Realme’s new phone changes color in the cold, but it won’t last forever

Realme just launched its 14 Pro phones in India, and they come with a party trick: the phones can change color in the cold. That’s in addition to a triple camera flash and a triple IP rating that should protect the phone from extreme water conditions.

Both the Realme 14 Pro and 14 Pro Plus share the color-sensitive tech, though it’s limited to the pearl white versions, with purple and gray models stuck on one lousy color. Co-designed with Danish studio Valeur Designers, the pearlescent phones include thermochromic pigments that start out as white, but pick up blue hues when the temperature drops below 16 degrees Celsius (about 61 degrees Fahrenheit), reversing as it warms up again.

Image: Realme

Realme says that the colder the temperature, the faster the phone will change. It’s even possible to create short-lived patterns by only cooling specific spots, which Indian YouTubers are already enjoying putting to the test.

It does come with one meaty caveat in the small print though: “The cold-sensitive color-changing function will gradually lose effect due to daily use and is not a quality issue.” How long it will last remains to be seen, but even Realme’s own website only promises the effect “during initial use.”

The color-changing design isn’t the only oddity to the 14 Pro series. The rear cameras include three separate flash modules, a design which Realme says “automatically restores natural skin tones in low-light conditions.” On the 14 Pro Plus those flashes sit in between three camera lenses, though the 14 Pro pulls a bit of a fast one, including two rear cameras and a third circle that only looks like a lens, but is in fact empty.

Image: Realme

This is also the latest phone to feature an IP69 rating for protection against dust and jets of water at high temperatures and pressure, joining the OnePlus 13, Moto G Power, and Honor Magic 7 Pro in adopting the stringent standard, which until recently was limited to the bulkiest rugged phones. The 14 Pro is also rated IP68 for submersion in water and IP66, which also applies to jets of water but for higher water volume at lower pressures and longer distances.

Otherwise, the two Realme phones are typical midrangers. They both feature 50 megapixel main cameras and middle-of-the-line chipsets, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 in the Pro Plus model and a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 in the Pro. The large 6,000mAh batteries and 80W charging speeds are still impressive, though. Both phones are out in India now, and start at ₹22,999 (about $265).