Oppo has been making smartphones for more than a decade now, but most of its devices either focus on design or camera. But now that mobile gaming is popular in India, the Android phone maker has launched its first-ever dedicated gaming phone – the K13 Turbo Pro.
While mobile chipsets have gotten so powerful that some of them can even run the latest PC titles, the main problem with performance-centric devices is that they heat up and throttle after a few minutes, especially if you’re playing a graphics-intensive game.
Oppo is trying to address these very issues by packing in a dedicated cooling fan on its latest device, but does the additional piece of hardware have any noticeable real-world impact? I have been using the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro as my primary device for a few weeks, and here’s my experience with Oppo’s first mid-range gaming phone in India.
The Oppo K13 Turbo Pro has a unique design with geometric patterns on the back panel. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Design, build and display
The Oppo K13 Turbo Pro isn’t as flashy as the Poco F7 (review), which I reviewed a few months ago, but it does stand out with its futuristic-looking rear panel. I got the Silver Knight colourway, which looks great, but I personally liked the Phantom Purple variant as it looks more vibrant.
The back of the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro has numerous geometrical patterns with a matte finish, offering good grip. The phone feels pretty boxy like most flagships, and you get a flat AMOLED screen on the front. And as is the case with most Oppo devices, you get a power button in the middle part, above which there are volume controls and outlet vents for the cooling fan.
Oppo says that the K13 Turbo Pro is IPX6, IPX8 and IPX9 rated, meaning that it can easily handle rain and high-pressure water jets, but the device lacks any official dust resistance, meaning it might get damaged if you happen to drop it in sand. This might be a bummer for some, but I appreciate Oppo making the phone water-resistant.
As for the display, the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro comes with a flat 6.8-inch AMOLED screen that isn’t as bright as recent flagship devices, but the screen is visible even if you are holding the phone directly under the sun.
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Another thing I liked about the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro is that, despite being heavy, the device was pretty comfortable to hold even during my two-hour gaming sessions. The grip is pretty good, and I felt like the weight distribution is great.
Oppo K13 Turbo Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Performance
The Oppo K13 Turbo Pro is backed by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, the same chipset that powers the Poco F7. This isn’t the fastest chipset, but if you are looking for a performance-centric device that can easily run the latest titles at the highest possible settings and won’t lag in the coming years, it should be more than enough.
I installed and played the most graphically demanding titles available on Android, like Grid Legends, Wuthering Waves, Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, CarX: Street and Wreckfest to see if the cooling fan works, and the results were pretty surprising. While all games comfortably ran at around the 60 fps mark, the phone did not heat up to the point it was uncomfortable to use.
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 throttles more (left) without the fan compared to when it is running at full speed (right). (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
To check if Oppo’s cooling solution works as advertised, I ran a CPU throttling test for 15 minutes, once without the fan and once with the fan at full speed. As it turns out, the fan does work under heavy workloads.
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As you can see in the image below, the chipset throttled to 73 per cent without the fan, but when I set the fan to full speed, it throttled to 82 per cent. The difference may not be significant, but I did notice that the fan does dissipate a lot of heat.
But when you compare the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro to the Poco F7, the latter throttles a lot less, which is really surprising since the Poco phone has no physical fan. Still, the fan did come in handy during long gaming sessions, and I noticed that the Poco F7 was much hotter than the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro during prolonged gaming sessions.
The phone comes with ColorOS 15 based on Android 15 and will get only two OS updates. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Software
This is one area where the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro falls behind the competition. The phone comes with ColorOS 15 based on Android 15 out of the box, and will only get two OS updates. Since Android 16 is just around the corner, it means that the device will get its last update next year. Compared to the likes of the Poco F7 and other similarly priced devices, which will get three or four OS updates, this is really weird, and I wish Oppo would change its update policy for the K13 Turbo Pro.
Coming to ColorOS 15, this is undoubtedly the smoothest and most stable Android skin I have used to date. Be it photo editing, juggling between two or three apps, switching from an intense game to a messaging or camera app, everything was snappy and never once did I bump into any issues.
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The Oppo K13 Turbo Pro has a single camera and a notification light on the back. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Camera
Unlike most premium mid-range phones, which usually have three or four cameras, the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro has a single 50MP camera in a pill-shaped island. At first sight, it may look like the phone does have two camera sensors, but the bottom hole with the LED notification is basically the inlet vent for the cooling fan.
Considering this is a gaming phone, I don’t usually mind the weak camera setup, but there were times I wished the phone at least had an ultrawide shooter, even if it was a measly 8MP sensor. Talking about the 50MP lens, the phone does take great photos during daylight, and nighttime photos are also good. You also get 2x digital zoom, but this is as good as taking a 1x shot and zooming in.
If you are someone who often clicks pictures and wants a camera phone, the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro definitely isn’t for you, and I suggest you look elsewhere, as there are tons of better options out there.
Camera sample 1. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Camera sample 2. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Camera sample 3. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Camera sample 4. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Camera sample 5. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Camera sample 6. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Camera sample 7. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Camera sample 8. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Camera sample 9. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Battery
The Oppo K13 Turbo Pro has a massive 7,000mAh Silicon Carbon battery, which can easily last you more than a day even under heavy use. Also, the phone charges in around an hour, thanks to the superfast 80W charger included in the box.
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My typical usage involves unplugging the phone at 8 AM fully charged, listening to music on mobile data for around five to six hours, using instant messaging and social media apps like Instagram, browsing the web, watching videos for an hour, playing games for about two hours and navigating the streets of Delhi.
Even with heavy use, the phone ended up having 20 to 30 per cent at 12 AM, which is really impressive. As for the screen on time, on almost all charge cycles, I comfortably got 7 hours of usage, something I haven’t experienced on any other device.
The Oppo K13 Turbo Pro is the first phone that ended my battery anxiety, and is undoubtedly the best battery backup I have ever gotten on Android.
This is a solid phone for mobile gamers who play nonstop for hours. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express)
Oppo K13 Turbo Pro: Is this gaming phone worth buying?
With the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro, it looks like the company is catering to a really small smartphone segment – gamers. For normal users, the phone won’t make any sense since there are better alternatives out there with better cameras and more OS updates, but if you are a mobile gamer who wants a phone that can easily outlast your long gaming sessions and does not heat up, the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro is definitely a solid choice.
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If the Oppo K13 Turbo Pro offered more OS updates and an ultrawide shooter, this would be the gaming phone I would buy and stick with for years to come. But if you can look past these downsides, then this is a great gaming device by 2025 standards.