Both of the NOTE 50 Pro+’s main and periscope cameras can shoot 4K video at up to 60FPS, and our experience shows that Infinix has improved a lot with its post processing to rival more expensive phones.

Aside from the rear cameras, the NOTE 50 Pro+ is also better for selfies: aside from using a higher resolution sensor, it’s also capable of shooting at 4K to make it more versatile for content creation compared to the realme 14 5G.

Internals and Battery

Just like with the cameras, the NOTE 50 Pro+ dominates with its internals thanks to its use of a Dimensity 8350 processor that’s paired with 12G LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB UFS 4.0 storage. The realme 14 5G may use slower LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage (with the same configuration as the NOTE 50 Pro+), but our experience showed that the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 is a breath of fresh air as far as midrange Qualcomm chips are concerned.

Looking at battery life, the realme 14 5G is the winner with its 6000mAh cell and excellent battery life of 17 hours and 4 minutes. That’s more than double the 8 hours and 7 minutes battery life we got on the NOTE 50 Pro+ with its 5200mAh cell. Battery life may not be the NOTE 50 Pro+’s forte, but you’re getting 100w wired and 50w wireless charging to ease your worries.

Software

While both phones come with Android 15 out of the box, Infinix has yet to prove its commitment when it comes to software updates–even if they promise 2 major Android updates for the NOTE 50 Pro+. realme, on the other hand, manages to be consistent with software updates–we got a software update with the 14 5G during the time we were reviewing the phone.

Price

This is where things get interesting: both the realme 14 5G and Infinix NOTE 50 Pro+ have the same official price at Php 17,999. While it’s easy to dismiss that the NOTE 50 Pro+ is the runaway winner, there are some things that the realme 14 5G does better–specifically in terms of battery life, software, and IP rating.