The smartphone battery wars are really heating up (not in a Galaxy Note way). Just as 7,000mAh+ batteries start to become the norm on many flagship phones, Realme has today gone one better with the release of its latest smartphone – the P4 Power 5G – featuring the Chinese tech company's first 10,001 mAh battery.

Realme describes it as the "world's first 10,001mAh Titan Battery". If you're only considering popular consumer models, it takes the capacity crown from phones like the Oppo Find X9 Pro and Honor Magic 8 Lite with their 7,500mAh cells – and is almost double the 5,088mAh capacity of my iPhone 17 Pro Max! Although Apple has proven that through tight hardware and software integration, bigger capacity batteries don't necessarily mean better longevity.

If you expand your search to "rugged" smartphones, then you'll find devices that are capable of nearly 25,000 mAh – although not in as svelte a design as the P4 Power.

Nonetheless, Realme's achievement with their new Titan battery looks very impressive indeed. By utilizing silicon-carbon anode technology and an advanced C Pack and F Pack protection design, the P4 Power 5G should be capable of delivering even longer-lasting performance than what we've seen yet. And the fact that this battery is contained in a 9.08mm, 219g body only increases the kudos.

The P4 Power 5G supports 80W fast charging, which, despite its huge capacity, means it can be recharged to 50 per cent in just 36 minutes. Beyond that, the phone can also be used as a power bank to power accessories and other devices, thanks to a speedy 27W reverse charging feature.

Impressive battery specs continue with the device able to handle temperatures ranging from –30°C to 56°C. That's a greater range than I could physically survive in, not that I'm up for trying. Long-term battery health is also good, with the battery allegedly retaining more than 80% capacity after eight years.

It's not all about the battery

Aside from battery specs, the P4 Power 5G aims to combine flagship-level performance and a bold 'Visible Power Design'. It utilizes the Dimensity 7400 Ultra 5G chipset, which promises faster image recognition, enhanced HDR processing, and reliable 4K recording.

Then there's the HyperGlow 4D Curve AMOLED display, which features a 144Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 6500 nits. That means the phone is clearly visible in bright outdoor conditions and has a refresh rate that is ideal for fast-paced mobile gaming.

Aside from the internal hardware, the P4 Power 5G has a rear panel that is split into two zones, with the lower section containing the battery, and the upper transparent area reveals the internal circuitry.

Beyond aesthetics, the device features IP69, IP68, and IP66 protection, ArmorShell Protection, Corning Gorilla Glass, 400% UltraBoom high-volume audio, and the latest Realme UI 7.0.

Price and Availability

Realme likes to focus its efforts in India, Southeast Asia, and China, so we're pretty doubtful that this smartphone will ever be released in the US or UK. What we do know is that it'll be available in India from today (January 29th). Available in Flash Orange and Power Silver. The final pricing is yet to be confirmed.

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Realme isn't the most well-known smartphone brand out there, especially in the West, but the Chinese company is certainly looking to change that with the release of the GT 8 Pro. The long-awaited announcement reveals a laundry list of top features for the new flagship, including a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, a 7000 nit HyperGlow display, a 7000mAh battery, the world’s first switchable camera bump – and a brand new Ricoh GR powered camera system.

Let's dive into the cameras. Thanks to a partnership with Ricoh GR, the GT 8 Pro features the Ricoh compact's classic 28mm and 40mm focal lengths that make it, according to Realme, the "best street snap shooter". For this, the camera uses Realme's new Super QPD Snap algorithm, which it claims enables a new level of instant shooting.

The GT 8 Pro also serves up some classic Ricoh GR film tones, including Standard, Positive, Negative, Monotone, and High-Contrast Black & White, to deliver authentic GR-style aesthetics. Realme claims it feels like holding a Ricoh GR IV camera in hand while capturing every moment with precision and creativity.

Beyond these "street moments", the camera system also includes an impressive 200MP Ultra Clarity telephoto lens equipped with a flagship 1/1.56-inch sensor. With a 3x focal length, the camera promises to create a natural depth, while "advanced algorithms ensure every strand and feature stays crisp".

The camera system is rounded off with an upgraded 50MP ultra-wide camera with a 116° field of view and F2.0 aperture. That means you'll have no problems capturing group shots or sweeping cityscapes.

In terms of video, the GT 8 Pro features 4K 120fps Dolby Vision, 8K 30fps ultra-high-resolution recording, and 4k 120fps 10-bit Log format. That's enough video smarts to get both casual users and professionals excited.

If that wasn't enough, the phone also boasts the first-ever switchable camera bump. Given that no other camera brand has ever attempted anything like this, I'm left impressed by Realme's innovation. Users can customize their phone's look by unscrewing the original bump before fitting their chosen one with a precise lock-in click.

At the heart of the GT 8 Pro is a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, which features a 3rd-gen Qualcomm Oryon CPU clocking at 4.6GHz. The chip works in tandem with Realme's Hyper Vision+ AI Chip to enable parallel rendering with the GPU, boosting image resolution by up to 4x and refresh rate to 144Hz for silky-smooth gameplay.

To guarantee long-lasting use between charges, the GT 8 Pro includes a 7000mAh Titan battery that is supported by 120W Ultra Charge and 50W wireless charging. Realme claims this delivers "continuous YouTube and TikTok playing for more than 20 hours, and lasting MLBB gameplay for 8.4 hours".

The 2K 144Hz HyperGlow display results in an impressive peak brightness of 7000 nits, which should be more than sufficient for use even in the brightest direct sunlight. The GT 8 Pro includes a Symmetric Master Acoustic Speaker, an Ultra Haptic Motor, and a 7K Ultimate VC Cooling System.

The GT 8 Pro will be available in Diary White and Urban Blue colors, featuring 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for the base variant and 16GB RAM and 512GB storage for the higher variant.

The GT 8 Pro will not see a release in the US, and so far, only Indian pricing has been confirmed, which typically differs significantly from European launch prices. In India, the 12GB/256GB base model comes in at ₹67,999 (~ $776 / £586 / €665 ), while the 16GB/512GB version is priced at ₹73,999 (~ $834 / £638 / €724).

According to a Realme representative, European pricing is expected to be announced on November 24. Early leaks point to a much higher price tag in Europe, potentially starting around £999 / €1,099 (that's around $1,265) for the base model, though we’ll have to wait to see how accurate those predictions are.

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Realme isn’t the biggest smartphone brand in the world right now, but it’s certainly one of the fastest-growing, known for its trend-setting designs that appeal to younger consumers. Set for release on November 20, the Chinese-based company is unveiling more about its latest flagship phone, the GT 8 Pro – powered by Ricoh GR.

Given that the world has been subjected to a lot of smartphone releases in the past few months, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was just another typecast flagship phone. Far from it, though.

The GT 8 Pro features a world’s first: the first-ever switchable camera bump. Yep, you read it right. A design component that has remained rigidly uncustomizable since it was popularized by the iPhone 6 will now be interchangeable. As a result, users can switch their device’s look by simply unscrewing the original camera bump, picking their preferred one, and confirming the fit with a precise lock-in click.

It's a bold move from Realme, and only time will tell whether other smartphone brands will follow suit.

Here is realme’s justification for the bold design choice: “Young users want devices that reflect their unique personalities, but the flagship market has forced them to choose between identical designs. This isn’t just a feature; it’s our blueprint for redefining flagship design: diverse, personalized, and true to the user.”

We don't yet have a full list of bumps available at launch, but Realme has suggested you'll be able to at least choose from round, square, and a robot-themed attachment. These can also be paired with Realme's Color-Mix concept, which matches the lens module's shade to subtly contrast the hue of the phone's body, which adds another layer of personalization for the GT 8 Pro.

Beyond the camera bump

The big headline for camera fans, though, is still Realme partnering with Ricoh to co-engineer the camera system for the GT 8 Pro. The collaboration promises a custom lens and image processing derived from the GR series, including five “GR Film Styles” (e.g., Positive Film, Negative Film, Monotone) to mimic the “film-like authenticity” of Ricoh’s street-photography compacts. The aim is to offer phone users a more organic, street-photography–friendly experience that brings the essence of the GR compact camera into a smartphone form factor.

The phone will ship in two shades: Diary White and Urban Blue, with the latter showcasing a paper-like leather back panel. This is made from recycled plastics and textiles, which is a big win for sustainability. The phone includes a 7,000mAh battery with 120W wired and 50W wireless charging. It's also rated to IP66, IP68, and IP69 for ingress protection.

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After days of teasing, smartphone brand Realme has officially announced a landmark partnership with Ricoh Imaging, the company behind the iconic GR family of street photography cameras, to co-engineer the camera system for the upcoming realme GT 8 Pro phone – bringing tthe looks and shooting modes of the popular GR III (and its successor, the GRIV) to a mobile device for the first time.

Unveiled at a launch event in Beijing, the collaboration marks what both brands describe as one of the “deepest imaging partnerships” in the industry. The GT 8 Pro will debut a Ricoh GR-powered camera system, promising an experience that blends the ease of phone photography with the authenticity of Ricoh’s cult compact series.

According to the announcement, the phone will feature a new custom-designed lens meeting GR optical standards, with Realme promising an ultra-high-transparency lens group offering anti-glare coatings and low distortion.

The GT 8 Pro will also introduce a dedicated GR Mode with hallmark features like the distinctive GR shutter sound, quick startup, and Snap Mode – Ricoh’s street photography cheat mode, which locks in a preset focus distance for quick street shots.

And as reported, Ricoh’s influence will extend beyond optics to image tone and looks. The phone will include five GR Film Styles – Standard, Positive Film, Negative Film, Monotone, and High-Contrast B&W – which aim to reproduce the “film-like” rendering that Ricoh GR fans love. These tones are derived from GR color science, offering what Realme calls a more “organic, imperfect” aesthetic compared to the clean imagery typical of modern phones.

Realme’s Vice President, Chase Xu, described the GT 8 Pro as “a device that embodies freedom, creativity, and authenticity,” while Ricoh Imaging’s Kazunobu Saiki said the partnership “revitalizes street photography culture for the next generation.”

The GT 8 Pro will come with dual focal lengths of 28mm and 40mm, a minimal Viewfinder Mode, and a GR-style watermark.

The GT 8 Pro aims squarely at photographers who want the look of the Ricoh GR IV – but without having to carry a separate compact camera. The Realme GT 8 Pro will launch “globally” later this year – although specific territories are yet to be confirmed.

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This week brought the news that Chinese phone brand Realme has been working with Ricoh to co-develop the camera on the new Realme GT 8 Pro.

While the announcement was short on specs (being, in fact, an announcement of the announcement that's actually due next week), the headline feature is that the phone will inherit the five signature image tones of the Ricoh GR IV.

Image tones are Ricoh-speak for film simulations / picture profiles / LUTs / whatever the cool kids are calling them on other brands. In other words, the Realme GT 8 Pro will be able to shoot using the same glorified image filters as the GR IV – and in these sample photos, courtesy of The Federation of Independent Photographers, we can see exactly what they will look like:

In case you're unfamiliar with Ricoh's image tones, designed to "embody the texture of film", they are:

• Standard
"Balanced and restrained, authentic and natural, restoring the true nature of the scene."

• Positive
"Enhanced colors and bold tones capture a vibrant scene beyond the naked eye.

• Negative
"Desaturated colors, soft and enduring, with a subtle retro film feel."

• Black and White
"Focuses on rich grayscale, presenting delicate light and shadow transitions."

• High Contrast Black and White
"Highly impactful images, capturing the geometric structure and light and shadow essence of street scenes."

Personally, I think these profiles are the missing ingredient that camera phones have been looking for. Because everything else is there; the resolution, the optical and digital zoom, the HDR performance, the AI integration… in many ways, phones are better all-purpose photo devices than mirrorless cameras. They just miss soul.

The images are clinical and uninteresting – but by adding the equivalent of Fujifilm's Film Simulations, all of a sudden they become genuinely interesting photographic devices rather than just impressive examples of imaging technology.

My colleague Kalum recently pondered why no camera manufacturer has licensed Kodak's film simulations. Personally, I'm wondering why no phone manufacturer has done it. Because it looks like Ricoh and Realme have finally given me a reason to stop bringing my big boy camera everywhere with me. 

If I can take photos that look like these samples, straight out of my phone, then maybe I don't need a "proper" everyday camera after all…

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Ricoh, the brand behind well-loved compact cameras for street photography like the Ricoh GR IV and GR III, is working on a smartphone camera with the China-based brand Realme. Realme and Ricoh are teaming up to launch a new smartphone, which will be announced later this month, Realme announced.

On October 14, Realme will launch a new smartphone in the GT 8 Pro series that has a camera powered by the Ricoh GR series. While the teaser was scarce on details, the company’s comments offer a few hints as to what a smartphone camera powered by the same company behind the Ricoh GR IV and GR III may look like.

One comment from the announcement in particular has me eager to see what, exactly is coming: “This device seamlessly blends nearly 30 years of Ricoh GR heritage, including its iconic film-like aesthetic and five classic image tones, with Realme’s strengths in mobile imaging and profound insights into the preferences of current generations, creating a unique synergy that advances street photography culture through joint development and co-engineering.”

The color profiles on the Ricoh GR III HDF were one of my favorite features on the camera. And the announcement makes the upcoming camera phone sound like it will take a more film-inspired approach rather than the focus on computational photography of many flagship smartphones.

“People are getting tired of the same ‘perfect style’ photos. More and more, everyone wants to show their own style, instead of copying the same look,” Realme’s Vice President and CMO Chase Xu said.

Color profiles aren’t the only tease in the partnership announcement. Realme says that the GT 8 Pro will include “groundbreaking innovations in optical capabilities, color algorithms, imaging tones, and a tailor-made UI design that mimics the feel of a Ricoh GR camera.”

One of the reasons the GR series is so popular is that it’s an APS-C sensor with a bright prime lens, yet it's wrapped in an unassuming body that not only fits in a pocket but also doesn’t scream “I’m a pro photographer.” That’s a feature street photographers love in that it makes it easier to snap more candid photographs when you’re not carrying a larger camera.

Realme hasn’t explicitly said what the upcoming smartphone’s sensor size or lens (or perhaps lenses?) will be. But the announcement’s focus on color profiles and imperfect but authentic images has certainly piqued my interest. Sadly, Realme doesn’t appear to currently sell smartphones from US or UK carriers.

I don’t think it's a coincidence that dedicated compact cameras are returning at the same time that smartphone cameras are becoming increasingly “perfect” and increasingly based on computational photography. The Ricoh GR series is an unassuming compact camera that’s far from perfect (it does, after all, still have just a 4 fps burst in 2025) but is well-loved for its ability to capture authentic snapshots from a portable, unassuming camera.

While Ricoh’s GR series name is now used for its compact digital cameras, the GR series dates back to compact film cameras beginning in 1996, before moving to digital in 2005.

Realme says that the collaboration with Ricoh is four years in the making. The announcement is slated for October 14.

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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then cameras should be blushing at all the attention from smartphone brands. At one of the biggest smartphone events of the year, both Xiaomi and RealMe showed off experimental devices that gave smartphones mirrorless-like lenses. But while the Xiaomi Optical Modular System and RealMe Interchangeable Lens Concept were unveiled in 2025, the concept “cameras” took me back a full decade – because camera companies already tried to do the same thing years ago, and failed.

The year is 2014 and, hot on the heels of the company’s very first full-frame mirrorless camera the year before, Sony took another risk and launched the QX1, an APS-C sensor that used E-Mount lenses and attached to a smartphone. The Sony QX1 was, essentially, a camera without the camera. The QX1 offered the sensor and lens mount, but operating the camera was largely done through whatever smartphone it was mounted on.

Sony would later go on to announce the XQ10 and XQ30, zooming smartphone-attachable cameras with a point-and-shoot sized sensor, and the XQ100, a smartphone-attachable camera with a one-inch sensor similar to the RX100 series. A year after the XQ1, Olympus tried the Air A01, a Micro Four Thirds sensor and lens mount that similarly omitted the LCD screen in favor of a smartphone.

All four of those cameras from Sony and Olympus have all been discontinued, without successors, indicating that the unusual format wasn’t popular enough to get up off the ground. But, fast forward ten years and now there’s not just the Xiaomi Optical Modular System and the RealMe Interchangeable Lens Concept, but the upcoming Alice Camera as well as the SwitchLens that raised more than $800,000 on Kickstarter.

That raises the all-important question: Did cameras like the Sony QX1 fail because the technology wasn’t ready yet, or because not enough people even want a cross between a smartphone and a mirrorless camera?

I remember trying out one of the early Sony QX cameras. One of my biggest issues with the camera-that's-not-quite-a-camera was the delay that resulted from having to connect to the phone using Wi-Fi. There was a noticeable delay between when the shutter release was pressed and when the image was actually taken, rendering it fairly useless for shots of moving subjects.

But 2025 technology could help allay some of that issue. The Xiaomi concept camera-phone uses LaserLink, which uses near-infrared to transfer the data to the phone. The RealMe concept eliminates the need to connect wirelessly entirely, where the phone is essentially the mirrorless camera body, just with glass to protect the sensor when a lens isn’t in use. The Alice Camera uses wireless connectivity, albeit in a more modern form including Wi-Fi 6.

But the other part as to why I think cameras like the QX1 and Air A01 failed to take off is that smartphones have terrible ergonomics for taking photos. The thin design is excellent for slipping into a pocket, but not so great for holding up a large lens for long periods without having something to wrap your fingers around.

Another potential factor at play is that, in 2025, it's not just photographers buying cameras. Influencers are undoubtedly playing a role in the market as well and could be drawn to the concept of a smartphone that operates like a mirrorless camera. Ten years ago, influencers were a far smaller niche category of buyers.

Cameras like the QX1 weren’t the only experiments to try to mix the best of dedicated cameras with mobile photography. Cameras like the Zeiss ZX1 and Samsung Galaxy NX are dedicated cameras, but with an Android operating system that allows them to run photo editing apps and share images without a smartphone at all. But, like the QX and Air series, have both been discontinued.

Perhaps what is most ironic about smartphone brands' attempts to be more camera-like is that it comes at a time when dedicated cameras are seeing a resurgence. Compact cameras are now in high demand after nearly dying out, in part for the small size and, I could argue because it’s not a smartphone. A dedicated camera gives you more than ergonomics, swappable lenses, and better image quality; it gives you the ability to capture memories without being distracted by notifications and apps. Or, for that matter, draining the smartphone battery.

I’m amused but also glad to see the latest attempts to merge smartphones and mirrorless cameras into one device, however. I think the engineers who design cameras and the photographers using them both need creativity and experimenting – even if those experiments feel slightly recycled or never really get up off the ground. But, I certainly won’t be first in line to buy a smartphone-mirrorless mashup.

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Despite this year's crop of best camera phones launching with some of the best periscope telephoto zoom lenses we have ever seen, it looks like some brands agree that you still can't beat classic optical lens design – with modular lens designs making a big comeback at the MWC 2025 show in Barcelona.

We have already seen Xiaomi release a concept device that magnetically attaches a lens and Micro Four Thirds camera to the back of a custom Xiaomi 15 – but now RealMe is also getting in on the action with a concept design of its own that attaches Leica M-mount lenses over a 1-inch sensor.

Unlike the adapted Xiaomi 15, the RealMe phone has been developed entirely for this concept. Where the best lenses for iPhone and Android phones are designed to simply slot on over the top of an existing lens – the sensor on the RealMe device is exposed much like a mirrorless camera (although is protected by a layer of glass). The sensor is then surrounded by a custom camera ring to mount the proprietary adapter.

To account for the flange distance on the Leica M-mount lenses this system uses, the adapter is already pretty chunky before you even attach a lens – and is almost the same size as Xiaomi's entire concept lens. After attaching a lens to the RealMe's adapter, it's safe to say that ergonomics go out the window.

RealMe had two lenses in the booth, a 90mm ZhongYi Mitakon Speedmaster and a 28mm lens from Thypoch – a 243mm and 73mm when you take into account the 1-inch sensors 2.7x crop factor.

I mostly had hands-on with the 90mm lens, and you really have to adjust how you even think about holding a camera. The system is so front-heavy that you can forget about holding it up via the phone, instead, I found myself gripping the entire system by the lens. The concept would really benefit from a camera grip case akin to the ones Xiaomi makes for its Ultra line of phones – but then are we turning this phone back into a camera?

In its current form, the RealMe concept is not able to power autofocus and is missing the electrical contacts to provide EXIF data – which is why RealMe has opted for Leica's manual focus-only M-mount. Luckily though there is a pretty sizable range of M-mount lenses already, so you easily get a collection of different size lenses and a variety of focal lengths.

It's an interesting concept, although it is nearly identical to one we have seen before – with Xiaomi previewing a very similar idea a few years ago for the 12S Ultra – and with it consistently cropping up, I'm sure this won't be the last time we see this concept.

There is no denying the convenience of these concepts – but when incredible compact cameras with big zoom lenses and larger sensors exist as a step up from phone cameras, and if you are after the best image quality, and willing to carry around lenses, then you're probably also not going to be that bothered about carrying one of the best mirrorless cameras as well.

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Realme's next mid-range camera phone, the Realme 14 Pro+, is set to launch later this month, but details about the phone's camera modules have already been revealed. Its primary camera will apparently use a 50 MP, 1/1.56″ Sony IMX896 sensor, paired with a 24mm-equivalent f/1.8 lens featuring OIS. An 8MP ultrawide snapper is also present, giving a 112° field of view with an f/2.2 aperture.

The final module in the rear-facing trio is a periscope telephoto camera. However, this doesn't use a typical periscope lens, but rather a clever triple-prism design, said to give a 3x focal length boost relative to the 24mm primary camera. The telephoto module design looks similar to (and possibly may be the same as) the 73mm triple-prism module in the Oppo Find X8 Pro. Though the Oppo phone uses Sony's LYT-600 sensor where the Realme 14 Pro+ reportedly has a 1/1.95" Sony IMX882, some sources claim the LYT-600 is simply a rebranded IMX882. As for why Realme has opted to fit a triple-prism telephoto module rather than a conventional periscope lens; we suspect the former takes up less space within the phone.

Elsewhere, Prolific - and often accurate - tipster Digital Chat Station has claimed that the 14 Pro+ will have a 32MP selfie camera with eye-tracking AF, set within a 6.83" display with 2800 x 1272 resolution. It's also rumoured that the phone will be IP66/68/69 certified, will weigh 194g, and be 7.99mm thick. Processing power is said to come from the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 SoC, and the phone could pack a large-capacity 6000mAh battery supporting 80W fast charging.

Battery charging: not usually an exciting subject, but here's some charging news that could get the juices flowing(!). Realme has just debuted its new SuperSonic Charge, which at a mind-boggling 320 Watts is capable of fully charging (1-100%) a 4,420mAh phone battery in just 4 minutes 30 seconds. Charging to 50% takes less than two minutes, while a 26% charge can be achieved in just one minute.

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Phone manufacturers have been steadily ramping up charging speed for several years now. Realme itself has progressed from 65W fast charging in 2021 with the X7 Pro, through 150W and 240W charging in 2022 and 2023, respectively. You'd think that would be fast enough, but with arch-rival Xiaomi boasting 300W charging speed for its Redmi brand, Realme couldn't surrender the competition.

Increasing charging speed isn't just a matter of turning up the wattage in the charger and hoping for the best. To achieve such incredible charge rates, Realme has engineered a special battery design containing multiple cells which can be charged simultaneously, thus reducing charge time. In order to pack multiple cells into a super-slim overall profile required for a svelte smartphone, Realme apparently took inspiration from the folded solar panels used on satellites, folding four super-thin cells into a stack to form the overall battery module.

The design is said to offer a 10% higher capacity for its physical size than conventional form factors. Realme's SuperSonic Charge charger is also special. Dubbed "Pocket Cannon", it has a high power density of 3.3 watts per cubic centimetre (up from 2.34 watts per cubic centimetre in Realme's previous 240W charger) and is advertised as 93% efficient during charging. The charger is compatible with multiple fast-charging standards and can be used to charge two USB-C devices simultaneously.

Of course, with ever-increasing charge speeds comes the usual question about exacerbating long-term battery degradation. Conventional wisdom suggests that slow charging is kinder to a battery than rapid charging, while regularly rapid charging a battery from near fully discharged to completely full is also said to place added strain on lithium batteries. However, I get the impression that for most consumers, any consideration for long-term battery life will likely come a distant second to the convenience of rapid charging. And should a phone's battery capacity take a noticeable hit after a year or two as a result of frequent fast charging, then it's simply time to ditch the phone and upgrade.

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Realme has announced a new addition to its Realme 12 series: the Realme 12+. Positioned as a lower mid-range handset, it features a 50MP primary rear-facing camera, with a 26mm-equivalent focal length, an f/1.88 aperture and optical image stabilization. The Sensor itself is a 1/1.953-inch Sony Lytia LYT-600 chip, which is capable of 2x in-sensor zoom and can record 4K 30fps video.

The two other rear-facing cameras include an 8MP, 1/4.0-inch ultrawide module with a 16mm-equivalent focal length, equating to a 112˚ field of view. An obligatory 2MP macro camera makes up the triple-camera array. Selfie camera duties are fulfilled by a 16MP 1/3.0-inch, 24mm-equivalent front-facing camera.

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Despite its relatively humble market position, the Realme 12+ gets a large 6.67" AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a high 2000-nit peak brightness. The screen is also HDR10+ capable and has a 1080 x 2400 resolution.

At the heart of the phone is a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 chipset with 8GB RAM. 128GB and 256GB storage options are available, but neither includes a card slot for storage expansion. Power comes from a 5000mAh battery that supports 67W wired charging.

The Realme 12+ is expected to go on sale on March 8th, priced at around $300 and available in green or beige colorways.

Remember, back in 2018, when Canon told us that the RF mount was going to make impossible lenses possible? Well, if you didn't believe it before, you'd better believe it now: behold the Canon RF 24-105mm f/2.8L IS USM Z, the trinity lens to end all trinity lenses.

This "trinity buster" was announced along with two other optics – the similarly unreal Canon RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 IS USM super telephoto and the ultra-cheap ultra-wide Canon RF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM – with Canon putting the rest of the camera industry on notice when it comes to lens development. 

Far from just upgrading a DSLR lens to a mirrorless mount, or adding a bit more bokeh to a portrait lens, what Canon has done here is achieved something hitherto believed optically impossible – increasing the range of a 24-70mm trinity lens by 50% while still retaining the f/2.8 aperture and optical performance. It's truly incredible, and something that has never been done before. 

The RF 24-105mm f/2.8L Z boasts more firsts – starting with that "Z", which signifies that this is a Power Zoom lens. By adding one of the two new modules, the PZ-E2 (with USB-C input) and the PZ-E2B (with an additional 20-pin connector), the 24-105mm f/2.8 becomes a motorized zoom lens that can be controlled locally or remotely.

And why would this lens need a Power Zoom function? Because of another first: this being the first of a series of hybrid RF lenses that bridge Canon's Cinema EOS optics (traditionally bigger and more expensive), EOS R optics (smaller, lighter, photo-centric and missing video features) and broadcast optics (designed for the unique requirements of broadcast production).

As such, the RF 24-105mm f/2.8L Z (and those that follow it) is an electronic parfocal lens that features minimal focus breathing, a dedicated stepless aperture ring (that only works in video mode, currently at least), servo control, remote control and Virtual System compatibility. Interestingly, though, unlike Canon's cine lenses, this still measures aperture in f-stops rather than T-stops (which measure the true transmission of light). 

The lens possesses 5 stops of optical stabilization, offering up to 8 stops when painted with a camera featuring in-body image stabilization. Its optical formula features four ultra low-dispersion elements and three aspherical elements, with Dual Nano USM motors to push them around, and Air Sphere, Super Spectra and fluorine coatings – all of which, Canon told me, produces optical performance on par with the Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8L and far in excess of the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L. 

As you might expect, this isn't a small lens – though at 88.5 x 199mm in size and 1,330g in weight, it's a lot more compact than you might have imagined. The price, however, is probably in line with what you'd expect of such a formidable lens, clocking in at $2,999 / £3,439 / AU$5,399.

Check out our hands-on Canon RF 24-105mm f/2.8L IS USM Z review to see what we thought (spoiler alert: we liked it a lot). 

The 200-800mm seems destined to join the ranks of the best Canon RF lenses. Take a look at the best Canon Black Friday deals to see what's on offer, or check out the best Black Friday camera deals from all the brands.

Following being launched into their home market of China last week, the Realme 10 Pro series of camera phones, consisting of the Realme 10 Pro and 10 Pro+, will see a global launch on December 8th. The news was announced by Realme, via twitter and as the smartphones have already been announced in China, we already know what to expect…

Realme 10 Pro+: Specifications

Now that the global launch for the Realme 10 Pro series has been officially confirmed, we know that Realme 10 Pro+ will become the first Realme smartphone with a curved screen to launch outside of China. The curved Full HD+ AMOLED display measures 6.7-inches and has 1B colors and HDR10+ support.

The new smartphone features the Dimensity 1080 chip, a 5,000 mAh battery with 67W charging and runs on Android 13 with Realme UI 4.0 on top.

Available in black, blue and starlight colorways, the Realme 10 Pro+ packs a triple camera system consisting of a 108MP f/1.8 main, 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP depth unit. For selfies, there’s 16MP front-facing camera, on the front. 

Realme 10 Pro: Specifications 

Powered by the Snapdragon 695 chip, the Realme 10 Pro runs on Android 13 with Realme UI 4.0 on top and features a 6.72-inch 120Hz Full HD+ LCD. There’s a decent 5,000 mAh battery with 33W charging and fingerprint sensor. 

Camera-wise, the Realme 10 Pro, which comes in black, blue and starlight colorways, has a dual camera setup on the back which consists of a 108 MP f/1.8 main shooter and a 2MP depth unit. Up front there’s a 16MP selfie-snapper. 

Realme 10: Price and availability 

Realme is holding a launch event on December 8th at 3 PM UTC +8 to launch into all global markets, except India, where Realme has scheduled a separate event starting at 12:30 PM IST.

Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but we are hoping pricing won’t be much different from the competitive prices seen in China, where the Realme 10 Pro+ starts at 1,699 yuan (roughly $236/£195) and the Realme 10 Pro starts at 1,599 yuan (roughly $223/£184).

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Realme has confirmed, via their official Twitter account, that their upcoming 10 series smartphones will launch in November. The Chinese manufacturer has also teased that the Realme 10 series will see three major upgrade areas, or as they call it "leap-forward technologies" of performance, design, and display.

This tweet from Realme marks the beginning of their teaser campaign for the 10 series, which will update the Realme 9 phone series, so doesn’t give much away. Luckily, as is the usual way, as the phone has gotten closer to launch there are rumours surrounding the new series. 

Realme 10 series: Specifications 

Courtesy of GSMArena, who spotted the Realme 10 and 10Pro+ getting certified in China, we know that the Realme 10 (RMX3663) will feature a flat display and back alongside a dual camera setup consisting of two large cut-outs. Meanwhile, the certification tells us that the Realme 10 Pro+ (RMX3687) will boast a curved display and curved back, as well as three camera modules.

Another certification, this time in Thailand and again spotted by GSMArena, notes that the Realme 10 Pro+ (RMX3686) has passed the China Quality Certification (CQC) database with a 4,890 mAh rated battery capacity, which will mean a 5,000 mAh typical capacity battery. The 10 Pro+ is also rumored to have the Dimensity 1080 SoC and to boast a 120 Hz refresh rate, 50MP main camera with OIS and 67W charging support.

The vanilla Realme 10 is rumored to use the Helio G99 chip and also to have a huge 5,000 mAh battery but with slower 33W charging and a flat screen, which all sounds believable. 

What isn’t clear currently is if there will be a Realme 10 Pro sitting between the 10 and 10 Pro+ in the new series, as we’ve not heard any rumor or leaks around this particular model. 

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The Realme GT Neo 3 packs world-first, 150W charging speeds, filling up the battery by 50 percent in as little as seven minutes in our tests. In addition to breaking records, the GT Neo 3 also packs a new chipset from MediaTek – and a new chip means new image processing. Add to the mix a snazzy, racing car-inspired design, and we're not too sure what to make of this headline-grabbing mix of highlights. 

Given the phone costs roughly $750 (£599 in the UK), it's one of the most expensive phones Realme's ever launched. While it does pack some flagship features – a billion-color AMOLED screen, and the same primary camera sensor as Oppo's Find X5 Pro, it's also decidedly midrange in areas – the screen resolution is Full HD, not Quad HD, and there's a budget-grade 2MP macro camera in the mix which is a mark of a budget phone if we ever saw one. 

Does Realme sacrifice too many of its premium features to hit that 150W speed, or is the GT Neo 3 a great package helped along by that speedy fast charging?

Also see: Best budget camera phone of 2022

Realme GT Neo 3: Design and screen

The Realme GT Neo 3 is available in three colors: Asphalt Black, Sprint White, and Nitro Blue – also known as Le Mans Blue. 

While the back of the phone is rich, frosted, curved glass, the sides are plastic, so feel cheaper than the metal frames we'd expect at the GT Neo 3's price. The phone is light though, and well-weighted, so if you can get past the plastic feeling less fancy, there are benefits to a non-metal chassis. 

There's a USB-C port at the base, alongside a SIM tray and loudspeaker, with the power button on the right, and volume buttons on the left side. 

A pre-fitted screen protector shields the screen and there's also a case in the box, however, Realme doesn't offer up an IP rating for this phone, so while we can assume it's splash-proof, don't go dunking it any time soon. 

There's a large, 10-bit screen measuring 6.7in on the front of the GT Neo 3, which houses a selfie punch-hole camera in the center.  It's punchy – unsurprising given the AMOLED screen tech, and with HDR10+ credentials and a high refresh rate of 120Hz, it's smooth too.

You can get a sharper screen for the price – especially if you opt for a last-gen flagship. That said, the GT Neo 3's 1080 x 2412 resolution is sharp enough, and the phone gets nice and bright too.

Realme GT Neo 3: Camera specs

The Realme GT Neo 3's main camera features a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor with 1-micron pixels, OIS, and an f/1.85 aperture lens. The secondary camera is an 8MP ultra-wide with a 16mm focal length and an f/2.25 aperture. Finally, the macro camera is a 2MP f/2.5 module. 

With a front camera resolution of 16MP, matched with an f/2.4 lens and a 27mm focal length, selfies aren’t super-wide, so you may struggle to get loads of people in frame. 

The Realme GT Neo 3 captures video at up to 4K resolution, 60fps. It also shoots RAW photos, and features a manual ISO of up to 6400, and a shutter speed as long as 32 seconds. 

As for shooting modes, these include old favorites like Night, Portrait, Video, Photo, Pro Mode, 50MP, and more, as well as the semi-automatic Street Mode, for more creative shots.

Realme GT Neo 3: Camera performance

Like past Realme phones, the GT Neo 3 boosts saturation and contrast. While this characteristic usually helps boost weak sensors and lenses in lower-priced or worse-specced Realme phones, in the GT Neo 3 it actually adds a zing to a high-quality image. There's also a lot of detail you can salvage from shadows, which you'll need to do as the camera can underexpose certain scenes.

The IMX 766 sensor captures plenty of detail, shooting photos at 12.5MP by default, and whether captured in bright or dark environments, it holds up well.

Optical image stabilization really helps the primary camera along at night, and shots of close-up objects pack a pleasingly shallow depth of field. We wish the ultra-wide, macro, and selfie cameras were as reliable as the primary camera. Frustratingly, low-light and handshake spell a soft or blurry picture across all three. Stick with the main camera though, and you'll seldom be disappointed. 

The only time we didn't like what the main camera produced was when lighting was very harsh. This produced blown-out highlights and dark areas – the ugly side of Realme's high-contrast processing. 

That said, jump into the settings and activate 10-bit HEIF capture to increase the color range, and both Pro Mode and Street Photography modes support RAW capture, so enthusiasts who want to bypass Realme's heavy-handed processing have options.

We struggled when taking selfies on the Realme GT Neo 3. It took a super-steady hand to grab a sharp shot in all but the best lighting, and the portrait mode wasn't super-flattering, oftentimes missing one or both of our ears. 

Video capture on the GT Neo 3 is impressive, stable, and loaded with detail at up to 60fps in 4K. Where the camera system really misses the mark for a $750 device is that dedicated macro camera. In anything but optimal light, you’d be better deferring to the main camera.

Realme GT Neo 3: Additional specs

At the heart of the Realme GT Neo 3 is a MediaTek Dimensity 8100 chip. While you don't see many (actually, you don't see any) MediaTek-powered phones in the West at the GT 3 Neo's price, the Dimensity 8100 is the most powerful processor we've seen from MediaTek to date.

Don't be alarmed though, we had a great day-to-day experience with the GT Neo 3. Everything from apps through to multi-tasking, gaming, photo editing and even stitching 4K video clips together moved along swiftly. 

Most notably, the phone stayed cooler than most flagships running Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chips, including the Honor Magic 4 Pro and Xiaomi 12 Pro. While it might miss out on some of the graphics grunt of competitors, therefore, the Realme GT Neo 3 might be the better option for gamers who like long bouts of button-bashing. 

There's an ample 256GB storage inside the Realme GT Neo 3, and this is matched with 12GB RAM. 

Naturally, given the fact this is the world's fastest charging phone, it powers up very quickly, taking the 4500mAh battery from zero to 50 percent in just seven minutes, and fully charging it in under 20 minutes.

The phone also lasts a comfortable day in real-world use unless you're hammering the screen-on time, leaving us with between 10-25 percent by the end of the day.

Realme GT Neo 3: Verdict

We don't always enjoy testing phones – but we really enjoyed our time with the Realme GT Neo 3. The novelty of its fast charging didn't wear off – we found ourselves low on power a couple of times, and it was a serious treat to top up quickly and climb up to 80 percent in minutes before heading out. 

The rest of the phone is also reliably good in most areas. Watching content on its glorious screen is excellent, its speakers are decent and the lightweight, curved chassis is also easy to slip in and out of a pocket despite the phone's tall form.  

Unfortunately, the ultra-wide camera is just fine, and the macro and selfie cameras aren't great for the price. Yes, the primary camera is impressive, but it can be had for a lot less on the Realme 9 Pro Plus – a best-in-class phone that's significantly cheaper. 

So if you want lightning-fast charging and a decent primary camera phone, you won't find anything that powers up faster than the GT Neo 3. That said, if you want a more traditional flagship-grade package, you might want to check out the Google Pixel 6, or even a last-gen phone like OPPO's Find X3 Pro.

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Realme has announced the global launch of the Realme GT Neo 3T smartphone, which will be added to the popular GT Neo series. The new mid-range smartphone is available with a racing-flag-esque design on the rear panel, as well more subtle colour options. 

Realme GT Neo 3T: Specifications 

The Realme GT Neo 3T is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor, which in all honesty seems a slightly dated option when you consider than the also mid-range OnePlus 9R (both Realme and One Plus are owned by BBK Electronics, along with Oppo, Vivo and iQOO) features the Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G processor. 

Chip aside, the Realme GT Neo 3T features a 6.62-inch FHD+ E4 AMOLED display with a very decent 120Hz refresh rate and 1300 nits of peak brightness. There’s a nice big 5000mAh battery, which boasts 80W fast charging support.

The new phone operates on the Realme UI 3.0, which is based on Android 12. It comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor and storage – there are 8GB RAM with 128GB storage and 8GB RAM with 256GB storage options – is expandable via a microSD card. 

Realme GT Neo 3T: Camera system 

For a mid-range smartphone, the Realme GT Neo 3T has a decent triple rear camera setup. This consists of a 64MP primary camera, 8MP ultra wide-angle camera, and an additional 2MP macro camera. Upfront, there’s a 16MP selfie-camera. 

Realme GT Neo 3T: Price & availability 

Realme has announced the GT Neo 3T globally - but that just means the 61 global markets it operates in, which include Europe and Australasia but sadly not the US. 

The 8GB RAM / 128GB internal storage variant of the Realme GT Neo 3T costs $470 and the 8GB RAM / 256GB internal storage variant costs $510. It’s available in Shade Black, Drifting White, and Dash Yellow color options. 

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The Realme 9 series is a bit confusing. There’s the Realme 9, a 4G phone that crams in a lot, but misses out on 5G. The Realme 9 5G is a worse phone than the Realme 9 in many respects, but it packs nippy 5G speeds and a more powerful processor. Then there’s the Realme 9 Pro, a suped-up version of the Realme 9, and the Realme 9 Pro Plus, which we tested and love. It’s a bit pricier than the rest of the line but is one of the best budget camera phones of 2022.  

So, why would you go for the 4G vanilla Realme? It’s feature-packed for a budget phone. First, there’s the 90Hz AMOLED screen which gets very bright. It’s also got an in-display fingerprint scanner, loads of storage, and a dizzyingly high-resolution 108MP camera. That’s not bad given it costs £249 (roughly $310 / AUS $440).

Also read our guide to the best Android phones.

But for the same price or not much more than the Realme 9, you can pick up quite a few 5G phones, and many last-gen phones that pack much more power like the Poco F3. Does the Realme 9 have what it takes to climb to the to of our budget phone recommendations, or is it another low-cost camera phone with one too many compromises?

Also see: Best budget camera phone of 2022

Realme 9: Design and screen

The Realme 9 is a compact, good-looking phone for the price. Available in Starbust White, Meteor Black, and Sunburst Gold, it sports a wavey, sand dune-like pattern across its plastic back panel which looks novel and helps it stand out. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing will come down to personal taste.

Rather than glossy plastic as found on the Realme 9 Pro Plus, the Realme 9 is matte all over, and that extends to the plastic frame. Ports are straightforward – there’s a 3.5mm jack at the base and a USB-C port. A mono speaker sits alongside it, and it’s pretty tinny but loud. On the right of the phone is a power button, and there are volume buttons to the left

One thing you don’t always see at the Realme 9’s price is an under-display fingerprint scanner. Despite reports online of some experiencing issues with this, in our time with the phone it worked well, unlocking the phone quickly and securely. 

Realme also includes a semi-opaque case in the box with a dark tint – this seems higher quality than we’ve come to expect from bundled cases. The phone also ships with a 33W fast charger too and a USB-C cable.

With its ample but not over-sized 6.4-inch screen, Realme matches a comfortable size with great specs – this is a Full HD 90Hz AMOLED panel. 

Climbing up to 1000 nits – as bright as an iPhone 12 mini, and delivering respectable viewing angles. Protected by both Gorilla Glass 5 and a pre-fitted screen protector, the screen is hardy, and it’s also smooth – the 90Hz, high refresh rate ensures menus glide.

Realme 9: Camera specs

The most exciting thing about the Realme 9 might be the fact it debuts Samsung’s new HM6 108MP camera sensor. This isn’t a large sensor, measuring just 1/1.67", so while fine for the price, the HM6 is actually comparable to low-cost 50MP sensors of old, rather than the massive 108MP sensor in the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, for example. Matched with an f/1.75 lens and a 24mm wide-angle, the camera supports an ISO of up to 6400.

The 8 MP ultra-wide camera is powered by an OmniVision sensor and has an f/2.2 lens with a 120˚ field of view, and the 2MP fixed-focus macro camera uses a tiny GalaxyCore GC02M1 sensor (1/5"). Selfies are shot on a 16MP camera – a Sony IMX 471 with an f/2.5 lens and a 26mm focal length.

The phone’s shooting modes are typically Realme. They include Night, Street, Video, Photo, Portrait, 108MP, Pro, Pano, Ultra Macro, Film, Slo-Mo, Time-Lapse, Text Scanner, and Tilt-Shift.

Anyone looking to shoot low-cost 4K footage is out of luck. While Samsung’s camera sensor supports up to 4K video, the Realme 9’s Snapdragon 680 chip doesn’t, so the phone’s video resolution caps out at Full HD.

Realme 9: Camera performance

While photos from the Realme 9 taken in bright environments look good – even great in some daylight scenes, this isn’t the budget camera phone champ we were hoping it would be owing to its mediocre low-light performance.

In perfect settings and with a very steady hand colors are vibrant, skin tones warm, and detail is fair. While dynamic range isn’t exceptional, for the price, Realme’s processing does a decent job of pulling detail out of shadows, but the camera just can’t cope with challenging lighting.

Artificial lighting isn’t handled brilliantly, with the Realme 9 struggling with skin tones in fluorescent-lit scenes, especially from the selfie camera, which was our biggest disappointment with its grainy shots in all environments other than daylight. Where possible, we’d suggest using the main camera in dim scenes, even for selfies as it’s the strongest performer on the phone, but all cameras fall apart when the lights drop when shooting in auto mode.

The Realme 9’s night mode is effective at eking out passable shots across the wide, ultra-wide, and selfie camera provided you’ve got the phone steadied either in-hand or on a surface. If you’re confident, you can get even more out of the camera by firing up a long exposure in Pro mode. That said, if you want a great point and shoot on a budget, we’d suggest saving some extra cash and going for the Realme 9 Pro Plus.

Realme 9: Additional specs

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680, the Realme 9 isn’t powerful, and you can get more for the price with phones like Poco’s X4 Pro and even last year’s Realme 8 Pro, which is significantly cheaper despite packing more oomph. Menus are smooth for the most part, as is multi-tasking across basic apps. Gamers should look elsewhere if they want a budget button basher.

The Realme 9’s storage and RAM specs are standout for the price. With 8GB RAM and 5GB dynamic RAM (which uses storage as RAM), you can boost the RAM to 13GB total, which should help with multitasking. The Realme 9 also packs 128GB storage, and an SD card slot that can bump this up by an additional 256GB.

If you live in a 5G area, you’ll also have to factor in the lack of future-proofing a new 4G phone means. Tethering to a computer will be slower, as will downloads and web browsing in general.  

Ending on a high, and the humble power the Realme 9 packs means its humble internals place minimal strain on the battery. Thanks to its massive 5000mAh cell, you should be able to get two days out of it with moderate use. 

With 33W fast charging, the Realme 9 charges in around 90 minutes, which is respectable in the phone’s price bracket.

Realme 9 4G: verdict

The Realme 9 is an all-around good phone rather than a stellar camera phone. Its battery makes it a winner for anyone who doesn’t charge nightly, and its compact frame and stellar screen (for the price) help it stand out for movie watchers and casual smartphone users.

Unfortunately, its cameras’ low-light performance holds the Realme 9 back from excelling and capping out at Full HD, its video doesn’t fare any better either. 

So while there’s plenty going for the Realme 9, camera enthusiasts, in particular, should save their pennies and check out the competition – or opt for a Realme 9 Pro Plus, a champion camera phone in its class. 

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Realme’s new 9 series may be affordable, but it focuses squarely on imaging. We've already tested the excellent Realme 9 Pro Plus, with its Oppo Find X3 Pro-matching camera sensor. 

Now the Realme 9 is official, loaded up with a new 108MP sensor – the Samsung HM6. The Realme 9 uses ‘9 Sum Pixel Binning’, which we’ve seen a variation of before, but seldom at the Realme 9’s price point. 

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The Realme 9 launches alongside the Realme 9 5G, an alternative option with a less headline-grabbing 50MP sensor, but a superior processor and nippy 5G data speeds. With both phones costing £249 (approx $304 / AU$444), the choice is yours – speed or specs? 

Alongside the phones, Realme also introduces its first tablet to launch in the West, the Realme Pad Mini, a low-cost, metal slate. 

Realme 9: 8GB 128GB

The Realme 9’s design features six nanolayers to create a zingy looking wavy pattern set against a shiny plastic backing. Looking something like a toffee penny (one for old school candy fans), at just 7.99mm thin, the phone’s slender, and at 178g, it’s also one of the lightest around, despite its ample 5000mAh battery.

Also noteworthy is the 6.4-inch 90Hz Super AMOLED display, protected by Gorilla Glass and getting as bright as 1000 nits – and there’s even an in-display fingerprint scanner.

Powered by a Snapdragon 680, the phone’s 6nm processor should match up to flagships a couple of years old, helping it handle those massive 108MP images. With dynamic RAM, the phone can also jump from the pre-installed 8GB to 13GB with ease.

The Realme 9's 5000mAh battery is massive, and it charges at 33W – around as fast as Sony Xperia 1 III. And just like Sony’s flagship, Realme's phone also sports a headphone jack.

Realme 9 5G

There are a few things that separate the Realme 9 from the Realme 9 5G, but the first clue is in the name. With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chipset, the 5G option's got cutting-edge 5G connectivity and dual-SIM support.

The move from MediaTek to Qualcomm for its 5G offering shifts focus away from value, and towards brand name and performance, and with 4GB RAM and up to an additional 3GB of dynamic RAM, the phone should be well optimized for 2D and 3D games, as well as multi-tasking.

Available in Stargaze White and Meteor Black, the Realme 9 5G is 8.5mm thin and weighs 191g. Despite its superior chip and identical price, the 5g phone is actually technically inferior to the vanilla Realme 9 in a few key areas. 

There’s a side-mounted fingerprint scanner (versus an in-display scanner on the standard Realme 9). There’s also less storage in the 9 5G, starting at 64GB versus 128GB, and the camera is a 50MP Samsung JN1 sensor. It also misses out on an ultra-wide camera, instead, featuring a 4cm macro camera which is fixed-focus, and a 16MP front camera.

Realme Pad Mini

As for the Realme Pad Mini, this HD tab enjoys a 7.59mm thin profile, which makes it one of the thinnest tablets in its price range. It also boasts a high-resolution 8MP rear camera that captures 1080p video, and a stereo dual speaker setup.

Powered by a Unisoc T616 processor, it won’t compete with top-end chips, however, will launch with a €179.99 ($220/£147) price, which reflects its affordable positioning.

Packing up to 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, as well as microSD card expansion, the Realme Pad Mini is an interesting mix of high-resolution imaging and affordability.

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There’s a lot about the Realme GT 2 Pro that makes it feel sort of like a OnePlus 10 Pro light – heck, you could even look think of this phone as a vanilla OnePlus 10. The camera shares much of what makes the OnePlus 10 Pro’s snapper sing, and its design, charging tech, and zoom have all been dialed right back. 

The Realme GT 2 Pro is very much a flagship despite its price and positioning. Its 2K display is excellent – the first flat panel to feature the LTPO 2.0 technology found in Oppo and OnePlus’s new flagships, and its cutting edge Snapdragon processor is a tried and tested performance champ. 

Realme does push the envelope in one area with this phone – its new ecological design made from a combination of materials including paper pulp, and a dual 50-megapixel camera system, complete with a class-leading ultra-wide angle, and a microscope camera, similar to that introduced on the Oppo Find X3 Pro.

Costing £699 in the UK which is approximately $890, the Realme GT 2 Pro undercuts its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 competition, including the Xiaomi 12 and Samsung Galaxy S22. 

The question is, can the GT 2 Pro’s excellent hardware hold out against the flagship experiences from the likes of OPPO, OnePlus, Samsung and Xiaomi, or does the Realme GT 2 Pro try to cram too much in without getting the fundamentals right first?

Realme GT 2 Pro design and screen

There’s no doubt about it, from the front, the Realme GT 2 Pro looks and feels like a serious flagship smartphone. Its screen is stunningly bright, vibrant, and punchy with a silky smooth 120Hz refresh rate, and AMOLED tech matched with 2K resolution. On paper and in the flesh, it checks our boxes. The rest of the design isn’t so instantly impressive though, on first impression. 

The standout feature of the GT 2 and GT 2 Pro’s design is the back panel, which is more ecological than plastic. Made from a paper biopolymer, it’s available in a pastel mint green or white. Feeling like matte hard plastic, the back lacks the striking premium impression made by glass and metal phones, but carries a less stark, warmer quality. 

Along with the new, eco-focused design, Realme also shared some stats – for every million phones with this type of back panel sold, an equivalent of 3.5m fewer bottles worth of plastic would end up in the world. 

Big numbers always sound impressive, and it’s great to see Realme take action on this front. Of course, this is one aspect of a wider smartphone ecological impact story. A focus on phone longevity, easy recycling and repurposing of old phones, and a reduction of smartphone packaging size would all take Realme’s initiative even further. We’re excited to see more brands take an increasingly sustainable approach to smartphone production and distribution. 

Because Realme uses a new LTPO 2 panel, as used in the OnePlus 10 Pro, the phone’s display can drop the refresh rate as low as 1Hz, taking it all the way up to 120Hz. This should help with keeping it power-efficient. 

Realme includes a 6.7-inch screen on the GT 2 Pro, matched with a WQHD+ resolution, which means 3216 x 1440 pixels, creating a pixel density of 509 pixels per inch. That’s super-sharp. The fact its screen is flat will also win over anyone who doesn’t love curved displays – this is one of the best quality flat screens you can buy on any smartphone.

With a screen-to-body ratio of 92.6 percent, the phone’s front is immersive, and what's even more impressive is that the GT 2 Pro features a touch sampling rate of up to 1000Hz, as high as the new Oppo Find X5 Pro. This should make it incredibly responsive for gaming. 

The fact that Realme also opts for a 10-bit display on the GT 2 Pro with a broad contrast ratio only adds to its screen quality. It also gets as bright as 1400 nits, so outdoor viewability is no problem, and with Gorilla Glass Victus protection, it’s as scratch-proof as flagships get.

Realme GT 2 Pro camera

The Realme GT 2 Pro’s camera champions a mix of quality and quirky – and we like the mix. 

There’s no telephoto camera per se. Instead, there’s a microscope camera with extreme magnification. Its ultra-wide also captures a more expansive angle of view than virtually any other phone out there.

Despite its fun secondary cameras, Realme covers the basics, and the main camera is a Sony IMX 766 OIS module – a tried and tested strong performer. It combines a 50MP resolution with a 23.6mm focal length, an f/1.8 aperture, as well as a six-element lens. As for the sensor size, it’s 1/1.56 inches, making it large, but not the largest around. 

The 150º ultra-wide camera is also 50MP, and features a Samsung sensor. 150º equates to a 15mm focal length, and that’s matched with an f/2.2 aperture. 

There’s no telephoto camera amongst the GT 2 Pro’s camera mix, though there is a Micro-lens camera that has a 20x optical magnification for a microscope-like effect. As for selfie cameras, the GT 2 Pro’s is a respectable 32MP, featuring an IMX 615 sensor with an 80.6º field of view and an f/2.4 aperture. 

Shooting modes include Night, Street, Video, Photo, Portrait, 50MP, Pro, Pano, Film, Slo-mo, Time-lapse, Dual-view, Microscope, 150º, Text scanner, Starry mode, Tilt-shift, and 3D photo. 

Realme GT 2 Pro camera review

The most important thing about any camera phone is its main sensor, and with so many apparent gimmicks going on, the Realme GT 2 Pro could have fallen at the first hurdle – but it hasn’t. The 50MP primary camera is a seriously reliable shooter that captures punchy, detailed shots, and matches a sharp subject with pleasing amounts of background defocus. 

Quick to lock onto subjects, and to take a photo, Realme delivers a responsive experience and while results are on the over-saturated side of punchy, photos taken on it still pack a pleasing warmth, and miss out on the radioactive color handling of some more affordable Realme phones. Despite this, contrast is ramped up more than on most flagship competitors, which can make dark areas look a bit samey. 

There’s support for 10-bit HEIF files and 12-bit RAW files, the latter giving uses maximum control when it comes to dialing back the over-sharpening and saturation discerning photographers might not love. That said, for most, the out-of-camera photos are mighty from the main camera. 

Night photography from the main camera showcases well-balanced colors and tapered noise, though the phone’s ramped up contrast can render details in dark areas indiscernible.

While the secondary cameras miss out on the autofocus, clarity, and richness of the primary camera, they’re very handy, smart additions to the GT 2 Pro’s camera mix. The fact the ultra-wide camera gets so expansive at 150º adds a lot of versatility, delivering GoPro Hero10 Black style, dynamism and range. 

It’s a shame RAW capture is disabled when shooting with the ultra-wide camera – something that would enable bypassing of Realme’s lively photo processing. OnePlus doesn’t disable this feature on the 10 Pro, and you can’t access the 150º camera in third-party apps like Manual Camera or Filmic Pro on the Realme GT 2. 

As for the microscope camera, it’s a fun, enjoyable addition, that adds a huge range to the GT 2 Pro. In our time reviewing the phone, we had an outbreak of flour mites in our baking cupboard. The microscope camera proved invaluable when trying to assess whether or not these tiny little creatures had infested our entire stock of dry pantry items – they had. Beyond practicalities like flour mite hunting, the microscope is also a novel, fun party piece.

The phone’s front camera takes flattering selfies that have pleasing, warm tones to them. While there’s no autofocus, held at around 50cm from a face, features are sharp and video is held steady too. It’s captured at up to 8K from the rear camera and Full HD from the selfie camera.

Sample images

Realme GT 2 Pro specs

We’ve seen a lot of fast charging phones from Realme before, so it shouldn’t come as any wonder that the brand’s brought back 65W SuperDart charging to the GT 2 Pro, matched with a 5000mAh battery. This powers up the phone from zero to 100 percent in around 35 minutes.

The phone also enjoys dual speakers, a flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, and 12GB RAM with 256GB storage – plenty for most users. We found performance to be excellent, and even when gaming, the phone kept its cool better than much of the glass and metal competition. 

The only major omission we found that held the GT 2 Pro back is wireless charging, which a number of phones in the GT 2 Pro’s price category feature, including the Pixel 6 and OnePlus 9. 

Realme GT 2 Pro verdict

We had a great time reviewing the Realme GT 2 Pro, not because it was one of the best camera phones of 2022, but because it’s a quirky, fun phone that gets the basics right. It has a strong main camera, fun secondary cameras, a bright, bold, big screen, and loads of power under the hood. 

At its price, you could pick up a Pixel 6 if you don’t mind sacrificing on storage, charging speed and screen quality, you’ll get a more tapered image processing experience, glass and metal design and wireless charging. That said, Nothing does quite does what the Realme GT 2 Pro does, and the fact Realme’s also trying to push the envelope with more eco-friendly materials is a boon. 

Now Realme’s launching higher-end devices than the Realme 8 and 8 Pro, it’s clearly a brand to watch across the board, not just for those looking to pick up some of the best budget camera phones money can buy. 

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Following the launch of the Realme GT 2 Pro, which brings the world’s first 150 degree ultra-wide camera to the phone market, the Chinese phone giant has now announced the C31 and C35. The new smartphones both sit firmly in the budget category but offer impressive specifications regardless. 

Realme C35

The most exciting of the newly launched phones is the C35 and the most exciting of its features is its features is its camera, so we will start there. The main camera sensor on the Realme C35 offers a 50MP resolution and a f/1.8 aperture – it’s the same one that features on the excellent Realme GT 2 Pro! Completing the camera setup is an f/2.4 macro lens with a 4cm depth of field and a black and white camera designed specifically for portraits with an f/2.8 aperture, that is bound to be popular. Selfies are taken of via a 8MP Sony sensor.

Under the hood there is a Unisoc T616 chipset – the C35 being the first to use it. The 5000mAh battery features 18W quick charge, which Realme says can deliver a 50% charge in 49 minutes. It has a 6.6inch Full HD screen and is a nice-looking device with a particularly slim design at 8.1mm – “the slimmest phone in the segment”, according to Realme. It comes in Glowing Black or Glowing Green color options and costs £149 for 4GB RAM & 64GB storage, and £169 for 4GB RAM & 128GB storage. 

Realme C31

Cheaper than the C35, the C31’s specifications aren’t as impressive but it’s still a very decent smartphone for the price. Starting again with the camera system, the C31 has a 13MP main camera, a black and white portrait lens and a macro lens and a 5MP selfie camera in the screen notch. 

Running on a Unisoc T612 chip, the C31 has a 6.5-inch screen and a 5000mAh battery with 10W charger. It’s slim at 8.4mm and is available in Light Silver and Dark Green at £129 for 4GB & 64GB storage. 

Realme phones are not currently available in the US.

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Realme’s new 4G flagship will be the first to boast the new 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM6 image sensor, an official Realme press release has confirmed that the Realme 9 will be the first smartphone to ship with it. 

The Realme 8 Pro came with an 108MP image sensor, courtesy of the Samsung ISOCELL HM2. So, it stands to reason that its predecessor, the Realme 9 would come with an 108MP image sensor (at least) but it will better it with the brand new Samsung ISOCELL HM6 image sensor, which brings a host of improvements. 

Advanced image sensor features 

Thanks to Realme’s press release we’ve learnt that the company will be calling the new camera system on the Realme 9 “ProLight”. Additionally, we learn that the new Samsung ISOCELL HM6 sensor uses the new NonaPixel Plus layout, having 3×3 pixel binning. 

Samsung says that compared to the ISOCELL HM2 sensor, seen in the Realme 8 Pro, the new image sensor will improve the overall light intake ability by a huge 123%. The company also claims that the new flagship, thanks to the new Samsung image sensor, performs exceptionally in low light, as well as having excellent color reproduction – we can’t wait to get it on test. 

Another feature we look forward to seeing – and testing – on the upcoming Realme 9 is the “ultra-zoom” feature, again made possible thanks to the HM6 sensor. This feature is designed to allow users to zoom into the frame and capture close shots, which retain high details.

Realme 9 Series 

So, if you’re thinking that it’s odd that Realme has released no less than five Realme 9 phones, including the Realme 9 Pro Plus, without releasing the standard Realme 9, it is – but that’s how it is… Thanks to the afore mentioned press release we know the Realme 9 is definitely coming and that it’s getting a global release, rather than following suit of the Realme 9 5G and 9 5G SE, which are India-only releases. 

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Since we reviewed the Realme X2 Pro, the smartphone maker has gone from strength to strength with blasting out value handsets, but hasn’t always nailed its cameras. That’s something the Realme 9 Pro Plus looks set to address. 

Despite costing £349 (around $460), the Realme 9 Pro Plus shares the same primary camera as the Oppo Find X3 Pro – a Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS. While not the five-axis OIS found in the Find X5 Pro, that’s still mighty for a phone of the 9 Pro Plus’s price. 

The remaining camera specs are more in line with other midrange phones – an 8MP fixed-focus ultra-wide camera and a 2MP fixed-focus macro camera. That means it has a virtually identical setup to the pricier OnePlus Nord 2, which costs £50 (roughly $65) more. 

For photography fans who aren’t fussed on frills, the Realme 9 Pro Plus could make for the lowest-cost alternative to the Google Pixel 6 around – flagship imaging, bargain price. But can it stack up to old favorites like the Redmi Note 10 Pro and other best budget camera phones of 2022?

Design and screen

The Realme 9 Pro Plus’s design is safe, smart, and almost premium with its glass back, plastic sides, and glass front. Pick it up in Midnight Black for a more classic look, or Aurora Green or Sunrise Blue if you want more vibrant styling. 

The Pro Plus’s back is reflective and clings onto fingerprints, but it feels good in the hand with its flat, matte plastic sides and relatively light 182g weight, despite its ample screen.

With its 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen matched with a 90Hz refresh rate, the Realme 9 Pro Plus’s display specs are good, but not best-in-class. Though it misses out on a super-fast 120Hz refresh rate, it's still perfectly adequate for everything from gaming to watching movies, scrolling through news feeds, and browsing the web.

If you’re not mad about losing a bit of smoothness, the 430 nits max brightness (600 nits in high brightness mode) means the screen’s easy enough to view outdoors, and the clarity is on-point with a 411 pixel-per-inch (PPI) pixel density – not far behind the iPhone 13, which clocks in at 460 PPI. 

Cameras

The Realme 9 Pro Plus’s main camera features a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor with 1-micron pixels, OIS, and an f/1.8 aperture lens. The secondary camera is an 8MP ultra-wide with a 16mm focal length and an f/2.2 aperture. Finally, the macro camera is a 2MP f/2.5 module. 

With a front camera resolution of 16MP, matched with an f/2.4 lens and a 27mm focal length, selfies aren’t super-wide, so you may struggle to get loads of people in frame. 

The Realme 9 Pro Plus captures video at up to 4K resolution, 30fps, and climbs up to 60fps if you’re happy to drop to 1080 resolution. It also shoots RAW photos, features a manual ISO of up to 6400, and a shutter speed as long as 32 seconds. 

As for shooting modes, these include old favorites like Night, Portrait, Video, Photo, Pro Mode, 50MP, and more, as well as the semi-automatic Street Mode, for more creative shots that pack ramped up contrast and saturation, control over manual focus and access to RAW shooting.

Camera performance

Realme has a style – it boosts saturation and contrast, and the Realme 9 Pro Plus is no exception. While this characteristic usually helps boost weak sensors and lenses in lower-priced or worse-specced Realme phones, in the Pro Plus it actually adds a zing to a high-quality RAW image.

The IMX 766 sensor captures plenty of detail, shooting photos at 12.5MP by default, and whether captured in bright or dark environments, it holds up well. Undercutting the OnePlus Nord 2, at its price, the Realme 9 Pro Plus is our favorite camera phone of late. 

Sharpening is a bit heavy-handed, but thanks to excellent hardware and high-quality optical image stabilization, the Realme 9 Pro Plus’s photos can handle a fair bit of post-processing. Its RAW mode is also very easy to access in both Pro and Street modes, so you can capture unprocessed snaps without too many swipes or taps. 

We struggled a bit with selfies. Unless our hand taking the shot was super still, photos taken packed a bit of ghosting, even in relatively bright scenes. Turning off Auto HDR helped this, but given that it’s on by default, it threw us at first. Despite this, color reproduction was accurate, and the phone exposed well for faces, even in bright backlit scenes with Auto HDR turned off.

Video capture on the Realme 9 Pro Plus is also impressive – it’s super stable when shooting across resolutions at 30fps, while 60fps FullHD video was a bit shakier. Where the camera system drops the ball is the dedicated macro camera – in anything but optimal light, you’d be better deferring to the main camera and cropping in to emulate the framing the 2MP module can capture. 

Sample images

Additional specs

A MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G powers the Realme 9 Pro Plus, doing an excellent job for the most part. It benchmarks well for the price, is great for gaming and while it can’t stack up to the cheaper Poco F3, its camera makes up for the fact it doesn’t pack best-in-class power.

With Realme UI 3 and Android 12, the interface has a few highlights. In addition to full access to Google Play Store apps and games, the Realme 9 Pro Plus’s fingerprint scanner doubles up as a heart rate monitor. It also supports two audio outputs – one wired and one wireless, acting like a digital audio splitter, and there’s quick access to shortcuts with a sidebar that you can swipe into view. 

The 9 Pro Plus’s stereo speakers also help make the phone great for watching on, and with 256GB storage and 8GB RAM, there’s loads of space for photos, videos, apps, and games. 

Realme fast charging powers the phone up from zero to full in around 45 minutes, and while the phone’s 4500mAh battery isn’t huge, the chipset is clearly pretty efficient, so you can comfortably expect a day of regular use out of it.  

Realme 9 Pro Plus: verdict

The Realme 9 Pro Plus was never going to be the best camera phone of 2022, but it is the best camera phone at under £349 (approximately $460). Its main camera packs 2021 flagship-grade photography, which means excellent results day or night and impressive video. While Realme oversharpens things, a lot of people will likely enjoy the punchy finish its photos sport, and there are also a couple of shooting modes that support RAW photography too. 

While you can get a better screen or more power for less, photography enthusiasts who appreciate masses of storage won’t be disappointed by the 9 Pro Plus.

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After years of producing low-cost smartphones with a few real highlights every now and then, Realme has finally launched a true flagship across-the-board in the Realme GT2 Pro. 

It marries a 2K display, the first flat panel to feature the LTPO 2.0 technology found in Oppo and OnePlus’s new flagships, a cutting edge Snapdragon processor, new ecological design made from a combination of materials including paper pulp, and a dual 50-megapixel camera system.

Costing just £599 in the UK, which is approximately $800, the Realme GT2 pro also undercuts pretty much all the competition. 

The question is, can the GT 2 Pro’s excellent combination of hardware hold out against the flagship software experiences from the likes of OPPO, OnePlus, Samsung and Xiaomi, or does the Realme GT 2 Pro try to cram too much in without getting the fundamentals right first?

Realme GT2 Pro design and screen

There’s no doubt about it, from the front, the Realme GT 2 Pro looks and feels like a serious flagship smartphone. Its screen is stunningly bright, vibrant, and punchy with a silky smooth 120Hz refresh rate. 

The phone’s back looks and feels a touch less flagship on first impression. Feeling like a mix of hard plastic, rubber, and paper, Realme uses a world-first biopolymer with a micro stitch-effect textured finish. 

Along with the new, eco-focused design, Realme also shared some stats – for every million phones with this type of back panel sold, an equivalent of 3.5m fewer bottles worth of plastic would end up in the world. Big numbers always sound impressive, and it’s great to see Realme take action on this front. Of course, this is one aspect of a wider smartphone ecological impact story. A focus on phone longevity, easy recycling and repurposing of old phones, and a reduction of smartphone packaging size would all take Realme’s initiative even further. We’re excited to see more brands take an increasingly sustainable approach to smartphone production and distribution. 

Because Realme uses a new LTPO 2 panel, as used in the OnePlus 10 Pro, the phone’s display can drop the refresh rate as low as 1hz, taking it all the way up to 120Hz. This should help with keeping it power-efficient. 

Realme includes a 6.7-inch screen on the GT 2 Pro, matched with a WQHD+ resolution, which means 3216 x 1440 pixels, creating a pixel density of 509 pixels per inch. That’s super-sharp.

With the screen to body ratio of 92.6 percent, the phone’s front is immersive, and what's even more impressive is that the GT 2 Pro features a touch sampling rate of up to 1000Hz, as high as the new Oppo Find X5 Pro. This should make it incredibly responsive for gaming. 

It’s also a 10-bit display with Gorilla Glass Victus protection and gets as bright as 1400 nits, so outdoor viewing shouldn’t be a problem.

Realme GT2 Pro camera

Perhaps the most exciting thing about the GT2 Pro is it camera setup. The main camera is a Sony IMX 766 OIS module. It combines a 50MP resolution with a 23.6mm focal length, an f/1.8 aperture, as well as a six-element lens. As for the sensor size, it’s 1/1.56 inches, making it large, but not the largest around. 

The 150º ultra-wide camera is also 50MP, though Realme doesn’t disclose the sensor size, so it’s safe to assume it isn’t quite as flagship as the primary camera. 150º equates to a 15mm focal length, and that’s matched with an f/2.2 aperture. 

There’s no telephoto camera amongst the GT 2 Pro’s camera mix, though there is a Micro-lens camera that has a 20x optical magnification for a microscope-like effect. Check out our Oppo Find X3 Pro review to read up on how another Micro-lens camera performs.

As for selfie cameras, the GT 2 Pro’s is a respectable 32MP, featuring an IMX 615 sensor with an 80.6º field of view and an f/2.4 aperture. 

Realme claims the GT 2 Pro is the first camera phone in the world with a fish eye mode. That’s not true – there have been software fisheye modes in camera phones for years. That said, they probably haven’t matched up fisheye software with such a wide-angle ultra-wide camera as that featured on Realme’s latest phone – so we’re excited to see the results. 

Realme GT 2 Pro specs

We’ve seen a lot of fast charging from Realme before, so it shouldn’t come as any wonder that it’s brought back 65W SuperDart charging to the GT2 Pro, matched with a 5000mAh battery. Realme claims this combo can deliver a 100 percent charge in as little as 33 minutes.

The phone also enjoys dual speakers, a flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, and either 8GB RAM with 128GB storage, or 12GB RAM with 256GB storage – plenty for most users.

The only major omission we can spot is wireless charging, which a number of phones in the GT 2 Pro’s price category feature, including the Pixel 6 and OnePlus 9. 

Realme GT 2 Pro early verdict

Realme is part of OPPO, and that’s never been more evident at a hardware level than with the release of the GT 2 Pro. It’s as if OPPO Group took the flagship features seen in the Find X5 Pro and launched a much lower-cost, scaled back version for a different demographic that’s still packed with premium specs and some excellent, unique features. 

The result of this OPPO / Realme relationship has produced what looks like the most impressive value flagship we’ve seen all year. Yes there are obvious features missing that we would have loved to see – wireless charging and optical telephoto reach being the main two. That said, at its price, the Realme GT 2 Pro is a value champion, on paper at least. 

We should be getting one in for review in the coming weeks, so check back to see if the reality lives up to the hype and if Realme’s new flagship can place on our best camera phones of 2022 podium.

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Realme chose Mobile World Congress 2022, to launch its 100-200W UltraDart charging technology. The Chinese company has already confirmed that the Realme GT Neo3 will bring a 150W solution on the market soon and now today has shared a short video, on Chinese social media platform, Weibo, showcasing the phone and its immense charging speeds.  

This insanely fast charging speed is made possible via multiple boost charge pumps which increase the charger’s current. Realme has said that using UltraDart charging will retain 80% battery capacity for its smartphones, after 1000 complete charge cycles. 

It’s been confirmed that the Realme GT Neo3 will also be among the first phones using MediaTek’s brand new Dimensity 8100 chipset. 

Realme GT Neo3 rumored specs 

While we wait for official specifications, we can look at the rumors that surround the upcoming camera phone. Renders leaked once again on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, show the smartphone with gaming phone-like design with sharp lines and orange accents, a rear triple-camera setup and shoulder trigger buttons on the frame, which could potentially be customisable. 

Like its predecessor, the GT Neo3 is tipped to also boast a triple-camera system on the back, and we can see, from the leaked renders, the camera module has two large cut-outs and a third very small one below these. The camera module also looks to be home to the LED flash module. An educated guess would be a 50MP or even 64MP main camera, together with an ultrawide camera and a macro sensor.

Super-fast charging at WMC 

Realme weren’t the only brand to demonstrate 150W charging at World Mobile Congress – Oppo has also announced a new 150W SuperVOOC fast-charging standard, which it claims will charge a 4,500mAh battery from 1 percent to 50 percent charge in just five minutes and to 100 percent in 15 minutes. The company has said we will see this first it a yet to be named smartphone from sub-brand OnePlus in the second quarter of 2022. The company has even been talking about 240W in the future, so we expect charging to get a lot speedier across the board this year…

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Realme has announced that 28 February at MWC 2022 Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona will see the company reveal its latest fast-charging technology, which it claims will be the world’s fastest charging solution for smartphones.

Taking to Twitter to announce the exciting teaser, Realme even asked its followers to guess the potential wattage that the charger would boast, ahead of its launch in a week. The accompanying #GreaterThanYouSee hashtag is definitely encouraging. 

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"Realme’s fast charging technology is always ahead of the curve, especially when compared to devices in the same segment. As part of Realme’s 2022 resolution and revolution of going premium, 70% of corporate Research & Development resources will be invested into technology innovations, charging technology being one of the integral parts," said the company, in a press release. 

Indeed, it was Realme who introduced 125W fast charging last year, so we can realistically expect the upcoming solution to surpass this. Prolific tipster, Digital Chat station, said earlier this month that Realme’s upcoming smartphone will support 150W fast charging and this now seems all the more likely. If so, Realme will almost certainly steal the show at MWC this year. 

Realme GT 2 Pro to launch at MWC 2022

MWC 2022 will also see Realme launch the GT 2 Pro into European markets. The camera phone launched in China back in January with some flagship-level specifications like a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC chip and an AMOLED display with 2k resolution.

Specs also include a large 6.62-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with 120Hz and 5,000 mAh battery that supports 65W fast wired charging. It boasts a triple-lens rear camera headed up by a 50MP f/1.8 primary sensor and a hole-punch cut-out for the 16MP selfie camera up front. It comes with 8/12GB of RAM and 128/256GB of storage.

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Realme has announced that it will introduce the Realme GT 2 series globally on 28 February at the MWC 2022 Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona. The Chinese manufacturer officially revealed the new GT 2 series last month, but it has only been available in China thus far. 

The Realme GT 2 series consists of the Realme GT 2 and Realme GT 2 Pro smartphones. As they’ve already been introduced in the Chinese market, we know what to expect – it’s just a question of exactly when and where the new mid-range smartphones will be available and of course, how much they’ll cost. 

Realme GT 2: Specifications 

Powered by a Snapdragon 888 chip, the Realme GT2 has solid specs for a mid-range camera phone. These include a large 6.62-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with 120Hz and 5,000 mAh battery that supports 65W fast wired charging, which Realme says can go from 0-100% in just 33 minutes. 

Camera wise, it has a triple-lens rear camera headed up by a 50MP f/1.8 primary sensor and a hole-punch cut-out for the 16MP selfie camera up front. It comes with 8/12GB of RAM and 128/256GB of storage.

Realme GT 2 Pro: Specifications 

The Realme GT 2 Pro has a slightly larger 6.7-inch LTPO 2.0 AMOLED display than it’s little brother, which has 120Hz and 1440 x 3216 resolution. It’s powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and has a 5,000 mAh battery, which supports 65W fast wired charging. 

The triple-lens rear camera setup consists of a 50MP f/1.8 primary, a 50MP f/2.2 ultrawide, and a 3MP macro sensor. Video wise it can shoot at up to 8K, or 4K at 30/60fps. On the front, the Realme GT 2 Pro has an impressive 32MP selfie shooter. Storage options are 8/12GB of memory and 128/256/512GB. 

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Realme’s Vice President, Madhav Sheth, has tweeted that the upcoming Realme 9 Pro Plus will get a heart rate monitor, sharing a video showing how this will work on the smartphone. A heart rate monitor is sure to appeal as a fun feature and especially to those interested in monitoring their health and fitness, without the need to purchase equipment outside of their phone. 

In the past, Samsung has featured heart rate monitors built into its Galaxy and Note smartphones (Samsung Galaxy S through to Note 9) but we haven’t seen them included since, or by other phone manufacturers, so it’s a nice feature to see being included by Realme. 

The video clip shared by Sheth shows the heart rate monitor using the in-screen fingerprint scanner, so now we know that this unlocking feature will be included for the Realme 9 Pro Plus too. What isn’t clear is if the Realme 9 Pro Plus will be the only camera phone in the 9 series to get the heart rate monitor feature, or if the also confirmed 9 and 9 Pro will too.

Realme 9 series: What we know so far 

Realme has kept the details on its 9 series largely under wraps. We expect the 9 Pro Plus and the 9 Pro soon, but at this stage its not clear if the standard 9 will have a different launch date. We’ve been told that the 9 Pro Plus and the 9 Pro will both be 5G phones and be powered by the new MediaTek Dimensity 950 5G processor, but that's about it. 

However, last month @OnLeaks and Smartprix leaked the Realme Pro 9 specs and renders, which included a 6.59-inch display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, 5000mAh battery and an in-display fingerprint sensor. Camera wise, the two tipped it to have a 64MP + 8MP + 2MP on the back with a 16MP camera on the front. The chip was leaked to be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G which we now know to be incorrect, so the specs should be taken as speculation only.

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While the Realme GT Master Edition launched £329, and is now £279 in the UK, and $370 in the States. For a phone with a nippy 5G Qualcomm chipset, not to mention incredibly speedy charging as well as a very well specced Super AMOLED display, Realme clearly isn’t playing games – it wants your cash and is willing to undercut the competition on specs to get it. 

In its price bracket, the Realme GT Master Edition goes up against the OnePlus Nord CE and OPPO Reno 4 Z, out speccing both in certain respects, while still delivering much of what makes each phone stand out – high refresh rate displays and high-resolution imaging. For photo fans, $80/£20 extra will get you a Google Pixel 4a, which really lays down the gauntlet for low-cost high-quality photography.

So while Realme’s specs are solid and overall value is beyond reproach, does the Master Edition suffer the same fate as the pricier Realme GT and drop the ball when it comes to its camera? 

Design and screen

With its solid in-hand feel, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Realme GT Master Edition was made of pricier materials than the all-plastic Google Pixel 4a, but no, it’s also all-plastic. The high-polish chrome effect around the frame is slick to the touch, while the matte, almost pearlesque finish around the back makes for a pleasing contrast.

Available in a novel ‘Suitcase Design’ in its Voyager Grey version, the Realme GT Master Edition can be as thick as 8.7mm, or if you pick it up in a more traditional Cosmos Black or Luna White, it’s 8mm. That’s not much thicker than an iPhone 13 or Samsung Galaxy S21.

Unlike many phones today, the GT Master Edition has a 3.5mm headphone jack. This sits alongside the USB-C port at the bottom of the phone, as well as the loudspeaker. 

As for the display, it’s a 6.43-inch Samsung-made Super AMOLED panel with a nippy 120Hz refresh rate. This spec alone is as good as it gets in this price range, and when you consider the fact it supports 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and climbs up to 1000 nits brightness, the specs are standout.

In the flesh, the display is also competition-beating, and so photos, videos, and games look incredible when you remember what this phone costs – perfect when matched with apps like Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, or Netflix.

Camera specs

The main camera on the Realme GT Master Edition is a 64MP sensor with a 25.3mm focal length (an 80.5° field of view), and a half-inch sensor. The lens is comprised of six elements, and the main camera shoots at up to 4K resolution with 60fps frame rates. It uses an OmniVision sensor, as found in the OnePlus Nord CE, which historically hasn’t performed well when compared to Samsung and Sony sensors, however, its lower price is why Realme can likely hit such punchy price points with its new Master Edition.

Meanwhile, the 8MP sensor on the ultra-wide camera is made by SK Hynix, a Korean semiconductor business, and is matched with a 15.8mm focal length (a 119° field of view), with an f/2.3 aperture, and a five-element lens.

The final camera on the back of the device is a 2MP OmniVision macro camera, and like many we’ve seen from Realme and Poco in the past, it’s a poor performer that barely bears referencing.

As for the front camera, this is a 32MP Sony sensor with an 85° field of view lens. It features an f/2.5 aperture and is matched with Realme’s fun if over-the-top beauty modes.

Shooting modes are pretty extensive, and exactly what we’ve come to expect from Realme (and OPPO – the two brands share many UI traits). These include 64MP Mode, Super Nightscape, Panoramic, Expert, Timelapse, Portrait Mode, HDR, Ultra Wide, Ultra Macro, AI Scene Recognition, AI Beauty, Filter, Super Text, Face Distortion Correction, Tilt-shift, Street, Slo-Mo, and Starry Mode. There’s also a manual video mode which is a highlight, giving users control over ISO, focus, white balance, and shutter speed.

Camera performance

We didn’t have high expectations of the Realme GT Master Edition’s camera when we found out it was powered by an Omnivision 64MP primary camera. That said, Realme has done a good job of eking out a usable camera from the phone thanks to some smart software. 

If you’re big on detail, don’t let the phone’s big pixel count fool you. Even in bright scenes, you can’t punch in on pictures and get as much clarity as you might from 12MP competition with better camera hardware. While the detail is there, and cropping in can be done with some confidence, when you get close, the camera’s processing becomes visible making the Master Edition feel like a slightly blunt tool. This is especially when compared to some of the competition with 48MP Sony sensors, or the incredibly good 108MP Redmi Note 10 Pro.

Apart from Redmi’s budget camera phone champ though, the Realme GT Master Edition holds its own in its price bracket, which is impressive given the phone’s other specs. It does flood images with saturation, and that’s Realme’s look. The brand opts for a zingy, pop of color at every turn, so if you pick up a Realme phone, you should expect nothing less. This vibrant gleam is also matched with boosted contrast for an Insta-ready shot, even if it isn’t necessarily the best starting point with which to edit.

We appreciate the Expert mode, which gives users full control over their photo (and video) taking, and the ability to shoot RAW, which is a great way to bring back more natural tones to the camera. Focus was also reliable for the most part, though where the phone drops the ball is low light capture in auto mode. 

What’s frustrating about using the Realme GT Master Edition is that the Night mode does the best job of getting good results from an Omnivision sensor we’ve seen to date. However, this doesn’t fire up automatically. Realme’s saving grace is that the feature hasn’t trickled down to many of its budget competition, but it would have really helped the user experience. That said, remember to activate night mode and even in more challenging daylight scenes, you will likely get a better shot than you might in auto mode. 

The phone’s portrait mode also delivers mixed results, struggling with creating a natural-looking bokeh, though skin tones were generally on-point. As for the ultra-wide camera, it’s nice to have, however, does bump contrast and saturation up to the point of no return, even in bright environments. Thankfully, RAW capture is supported across both the primary and ultra-wide cameras, so it’s easy enough to dial things back.

With video capture, noise is a definite issue in all but the brightest scenes, though the phone stabilizes video very well, and if you are more of a day shooter, then the GT Master Edition performs respectably.

Additional specs

Thanks to its capable Snapdragon 778G chipset, the Realme GT Master Edition delivers as much power as it needs to. Swipes and taps are smooth and nippy, and its interface, Realme UI 2.0, which is based on OPPO’s ColorOS is clean and intuitive.

There’s an in-display fingerprint scanner that is responsive, quickly unlocking the phone, and you can also activate face unlock too. While not the 3D scanning, hi-tech affair you get with Apple’s Face ID, it works well even in dim scenes and adds to the premium feel of this affordable phone.

Matched with a staggeringly large storage capacity – 256GB, in addition to an ample 8GB RAM (which can be boosted by 5GB using storage), multi-tasking is well handled and the phone’s lack of an microSD card isn’t an issue.

The battery performance of the Realme GT Master Edition is good given the modest battery capacity. At 4300mAh, while definitely not tiny, the phone is put through its paces powering a 120Hz display that climbs up to 1000 nits in brightness. Thankfully, it made it through a whole day in our use, though little more.

What’s exceptional at the price is the fact the Realme GT Master Edition charges at 65W, powering up from empty in just over half an hour – incredibly fast even by flagship standards.

Realme GT Master Edition: Verdict

The Realme GT Master Edition is a great phone and well worth the asking price. 

Realme is starting to develop its very distinctive look when it comes to imaging. While Sony’s is more natural, Google boosts tonal range, Apple creates a sharpened balance and Xiaomi tends to lean towards cooler white balance, Realme is all about that zing, pop, and punch.

As a photography enthusiast, it can be hard to appreciate this bold move, but Realme is sticking to its guns, and its processing actually helps the GT Master Edition perform more consistently even with a lesser sensor than some of the competition. 

What’s also handy is that this look can be overridden if the mood for realism strikes, either with the night mode or by shooting in Expert mode. 

Given everything else about the phone is also very competitive for the price, you could do much worse than buy the Realme GT Master Edition. It outperforms the Redmi Note 10 Pro in terms of power, OnePlus’s Nord CE when it comes to imaging, and OPPO’s Reno 4 Z with its screen quality, storage capacity and performance. So despite not making it onto our best budget camera phone list of 2021, it’s still one of the best budget smartphones you can buy right now.

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Realme is yet to announce a launch date for the Realme 9i, expected to be the cheapest variant in the upcoming Realme 9 lineup, but the company is reportedly gearing up for the launch of the whole Realme 9 series. Leaked specifications and now renders, courtesy of Steve Hemmerstoffer (@OnLeaks) and 91Mobiles, show us what to expect from the phone and what it looks like from all angles. 

Realme 9i renders

The renders show us that the Realme 9i will feature a flat panel with a left-aligned cut-out for the selfie camera. On the left side of the smartphone are the volume up and down buttons, while the right side houses the power button, which is also said to double as a side-mounted capacitive fingerprint scanner. This indicates towards the Realme 9i will likely come with an IPS LCD panel. 

At the top of the camera phone, the renders show the device’s microphone, while the bottom is busier featuring the tipped 3.5mm headphone jack, primary microphone, speaker grille, and a USB Type-C charging port. 

The Realme 9i is tipped to have a triple rear camera setup housed in a rectangular module, which will reportedly feature a 50MP primary camera.

Realme 9i specifications

According to rumors, the Realme 9i is said to have a FHD+ IPS LCD panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. Power-wise, it’s tipped to have the newly launched Snapdragon 680 processor. It’s rumored that the phone could house a 5,000mAh battery and run Android 11 with a Realme UI on top.

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A supposed leaked design sketch of Realme’s alleged first-ever foldable smartphone, called the Realme GT 2 Fold has been leaked online by 91Mobiles. It’s not just what looks to be an early design sketch either, key specifications have also been leaked. 

If the leak is correct, the design sketch shows us what the Realme GT 2 Fold will look like and it appears the phone will open out like a book to make a wide screen when you want one, like the Samsung Galaxy Fold 3. 

Dual rear camera setup

The phone looks to feature an AMOLED cover screen, measuring 6.5-inches diagonally, for when the phone is folded, while the main display will be a huge 8-inch AMOLED screen. 

The sketch shows a dual rear camera setup: two 50MP cameras – if this is correct we would guess at a main shooter plus an ultra-wide camera. As is the fashion, the front camera will be a punch-hole. 

The volume up and down buttons can be seen sitting on the left-hand side of the alleged camera phone, while on the right, there’s a power button – a good guess would be that it would double as a fingerprint scanner. At the bottom, the sketch shows a USB Type-C charging port and the speaker grille.

Realme GT successor? 

The sketches are very clearly marked “Realme GT 2 Fold”, so if the leak is correct, a good guess could be the successor to the Realme GT, as the company are yet to launch a second-gen model. 

Given more foldable phones are rumoured and leaked than are actually launched and the fact we have no way of knowing if the sketches are genuine or not, it’s tough to say if this launch looks likely. One thing that makes it seem credible, is that Realme has recently announced it would be moving into the premium phone market. 

If the sketches are to be believed, it’s worth reiterating that they look like early drawings, so would be subject to a host of potential design changes down the line. 

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Having already launched the GT Neo 2 in China and India, Realme has announced its powerful mid-range camera phone will be launched in Europe on 15 November. As it’s already launched in other regions, we know exactly what to expect from the Snapdragon 870 processor powered phone that sits in a sweet spot between the mid-range and flagship phone market. 

65W SuperDart fast-charge 

We know to expect a powerful performance from the Snapdragon 870 chipset, thanks to the other phone models it features it. Complimenting this powerhouse is a massive 5000mAh battery and 65W SuperDart fast-charge technology, that gives a full charge in under 40 minutes.  

Adding to the GT Neo 2’s theme of power and performance is a 6.62-inch 120Hz AMOLED display on the front, which features a 1080 x 2400 resolution panel. It boasts a peak brightness of 1300 nits, has a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio and supports HDR10+ content. 

The GT Neo 2, which will undoubtedly be popular with gamers, features a 600Hz touch sampling rate and a large internal vapor cooling system.

Triple camera system

The triple camera system on the back consists of a primary 64MP sensor alongside an 8MP ultrawide and low-res 2MP macro. There’s also a 16MP in-display selfie camera. The AI camera system has lots of interesting settings including Super Nightscape, Bokeh, HDR, AI Scene Recognition, Tilt-shift and Street Photography Mode, which we can see being very popular. 

The good-looking 5G-ready phone comes in green, blue and black and weights just 200g and features face and fingerprint unlock. 

Price is what we don’t know about the GT Neo 2 and ultimately that is what will have the final say as to where the phone sits amongst the best budget phone competition. In India, the GT Neo is lower priced than the Realme GT, but more than the Realme 8 Pro. Luckily, we only have until 15 November to wait to find out the full pricing details for the UK and Europe. 

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While Realme hit the scene with budget spec-beasts like the Realme X2 Pro and X50 Pro, it took a break from launching flagship-powered low-cost phones until now – this is the incredible value Realme GT 5G.

With its 6.43-inch display packing a silky smooth 120Hz refresh rate, its screen specs match those of much pricier phones like the OnePlus 9 on paper. This makes it a killer phone for enjoying the finest Netflix and Prime Video content, or swiping through and double tapping social feeds.

Dig a little deeper, and you get a Snapdragon 888 chipset powering the Realme GT 5G, which delivers the same power found in the US version of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. That means flagship-grade gaming at anything but a flagship price. So how much does the GT 5G cost? 450 euros, which is roughly £385, or $550. 

For such a tidy sum, the phone still packs an ample 4500mAh battery, as well as 128GB or 256GB storage. So where’s the catch? If we were pressed to pick one, it would be the GT’s camera system. There’s no telephoto camera, and the primary 64MP sensor lacks highlights like OIS, which can be had on some lower-cost phones like the OnePlus Nord. Still, as a package, the Realme GT is as good as it gets for the price, at least on paper. So after a week with the phone, can it win us over and make its way into our best budget camera phone hall of fame?

Design and screen

If you’re thinking about buying a Realme GT 5G, you have options. You can either pick it up in a traditional finish, with a glass back and a polished plastic frame, or you can switch out the glass for something Realme calls Eco Leather; in other words, pleather/vegan leather by another name. While we haven’t used the Eco Leather version, we can attest to the quality of the glass GT 5G’s design. 

At 8.4mm thick and with a 6.43-inch screen, the Realme GT 5G isn’t too thick or big – dwarfed by the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, but less elegant than the OPPO Find X3 Pro. Also worth noting, despite its plastic frame, the GT 5G feels solid in hand. 

Unlike most of the best camera phones you can buy, the Realme GT 5G features a headphone jack at the base, which sits alongside its USB-C port and loudspeaker. In addition, the phone packs stereo audio, with the earpiece doubling up as speaker number two, and there’s a power button to the right and volume buttons on the left. 

While the design is a four-star experience for the price, the screen gets full marks. Combining an ample 6.43-inches of 120Hz Super AMOLED tech with a 1080 x 2400 resolution, its specs are excellent, and in the flesh, the experience doesn’t disappoint. The phone goes toe to toe with the Xiaomi Poco F3, and it’s fantastic to see phones below £400/$600 featuring such excellent displays matched with ample power.

Realme GT 5G: Cameras

The Realme GT 5G’s main camera module features a 64 MP Sony IMX682 sensor matched with an f/1.8, 26mm wide-angle lens. We’ve seen this primary camera before on the Poco X3 NFC, so know what to expect from the 1/1.73-inch sensor, with its 0.8µm pixels. That said, this is the first time it’s combined with the Snapdragon 888’s ISP, so we’re hopeful the GT delivers impressive results compared to the admirably plucky Poco phone from September 2020.  

With an 8 MP resolution ultra-wide camera, the Realme GT 5G misses out on the super high-resolution secondary cameras on phones like the OnePlus 9 Pro, so it’s clear that imaging has taken the hit from a specs point of view to keep the phone cost down. Still, the ultra-wide lens features an open f/2.3 aperture and a nice, wide 16mm equivalent focal length.

There are two types of macro cameras on smartphones these days. There’s the 5MP telephoto camera found on the Redmi Note 10 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 11, and then there’s the 2MP fixed-focus macro module we see on most other low cost smartphones, which are, frankly speaking, a waste of space. Why? Because the main camera takes better macro photos than the dedicated macro camera, as evidenced below. Sadly, Realme opted for the latter in its GT 5G, and the less said on the subject, the better. 

With a front camera resolution of 16 MP, selfies should be sharp, and paired with an f/2.5, 26mm lens, are captured at a relatively wide angle.

It’s great to see Realme not pare back the shooting modes on the GT 5G, something we found the brand did with its Realme 8 5G. In turn, the phone features Night, Video, Photo, Portrait, 64MP, Dual-View video, Slo-Mo, Time-Lapse, Film, Pro, Pano, Text Scanner, and Ultra Macro. 

Camera performance

We had some great weather and beautiful flowers helping the Realme GT 5G capture some of our sample shots, and it did a fantastic job in near-ideal conditions, which got it off to a great start. When you pinch right in on a subject, you can see some sharpening going on, but it’s elusive until you hunt for it. 

The phone can balance colors and saturation levels very well in bright environments, though when the lights dim, muddier tones creep in. It can’t stack up to pricier phones with OIS at registering dimly lit subjects with complete fidelity. 

Noise handling is nonetheless respectable for a phone with no OIS. Yes, you can get better results at the price on the OnePlus Nord (not the OnePlus Nord CE) – though the Nord’s power pales in comparison to that of the GT. Additionally, the GT stacks up favorably when set aside phones like the Poco F3, with its 48MP sensor and no OIS.

While the main camera features some mighty dynamic range, likely owing to bracketing wizardry matched with its high-resolution sensor, the ultra-wide camera can’t deliver the same HDR-grade tonal range. In dark areas, it gets grainy, in bright areas, it blows out. This means the Realme GT 5G is primarily a wide-angle camera, with an ultra-wide used sparingly and a macro camera that can, for the most part, be ignored. 

If you’re a fan of selfies, the Realme GT has a heavy-handed beauty mode when taking portrait shots and you’ll want to switch it off if it does to your face what it does to ours. If you have it, it will smooth out parts of your stubble and not others, making for a less than flattering portrait. Turn off beauty mode though, and it’s just fine – nothing special, but does exactly what you’d expect at the price. 

Video is captured at up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second (fps), and while quality could be better in dim scenes, Realme’s video capture is super-steady, sharing the same stabilization smarts as found on OPPO phones. There’s even an ultra-steady mode which caps recording resolution at Full HD, though this reduces performance in dark environments further still. 

Realme GT 5G: Additional specs

The Realme GT 5G is the only phone at its price that is powered by a Snapdragon 888 chipset. Paired with 8GB or 12GB RAM, it has more power than some modern-day flagships, like the very expensive filmmaker companion, the Sony Xperia Pro.

Running Android 11 with Realme's interface over the top, the phone also sports a more reliable interface than competing Xiaomi phones, with no in-UI adverts or Dark Mode gremlins found on Xiaomi's MIUI.

Nailing all the fundamentals, the Realme GT's 128GB or 256GB storage is ample, and with its 4500mAh battery, which charges at up to 65W - from 0-100% in 35 mins, it lasts a day with moderate use.

Realme GT 5G: Verdict

It's obvious that the Realme GT 5G cuts back on camera clout in order to keep costs way down. It prioritizes gamers and folks in need of top-shelf performance, fantastic visuals thanks to that 120Hz AMOLED display, and a smooth interface experience.

The phone's main camera is good. It takes sharp photos with zing, and is competitive across lighting conditions, even if it isn't best-in-class. While the secondary cameras are a bit lackluster, that's the case for every £400/$600 smartphone we use. That said, please, Realme, no more 2MP filler macro cameras. 

As a package, therefore, the Realme GT 5G is a nine out of ten. As a camera phone though, it's just too far behind some of our best budget phones to score as well. Easy to recommend, but if you don't mind less power, have a look at the Galaxy A52 5G or the original OnePlus Nord which both pack OIS.

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The Realme 8 5G is the most affordable 5G phone you can buy in certain markets. This affordability is made possible by a slew of budget 5G processors hitting the scene of late, and it’s the MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G that powers Realme’s new smartphone. 5G is starting to reach further than just city centers in the US and UK, reaching homes in more rural areas. For the first time, therefore, as the world comes out of lockdown, the high-speed tech is a real selling point, and a treat on a budget phone like the Realme 8 5G. 

With its 6.5-inch display, plastic finish, and single focal length camera system, there’s no doubt about it – the Realme 8 5G isn’t gunning for the best camera phone of 2021 spot. That said, what it does do is balance a host of features that make for a respectable phone without a bank-breaking price, so is a low-cost contender for best budget camera phone and best 5G phone. 

Add to the mix a huge 5000mAh massive battery and 18W Quick Charge, not to mention a case in the box, and if you’re low on funds but fancy future-proofing your mobile data speeds, or fancy a 5G hotspot as a second smartphone, the Realme 8 5G could be just the ticket.

Be warned, however, that there is also a 4G version of the phone which is very confusingly just being sold as the Realme 8. This is ironically a more expensive handset, but despite not offering cutting edge 5G mobile data speeds does add an AMOLED screen and ultrawide camera.

Realme 8 5G: Design and screen

The Realme 8 5G isn’t too big or small, clocking in at a respectable 8.5mm thin – just a touch thicker than an iPhone, packing a middle-of-the-road 6.5-inch screen, and weighing 185g. It’s comfortable in the hand and pocket, with a flat back curving into to frame. 

Plastic fantastic; the phone does its best to look like glass when face-down, but it’s high-gloss plastic is instantly recognizable to the touch. While some plastic phones feel hollow and cheap, the Realme 8 5G doesn’t, with decent weighting. Showcasing uninspired, smartphone by numbers design, while this budget 5G phone doesn’t tickle us pink in the looks department, it still does a much better job of appealing to the masses than the pricier 108MP Realme 8 Pro, with its more divisive, textured finish. 

As with many low-cost mobiles, the Realme 8 5G includes a headphone jack alongside the phone’s USB-C port. The right side is where you’ll find the power button/fingerprint scanner combo, while to the left is the dual-SIM slot, and a microSD card slot for an additional 1TB storage.

Combining a 6.5-inch screen size and a 2400 x 1080 resolution, the specs speak for themselves – the Realme 8 5G sports over 400 pixels in every inch of screen. That means the phone is as sharp as it needs to be to look good. With IPS screen tech, the Realme 8 5G doesn’t stack up well when set against phones like the Redmi Note 10 Pro, with its deeper, inkier AMOLED display. Nevertheless, at its price point, Realme hits the mark.

With up to 600 nits of brightness, outdoor viewing is manageable in most environments, though bright sun might pose a challenge, however, the 90Hz screen is always smooth, viewing angles are decent at the phone’s price, and generally speaking, as a package, the design and screen check all the must-have boxes.

Realme 8 5G: Cameras

The Realme 8 5G’s main camera features a 48MP Samsung GM1 sensor with a 26mm equivalent field of view. Matched with an f/1.8, six-element lens, for a low-cost phone, the camera’s specs read well. Less impressive are the 48MP camera’s accompanying sensors. There’s a 2MP monochrome depth sensor, as well as a 2MP fixed-focus macro camera with a 4cm focal length. A dedicated macro camera can be great – as demonstrated by the Xiaomi Mi 11. The reality with the Realme 8 5G, however, is that the main camera captures better macro photos than the dedicated macro camera, making it entirely pointless. In turn, the only rear camera we’ll be reviewing in detail is the primary 48MP module.

Rear camera gripes aside, the phone’s front camera sports a resolution of 16MP, and packs a 25mm wide-angle matched with an f/2.1 aperture and a five-element lens.

Shooting modes include Night, Video, Photo, Portrait, 48MP camera mode, Panorama, Slo-mo, Text scanner, Time-lapse, Ultra macro, and Pro mode. The phone won’t capture RAW photos, but in Pro mode, the manual ISO can be boosted to 6400, while the longest shutter time is 32 seconds.

Camera performance

The Realme 8 5G’s main sensor is very capable for a budget phone, and that saves the camera system as a whole. Detail in well-lit environments is strong, balanced impressively against a relatively shallow depth of field. Even when the lights dim, the Realme 8 5G does a fair job in automatic mode, with only slightly soft results, and with night mode fired up, image detail improves. 

Colour and saturation in photos taken on the phone’s camera aren’t always the most natural-looking. This is especially true of the out-of-the-box experience, which sees the AI mode fired up. AI mode recognizes subjects and boosts tuning accordingly, turning overcast skies a deep shade of aquamarine, and giving dull flower petals a lift. We would recommend turning it off if you’re a fan of tuning your own shots.

The phone’s focus isn’t always on the money when the lights dim, or if a subject is heavily backlit. That said, the main camera is quick to focus in well-lit scenes, and reliable across close-up through to distanced photography. There’s also a full-resolution mode for higher detail landscapes.

Video is captured at up to Full HD resolution at 30fps on the Realme 8 5G, which sets it behind some 4G competitors which can climb up to 60fps, and even 4K. That said, the phone’s footage is steadied well, despite the lack of OIS. 

Realme 8 5G: Additional specs

Powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G Processor paired with up to 8GB RAM, the Realme 8 5G is perfectly suited to streaming videos for hours, and 2D or basic 3D gaming. It runs Android 11 with Realme’s interface over the top, so offers plenty of app support, matched with some thoughtful enhancements, such as a Sidebar for quick access shortcuts. 

With Either 64GB or 128GB storage, as well as microSD card support that can bump that number up by an extra 1TB, you won’t have to worry about space on the Realme 8 5G. You also won’t need to worry about running out of battery, with the phone’s huge 5000mAh massive battery easily lasting a day with 5G blazing. With 18W Quick Charge tech, it takes a little over an hour to power up, but if you’re a light to moderate user, you might be able to eke out two, or even three days of use out of a single charge with 5G deactivated. 

Realme 8 5G: Verdict

The Realme 8 5G’s saving grace is that 48MP main camera. The fact the phone’s one main camera covers a host of photography bases means that where it counts, the phone delivers the imaging goods. We would have loved to have seen an ultra-wide camera, and the macro camera might as well not be there it’s so mediocre. That said, for anyone after a simple, budget-friendly, 5G point and shoot, the Realme 8 5G is it.

With download speeds of 170-180Mbps in our testing, reliably good performance throughout our time with the phone from that MediaTek chipset, and the two-day battery life, it’s easy to see what the Realme 8 5G does well. Launching at just £179 ($250) on a launch promotion at Amazon UK from 20 May, with a £199 RRP ($280), the Realme 8 5G’s price argues away many of its shortcomings, and makes it a best-in-class 5G phone, even if its camera falls short of some 4G competition. 

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Before the Realme 8 Pro was announced, Realme took the budget mobile world by storm, with a string of low-cost, high-performance phones, including the Realme X2 Pro and X50 5G.  Realme X2 Pro and X50 Pro 5G. In 2020, Realme announced the 7 Pro, a fantastic handset that brought OLED display tech and an in-display fingerprint scanner to the world. Now, its adding a 108MP camera to the low-cost smartphone series.

That said, Realme’s new star player isn’t without competition. Xiaomi’s sub-brand — Redmi, recently launched the seemingly indomitable Note 10 Pro, another 108MP camera phone with a low price matched with a mind-bogglingly good spec-sheet. On paper, despite the fact Realme’s new Pro-phone beats virtually everything else in its price range, its Achilles’s heel could well be Xiaomi’s five-star alternative. 

Not beaten just yet, with its in-display fingerprint scanner and faster charging, not to mention confirmed UK availability, something we’re still waiting on from the Redmi Note 10 Pro, Realme could still come out on top; or could it? 

Realme 8 Pro: screen & design

With a 6.4-inch screen, the Realme 8 Pro is a medium-sized smartphone — around the same footprint as an iPhone 12 Pro. Unlike the sleek, metal iPhone though, it sports a textured plastic back that curves into pronounced, flat sides.

The phone’s design and finish are the first things to stand out. Available in two colors, Infinite Black, and Infinite Blue, a huge ‘DARE TO LEAP’ insignia is blasted into the back of both, running vertically up the right side. A statement design choice to be sure, and one that fails to float our boat, Realme’s definitely targeting a younger demographic here, but we’re still not sold — thank goodness for cases eh?

The Realme 8 Pro’s texture is also interesting, looking like a matte, mottled, and almost micro-grainy take on plastic. Unfortunately for Realme, its main competition from Xiaomi, the Redmi Note 10 Pro takes fewer risks and looks much more classical. A move that pays off, and leaves Realme’s affordable 108MP alternative feeling more niche. 

The screen’s also interesting, given the fact it’s virtually identical to that of the Realme 7 Pro which launched in 2020. With a 60Hz refresh rate, it’s significantly less smooth than much of the LCD competition, but thanks to the fact it delivers superior OLED tech, manages to get away with it. Or it would get away with it, had Xiaomi not added a 120Hz OLED screen to its Redmi Note 10 Pro just weeks before the 8 Pro launched. 

In Realme’s favor, the 8 Pro does feature a responsive in-display fingerprint scanner, winning it back some points when set against the side-mounted scanner on the Note 10 Pro. Nonetheless, it’s pretty clear which of the two we’d recommend at this stage. 

Realme 8 Pro: cameras

The Realme 8 Pro’s main camera module features a 108MP Primary Camera with a 1/1.52" sensor size, and an f/1.88, six-element lens complete with PDAF.  The 8MP ultra-wide camera sports an f/2.25 aperture, a 119° field of view, and a five-element lens. The final picture-taking camera is a 2MP macro camera with an f/2.4 aperture, a fixed-focus 4cm shooting distance, and there’s also a 2MP B&W camera for good measure.

With a front camera resolution of 16MP, combined with an f/2.45 aperture, with a Sony IMX471 sensor grabbing the snaps, the fact the Realme 8 Pro packs the same selfie shooter as the much pricier OnePlus 9 Pro is promising. 

Realme 8 Pro: camera performance

The Realme 8 Pro is two cameras in one. The first turbo-charges the camera when AI mode is switched on, the other, calms things down significantly when it’s switched off. Turned on, photos have an almost pungent pop to them. Skies look so very blue, and green grass looks like it’s been lifted from Wonderland, or another such fantasy location. Turn AI mod off, however, and things get much, much more natural. In turn, our analysis of the camera will focus on AI mode being off. 

The Realme 8 Pro’s photo detail is entirely dependent on lighting and just how steady a hand is taking the shot. The phone employs pixel-binning, capturing 12MP images by default, and the results look striking on the phone’s screen. Contrast is high, as is sharpening, and there’s a real sense that Realme’s catering for the social media generation than the discerning photographer. That said, we can’t help but be impressed; for just £279, we were able to take some beautiful photos with relative ease. 

The phone also handles backlit scenes better than we expected, and when shooting in RAW, you can pull out a lot of extra detail in the dark spots in post. The fact the manual mode is so fully featured, with manual ISO up to 6400, and manual shutter speed as long as 30 seconds, is also a boon. 

Noise handling is respectable in night mode. While exposure is a touch low at times, and photos can look muddy in dimly lit environments, there’s a lot of information that can be brought to life in post. The automatic mode doesn’t fair quite so well, but still activates a longer exposure to help eke out detail when it detects a dark environment. 

As is characteristic of the 108MP Samsung ISOCELL sensor at the helm of the Realme 8 Pro’s camera, just like on other devices like the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G and Xiaomi Note 10,  you can grab an impressively shallow depth of field when photographing subjects under a meter away. Sadly, though, the Realme 8 Pro’s other cameras don’t quite live up to the main camera’s magnificence.

For starters, the 8MP ultra-wide camera is fixed-focus and a tad on the soft side. We would have loved a few more pixels to play with here, and the color consistency across the wide and ultra-wide is usually more miss than hit. Additionally, the 2MP macro camera is a disappointment in all but the best lighting, and it makes very little sense to not just use the main camera and crop into your shot for ‘macro’ photos. When you consider the fact Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 10 Pro’s macro camera is a 5MP module with autofocus, it really does leave the 8 Pro’s close-up snaps in the dust.

Realme 8 Pro: other features

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G 4G chipset paired with either 6GB or 8GB RAM, the Realme 8 Pro’s power is spot-on for the price. It doesn’t slow down too much, even when taking those giant-resolution photos, and It runs Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0 over the top, which is based on OPPO’s capable ColorOS. 

With 128GB storage, as well as microSD card support and dual-SIM slots, storage and connectivity options are ample, and the phone’s in-display fingerprint scanner is nice and responsive. There’s also a headphone jack, though no stereo speakers. 

Rounding off, the 4500mAh battery, which charges at up to 50W easily makes it through a full day, and when you’re running low, the fast charging gives you 50 percent power in about 17 minutes. Interestingly, the Realme 7 Pro was capable of 65W fast charging, and the Realme 8 Pro ships with a 65W charger. We’re not sure why we’ve had a downgrade for 2021, but despite this, 50W still relatively class-leading.  

Realme 8 Pro: Verdict

If you like its styling, there’s plenty to love about the Realme 8 Pro. Its screen is zingy, bright and responsive. It also sports an in-display fingerprint scanner, something missing from most mobiles in its price bracket. Then there’s that 108MP camera, which, when matched with a steady hand can take fantastic shots. While the rest of the camera array is more miss than hit, the Realme 8 Pro’s photos and videos still edge ahead of most of the competition. 

The real elephant in the room when talking about the 8 Pro, however, is the Redmi Note 10 Pro. While it ditches the in-display fingerprint scanner in favour of a less fancy side-mounted option, with its more accessible styling, superior screen, and better camera array, it holds the Realme 8 Pro back from gold, even if it’s still one of the best budget camera phones of 2021. 

• Realme 8 Pro on sale now at Amazon UK

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The upcoming Realme 8 series has been expected for a while, but it seems that we've finally got an official announcement date. Realme recently released a video starring Madhav Sheth, the VP of Realme and CEO of Realme India and Europe. In the video, Sheth teases that a camera phone with a 108MP sensor will "go live on 24th March". 

This 108MP camera phone is expected to be included in the Realme 8 series, which is rumored to include a standard and a Pro variant. While the standard Realme 8 is set to have a 64MP sensor, the Realme 8 Pro is due to feature the 108MP sensor instead.

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There's not much information available about these upcoming camera phones. However, rumor website GSMArena states that we can expect both handsets to feature quad rear camera units. Apparently, both the Realme 8 and Realme 8 Pro will also feature large "Dare to Leap" text that was recently seen on the Realme X7 Pro. 

The only other information currently circulating about these upcoming handsets comes once again from Madhav Sheth. He recently posted a photo on Twitter (above) showing that the standard Realme 8 will come with a Helio G95 chipset, a 6.4"AMOLED screen, a 5,000 mAh battery and 30W charging. 

It seems that we'll have to wait until to find out more official information about these two upcoming handsets. However, with an official announcement date of 24 March, it won't be too long until we discover more exciting information about the Realme 8 and the Realme 8 Pro.

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The trend of smartphone manufacturers experimenting with under-display cameras has been growing steadily stronger over the past couple of years. Ever since Huawei and Oppo debuted a prototype phone with an under-display camera in 2019, more and more manufacturers have tried their hand at this interesting technology – and the latest company to throw its hat in the ring is Realme.

Xu Qi Chase, the Realme VP, recently posted an image of a smartphone with no apparent selfie camera on Weibo (a popular Chinese social media site). Many would be forgiven for thinking that this unnamed Realme smartphone could be housing a pop-up camera, as the Realme X that was released in July, 2019 had a pop-up selfie camera and a notchless screen.

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However, in the comments on the post, Xu Qi Chase explained that this phone doesn't come with a pop-up mechanism. Unless Realme have decided to forgo a selfie camera (which is so unlikely that it borders on impossible), this means that this mysterious handset is housing an under-display camera.

It was already fairly unlikely that Realme was going to revisit pop-up camera technology, as indicated by a recent interview conducted by GSMArena with Madhav Sheth, the Vice President of Realme and CEO of Realme India. Sheth said, "technologies keep changing in the year 2020, 5G is the number one trend that the whole industry has been dedicated to catch up with. Due to the thickness of the 5G module, it is very difficult to incorporate a pop-up camera module together with it unless the battery of thinness is sacrificed."

As reported by GSMArena, no further details on this Realme phone were revealed. However, if a Realme executive is teasing images of this phone, then we bet that an official release isn't too far off in the future… 

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Realme seem to be gearing up to release a new phone – the Realme C12. After the release of the C11 and C15, it's clear that Realme plans to focus its energy on producing affordable smartphones with bold specs. The Realme C11 comes with a 5,000mAh battery and the Realme C15 comes with a 6,000mAh battery.

It seems likely that the Realme C12 will sit inbetween the C11 and C15, but there's very little concrete information currently available. We have heard that the Realme C12 will use a 6,000mAh battery, like the C15. However, there's few other details at this stage.

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As reported by GSMArena, there have been signs that the Realme C12 will be released soon, as this upcoming smartphone has appeared on multiple certifications with the model number RMX2189. These certifications come from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and China, which are all significant markets for previous Realme phones. It's therefore not surprising that Realme are ramping up to release the Realme C12 in these countries.

Interestingly, while the Realme C12 is set to have a 6,000mAh battery, the C12 will apparently only support charging rates of 5V at 2A. This means that the lightning-fast charging speeds that we're seeing in many modern smartphones won't be seen in the C12. This isn't a huge surprise, as this would likely bump up the price and take the Realme C12 away from its intended role as an affordable smartphone.

We'll have to wait a little longer for any more information on the Realme C12, but it's certainly interesting to see the manufacturer continue to use impressive specs for affordable phones.

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The Realme X3 SuperZoom isn't due to be announced until 25 May, but the specifications have been leaked due to the Thai website Tech Hangout posting its full review. This was likely an accident, as the article has now been taken down. However, the page has been cached through Google, so we can explore what the Realme X3 SuperZoom will have in store for us before its official announcement next Monday.

According to the prematurely posted review, the Realme X3 SuperZoom will sport a periscope camera, a Snapdragon 855+ SoC and a 6.6" LCD screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and Full HD+ resolution. The X3 SuperZoom will also have 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage and will have a fingerprint scanner on the side that also doubles up as a power key.

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As reported by GSMArena, the back of the Realme X3 SuperZoom will have a quad camera setup. Its main shooter will be a 64MP camera with Samsung's ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor, but it'll also have an 8MP f/2.3 ultra wide camera with a 119º field of view. One of the most exciting aspects of this upcoming handset is a 8MP f/3.4 periscope lens, which sports an impressive 5x optical zoom and OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). The last camera in the quad setup is a macro lens to capture close-ups from up to 4cm. 

Meanwhile, the front of the Realme X3 SuperZoom features a 32MP selfie camera and an 8MP f/2.2 ultra wide camera with a 105º field of view. This impressive quad camera line-up, including expensive periscope camera technology, is sure to interest camera phone enthusiasts. 

Pricing and availability for the Realme X3 SuperZoom are yet to be announced, but we'll likely hear these details on the official launch day next week. 

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The upcoming Realme X50 Pro Player phone is rumored to be a gamer-centric flagship handset designed to complement the Realme X50 Pro 5G that's already been released. Due to launch on 25 May, the Realme X50 Pro Player Edition will reportedly be powered by the Snapdragon 865 SoC chipset, which is specifically designed to support 5G and boost gaming performance.

The upcoming handset is rumored to come with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, but it's likely that there will be other memory versions for others to choose from as well. The Realme X50 Pro Player Edition will have a 6.44" 2,400x1,080 pixel display with a 90Hz refresh rate. 

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GSMArena has also reported that the front of the phone will also have a pill-shaped hole in the top-left corner for the two front-facing cameras. These will apparently be 16MP and 2MP respectively (it's likely that the 2MP camera will be a time-of-flight camera to create background blur in selfies).

Meanwhile, the back of the Realme X50 Pro Player Edition will house a quad camera setup, with a 48MP main camera, an 8MP camera (that's likely to be an ultra wide) and two 2MP cameras (likely to be time-of-flight and macro respectively). The Realme X50 Pro Player Edition is also rumored to feature an in-display fingerprint scanner and a 4,200mAh battery with 65W fast charging support. 

The Realme X50 Pro Player Edition is expected to cost around CNY3,299, which translates to around $465 / £380.

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The Oppo Find X2 Pro is a blowaway camera phone, though Oppo itself is a brand that's still unknown to many people. However, while Oppo may seem like it came out of nowhere, it’s had a longer history of churning out tech than you might think. 

Audiophiles may have over a decade of Oppo exposure under their belts, reading about the Chinese brand’s premium headphones and sound equipment. Even before it started dropping phones in the UK, debuting with its impressive Oppo Reno 10x Zoom in summer 2019, it’s been selling smartphones in China for years.

Oppo is also part of the same parent company as OnePlus and Realme – two brands that are incredibly well respected by enthusiasts with an eye for value. That said, the Find X2 Pro – the company's latest flagship – is definitely not a contender for best budget camera phone.

Costing £1,099 ($1,292 / AU$2,188), not only is it the most expensive phone that Oppo has yet launched (the Reno 10x Zoom was £699 when announced), it’s even pricier than an iPhone 11 Pro! Surely not. 

Scan across the spec sheet and a few things jump out, though – such as the 512GB storage. That’s four times the capacity found in the iPhone 11 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra base models. Then there’s that fast battery charging at 65W, which soars from 0-100% in just 38 minutes. 

Finally, with a 120Hz refresh rate screen and a fancy visual engine that makes the Find X2 Pro an upscaling whizz (capable of turning standard dynamic range and 30fps footage into almost HDR, high frame-rate fodder) it looks like an across-the-board winner.

The fact that Oppo bagged exclusive dibs on Sony’s new 48MP sensor is a huge deal, too, and the triple camera loaded up with a periscope zoom promises performance worthy of the best camera phones on paper – and with 5G as standard, it's also poised to take the crown for best 5G phone. So, what has it been like after a full test in the real world?

• Pre-order the Oppo Find X2 Pro here

Specifications & shooting modes

With three cameras around the back, spearheaded by a 48MP main sensor paired with an f/1.7 lens, at first glance you would be forgiven for thinking that the Find X2 Pro’s setup wasn’t anything special – but, oh boy, would you be wrong. 

The Oppo Find X2 Pro features a 12-bit IMX689 sensor from Sony, and this thing is box-fresh and likely to be the sensor to watch in 2020. With its large 1/1.4” size, 48MP resolution and 1.12-micron pixels, its light-capturing capabilities are fair even without factoring in its pixel binning party trick. That said, if you do, and snap 12MP resolution images (combining four pixels into one ‘superpixel’), the combined pixels result in a 2.24-micron pixel size, which is excellent.

This isn’t just any smartphone camera setup, though, so there’s a fair bit more detail we can go into. First up, the Find X2 Pro features All Pixel Omni-directional PDA. While traditional camera phones employ just 3% of their pixels to do the focusing, this one engages 100% of them.

Additionally, the 13MP periscope camera features a 10x hybrid zoom and a 60x digital zoom. Oppo doesn’t disclose the periscope camera’s focal length on this thing, so we can’t say exactly how it stacks up to the Galaxy S20 Ultra from a specs point of view - but keep reading for real-world findings. 

Add to the mix a sky high-resolution 48MP ultra-wide camera, powered by an IMX586 sensor and an f/2.32 lens, and the stage is set for some great imaging. 

Thankfully, Oppo doesn’t drop the ball from a software point of view for the most part. For starters, there are plenty of shooting modes. These include Video, Photo, and Portrait which occupy the bottom bar for quick access. Additional modes include Night, Pano, Expert, Time-lapse, Text Scanner and Slo-Mo – available through an expanded menu. 

The phone’s expert mode supports control over ISO up to 6400 and a shutter speed of up to 32 seconds. Additionally, it also opens up 12-bit RAW capture, which is a novelty on mobiles.

Key features

Images have a refreshingly natural finish to them – no over the top zing, and contrast is held back too (in a good way). In turn, the Find X2 Pro’s images should please fans of more neutral shots that leave wiggle room for edits.

Focus is fast and accurate, though in low light anything but a steady hand can result in a softer shot than the finest phones from Apple and Huawei. Still, that shouldn’t put you off as results can look very good in plain automatic mode across lighting conditions. 

The phone’s long-exposure, handheld low light capture night mode steps up a level compared to older Oppo phones. It almost matches the best out there – even if it isn’t quite Pixel 4 astrophotography good, grabbing natural, bright images even in the dimmest scenes. 

Dynamic range is also solid. There’s an auto HDR feature that you can activate, which ensures even backlit objects are detail-rich. Once again, there’s a subtle emphasis placed on a natural look, with HDR photos free from extreme textures. 

Depth of field is also beautifully on the mark for a smartphone. Whether you’re shooting a photo of a stick of lip balm or a portrait, the softened background is usually rich and realistic, and this relatively shallow depth extends to the telephoto camera too. 

If you want the maximum zoom possible, then the Find X2 isn’t for you – the Galaxy S20 Ultra wins out on that front. The Find X2 betters the iPhone 11 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, though, making it amongst the best zoom you can get for the price. Clocking in at a roughly 5x optical zoom, it’s pretty standard fare for a periscope camera in 2020. What’s great about the Find X2 Pro, however, is that image quality across focal lengths stays strong. 

The ultra-wide camera stacks up very well too. Loaded up with autofocus and macro capabilities, just like the OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro, it can stay sharp as close as 2.5cm, and in good light, the results are high on impact. 

There’s also a bump in video capture. The Ultra Steady Video, introduced on the Oppo Reno 2, now uses the ultra-wide lens, so it doesn’t crop into the frame - and it looks mighty. Unlike the Reno 10 X Zoom, video can also be shot across all three cameras, and the Find X2 Pro also captures 10-bit HDR video, with a maximum recording resolution of 4K at 60fps.

Also worth noting, the punch hole selfie camera impresses with its 32MP resolution and the clear images it shoots. Better still, Night Mode extends to the front camera too, so even in low light, clear shots needn’t be a pipe dream. 

Design and handling

The Oppo Find X2 Pro weighs 198g if you pick it up in vegan leather or 207g in its ceramic variant. Colors include black and orange, and the combination of glass and metal feel fantastic in hand. This means it’s a heftier phone than most, though its curves make sure it still feels elegant. 

Its USB-C port at the base is also special; plug in an Oppo SuperVooc 2.0 charger with 65W speeds and the Find X2 Pro powers up to 100% (4,260mAh) in 38 minutes, blasting the Galaxy S20’s 25W charging out of the water. There’s no wireless charging – so it isn’t quite a master of all trades, though, on the plus, it does see you through a full day which is great going.

The Find X2 Pro’s connections are also future-focused. There’s 5G as standard, with no 4G versions available. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 865 chipset, making it among the most powerful smartphones you can buy, and that’s combined with 512GB storage, 12GB PLDDR5 RAM, and WiFi 6. This makes it a winner in our eyes. 

While the Galaxy S20 series runs with Samsung’s Exynos chips in everywhere other than the US, the Find X2’s Snapdragon processor performs better in the real world when it comes to heat management and seems to do a great job of battery like. Additionally, most flagship phones today ship with 128GB storage; the Find X2 packs four times that capacity. This should make potential Samsung customers seriously take note of what Oppo's doing here. 

Running with Color OS 7.1, which is Oppo’s custom interface atop Android 10, app support is also on-par with the best Android devices around. This means that unlike Huawei’s new devices, Oppo’s Find X2 Pro supports unbridled Google services. 

While we didn’t love Oppo’s interface on the Reno 10x Zoom, it was stripped back for the Oppo Reno 2 – and Oppo seems to have cleaned things up a bit more this time around as well. It’s clean, responsive, and swiping through it on that 120Hz screen is a beautiful thing.

Display

We wouldn’t normally carve out a separate section for a phone screen on this site, but the Ultra Vision panel on the Find X2 Pro is a treat. With a 19.8:9 aspect ratio it’s tall, and measuring 6.78-inches it delivers ample size. Photos look stunning on it and it makes for a sensational viewfinder, indoors or out. The Find X2 Pro is also beautifully bright at 800 nits (which climbs to 1,200 nits in direct sunlight). 

In addition to the smooth 120Hz refresh rate, Oppo has loaded up a 240Hz Touch Sample Rate, which means that touch reactions are fast, taking response times from 7.4ms down to 4.2ms. As for resolution, there’s sharp, QHD AMOLED tech at work here; and it’s iPhone-beatingly crisp. Combined with True Billion Color Display (10-bit), and pro-grade color calibration, the phone has also received an A+ top-tier rating from DisplayMate.

Oppo doesn’t stop there. It has also included a dedicated image engine, O1 Ultra Vision, which comes loaded with features like Clear Video Motion Compensation for smoother playback, HDR Video Enhancer, upscaling content and HDR 10+ support. Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube are also supported by the engine, so this isn’t just a hot air spec that you’ll never use.

Verdict

The Oppo Find X2 Pro is a very expensive phone that’s going to be a dream for underdog fans who want a seriously fancy flagship. The £1,099 asking price is eye-watering but, when you look at what else is out there and then look at the Find X2 Pro again, it’s clearly competing with the big boys on specs – and we love the natural shots that its cameras produce. That said, it’ll be even easier to recommend in the next three to six months when the price drops a touch, or if you can get it on a well-priced contract. 

As it stands though, Oppo should be commended for making one of the best camera phones of the year so far. 

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The Realme X50 Pro 5G costs €550, but take a glance at its spec sheet, eye over that intimidating quad-camera array and slide a finger along its frosted glass back or blasted metal sides, and it will leave you scratching your head. This phone should cost more than it does - and we haven’t even turned it on yet. 

Fire up its zingy OLED screen, swipe through its silky 90Hz interface and revel in its mind-bogglingly fast charging, and the price gets even more confusing. 

As for the camera, it’s primary sensor is the same 64MP module found in the Realme X2 Pro, but having reviewed the older Realme phone, the X50 5G seems to pack better camera software. The snaps we took with it in our afternoon out and about London look more balanced than those shot on the X2 Pro when we tested it - despite the fact we’re using a pre-production device. 

That said, watch out for the full review - we’ll be much more conclusive in that, and let you know how it stacks up against some of the best camera phones of 2020.

Realme X50 Pro 5G camera

On paper, it isn’t just the primary sensor that’s the same across the X50 Pro 5G and the Realme X2 Pro - it’s the entire camera setup. Recapping, that means you get a primary 64MP sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and a 26mm wide-angle. The X50 Pro 5G doesn’t feature OIS on any of its lenses, but PDAF is accounted for, so you’ll get relatively zippy focusing.

The telephoto camera clocks in with a 54mm focal length, which equates to a 2x zoom. With an f/2.3 aperture, you’re getting pretty respectable light-grabbing specs on paper, and that lens is matched with a 12MP sensor.

Completing the holy trinity of smartphone camera angles of view, the X50 Pro 5G also adds an ultra-wide-angle to the mix with a 13mm focal length, an f/2.3 aperture and an 8MP sensor.

There’s a fourth 2MP monochrome depth sensor as well, and on the front is a dual camera for selfies. The primary choice is a 32MP pore-tastic resolution option, and it’s accompanied by an ultrawide 17mm, 8MP camera.

Firing up our early version, it doesn’t look like there are any nasty surprises within the camera UI. The X50 5G still packs Photo, Video, Night, Portrait and 64MP mode, just like the X2 Pro did before it.

Within the More tab, you can also access a few extra modes - Pano, Time-Lapse, Ultra Macro, HyperText (a document scanner), Slo-Mo and Expert (manual mode).

Enthusiasts can manually ramp the phone’s ISO up to 6400, and the shutter speed down to 32 seconds. Additionally, there’s RAW support as well, which could be interesting when matched with the phone’s 64MP resolution.

Design, screen and specs

Flagship phones evolved from plastic to metal, then from metal to glass, and now, the latest signifier of premium seems to be frosted glass. 

Just like the iPhone 11 Pro and OnePlus 7T, the Realme X50 Pro 5G’s frosted glass back feels refined. It’s elegantly rounded and available in two colours, Moss Green and Rust Red, both looking rich and demure.

A blasted aluminium frame is sandwiched by the phone’s curved Gorilla Glass 5 back and flat front. On the right side is a power button, while to the left, volume buttons. There’s no 3.5mm headphone jack on board, but you do get stereo speakers as well as a USB-C port.

The screen is a tour de force. Measuring 6.44 inches, it’s big, but not too big. With a resolution of 1080 x 2400, and a 20:9 aspect ratio, the numbers stack up well, and when combined with Super AMOLED tech and a buttery slick 90Hz refresh rate, to say the X50 Pro 5G punches above its weight is entirely accurate. 

Running Android 10, combined with Realme UI 1.0, the challenger brand, that falls under the same parent company as Oppo and OnePlus has stripped back its ColorOS UI, as found on the Reno 2, in favour of a more straightforward, cleaner interface - and we like it upon first impression. 

Part of the appeal is just how nippy the phone seems to be, and with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 inside, that’s no surprise at all. The X50 Pro 5G is paired with either 128GB storage and 6GB RAM, 128GB storage and 8GB RAM, or 256GB and 12GB RAM.

We haven’t wrapped up with the highlights just yet. In addition to packing a hefty 4200mAh battery inside, the phone powers up at an astonishingly quick 65W charging speed. That means it fills up from 0-100 per cent in about 30 minutes, which is convenient and flagship beating all at the same time. 

Early verdict

There’s very little to find fault with when it comes to the Realme X50 Pro 5G’s back to buck ratio. Sure, there’s no headphone jack, but if you pick one up, you’re getting flagship specs and high megapixel imaging at a midrange smartphone price. Add to the mix 5G, which is a luxury generally reserved for top-tier devices like the S20-series, and it looks like Realme is fast becoming the ultimate challenger brand - now all we need are more retail channels across Europe and in the US, so we can easily buy one. 

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Realme has revealed its latest flagship camera phone, and it's a doozy: the Realme X50 Pro 5G, which features a 64MP quad camera, 32MP dual selfie camera along with 5G capability.

The fact that MWC 2020 in Barcelona was cancelled wasn't enough to deter the company from making its announcement in Spain. Just 380 miles east, it held a press conference in Madrid to unveil the Realme X50 Pro 5G – which looks set to be one of the best 5G phones on the market. 

• See Realme X50 Pro 5G hands-on review

While the X50 Pro 5G wasn't entirely unexpected (we predicted it when Realme teased the announcement), it's no less exciting for photographers seeking a powerhouse camera phone. 

The new model features a Hawk Eye AI quad camera array, consisting of a 64MP main camera, a 12MP telephoto lens (with up to 20x zoom), an 8MP ultra wide-angle and macro lens (with 119° angle of view and 3cm close focusing distance), and a black-and-white portrait lens with "color filter system" and an f/2.4 aperture.

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That 64MP primary camera features some AI software enhancements, including Nightscape 3.0 and Ultra Nightscape Mode, which enable users to capture photographs even in challenging nocturnal conditions.

The camera on the face of the phone is equally impressive, boasting a dual selfie array with a 32MP wide-angle f/2.5 lens and an ultra-wide 8MP f/2.2 module 105° field of view, presented in a notch-free punch-hole display. The quad-camera array also supports 4K video with video stabilization "which is comparable to the professional sports cameras", along with "real-time bokeh effect".

Elsewhere the phone is packing similarly imposing specs, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G mobile platform. Its 6.44-inch Super AMOLED display boasts a 20:9 aspect ratio, 90Hz refresh rate and 180Hz sampling rate for minimal lag. The screen features in-display fingerprint recognition that can unlock in 0.27 seconds. 

The Realme X50 Pro 5G will be available in April in multiple configurations, with 8GB RAM / 128GB storage for €599, 8GB / 256GB for €669, and 12GB / 256Gb for €749 (official US, UK and Australian pricing to follow). 

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The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is a 6.7-inch screened 5G smartphone, packing plenty of size, without the beastly, pocket-stretching girth of larger phones like the Huawei Mate 20 X 5G. Weighing 186g, it manages to weigh less than even the entry level 194g iPhone 11, giving it a fantastic screen-size to weight ratio, and making it one of the best balanced multimedia powerhouse smartphones on the scene. 

As for the the camera system, this time around, it’s been given a full makeover. You still get a 12MP sensor, only this time, it’s paired with a fixed aperture, f/1.8 lens. While the headline grabbing 108MP sensor is in the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the S20 Plus’s more conservative pixel count could well be the better performer - it’s definitely the safer bet for risk averse early adopters in need of an upgrade.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus camera

The S20 Plus’s camera is identical to that of the S20, save for the additional ToF (time of flight) sensor. As mentioned, theerefore, there’s a primary 12MP camera with hefty 1.8μm pixels. Combined with an f/1.8 aperture lens, it’s a competent bit of kit on paper, helped along by OIS.

Has it got what it takes to topple the Google Pixel 4 and iPhone 11 Pro - two phones that outperform the S10 in our best camera phones roundup? Time will tell, but we’re more confident in the S20 Plus’s odds now Samsung’s swapped out the two year old dual aperture approach.

Just because the primary sensor is 12MP, it doesn’t mean the S20 Plus isn’t playbing with big pixel counts - the phone’s 64MP sensor, as found in the Realme X2 Pro has made a return, combined with a 3x telephoto zoom lens. Samsung has loaded the module’s f/2.0 lens with OIS as well - helpful for the phone’s 30x ‘Space Zoom’, which uses both optical and digital zoom to get very close to the action. Additionally, the ultra-wide 120-degree 12MP module is matched with an f/2.2 lens and 1.2μm pixels.

It isn’t just about photos on the S20 Plus, though. The entire S20 line captures up to 8K video, simultaneously grabbing 33MP stills mid-recording. That means if you can decide between video and high-quality stills, you can capture both by hitting the shutter release while the video camera’s rolling.

There’s also a new super steady video mode on the S20s, which activates action camera-grade stabilization, not to mention a manual video mode - finally. Another fun feature that promises to make the best of the smartphone’s AI processing chops is the new Single Take mode. This captures multiple versions of a single clip - live focus blurring out the background, boomerang for sped up and reversed Instagram fodder, Ultrawide content and more. The S20 then displays this 1-minute ‘moment’ as a gallery so you can pick your favourite take, or takes.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus: design

Available in three colors, pink, black and blue, the S20 Plus’s design is fine, but, it definitely isn’t particularly stand out to look at. That said, when you get it in your hands, things pick up nicely. Combining rounded Gorilla Glass 6 and 7003-series aluminum, it’s also sealed with IP68 water and dust resistance. At the base is a USB port, on the right are power and volume buttons, and while Samsung’s ditched the S10’s Bixby button (wahay), there’s still no headphone jack (boo).

The real centerpiece of the S20 Plus is that screen - what a beauty, thanks to its. The phone combines a pin-sharp 3200 x 1440 resolution and Dynamic AMOLED quality with 6.7-inch size, resulting in over 500 pixels-per-inch - sharper than any iPhone, it’s. All the S20s are also smoother than iPhones, with their iPad Pro-grade 120Hz refresh rate.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus: additional specs

The S20 Plus features 128GB storage that can be boosted by 1TB with a microSD card, 12GB RAM, and an Exynos 990 processor powering the experience along. As for the phone’s battery, there’s a hefty 4500mAh cell inside, and it charges up at a fast, but not class-leading 25W.

Dolby tuned stereo speakers have also made a return from the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, as too has the ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner and Samsung’s DeX experience, which projects a desktop UI when you hook your S20 Plus to a big screen.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus: early verdict 

If you want the best looking, biggest screen money can buy but can’t bring yourself to stump up over $1,100 or £1,000, the the S20 Plus could be just within your budget. An across the board powerhouse with an impressive camera array, while the phone may not have a 108MP main sensor, it’s clearly going to be one of the phones to beat in 2020.

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Our invite’s in for Realme’s Mobile World Congress 2020 launch event. The Chinese manufacturer made waves in 2019 with its 64MP Realme X2 Pro, which is one of the best budget camera phones around, but the brand’s been a bit quiet on the western front since the affordable flagship launched last year. If there were any doubts that MWC would see a follow-up, however, they can be put to bed. 

In a tweet posted on 5 February, Realme Europe stated “If there were a Realme global launch event, where would it be?”. On an image accompanying the tweet were a set of coordinates, and, you guessed it - punch them into Google Maps and you get Barcelona.

As with many launch events from Chinese manufacturers, we’re expecting this to be an announcement for a western release of a phone that’s already been unveiled in China. Specifically, this will probably be the brand’s first ever 5G phone, the Realme X50.

Realme's tweet (above) announcing its upcoming MWC launch

On top of 5G, the X50 features a 6.57-inch screen with a silky smooth 120Hz refresh rate, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, 8-12GB RAM and 128-256GB storage.

As far as the cameras go, as with the X2 Pro, the X5 features a 64MP main sensor with an f/1.8 lens and no OIS. This sits alongside three other cameras: an ultra-wide 8MP module, a 2x zoom telephoto lens paired with a 12MP sensor and a 2MP dedicated macro camera.

Unlike the Realme X2 Pro, the X5 features a dual selfie camera – one wide and one ultra-wide, as well as a notch-free, punch hole display.

Loaded up with a 4200mAh battery and up to 30W fast charging, the X5 is clearly a balance between midrange and flagship features, and given Realme’s track record, will likely launch in western markets at a very attractive price, despite the 5G premium it packs if indeed it is what‘s unveiled - we’ll be there on 24 February  getting you a hands-on with whatever phone Realme announces

Via Android Central

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Realme enjoyed a short-held spot at the top of the megapixel podium with its 64MP camera packing Realme X2 Pro. Despite the fact it was shortly superseded by the current big pixel count champ, the 108MP Xiaomi Mi Note 10, the Realme X2 Pro still represents fantastic value for money - but big pixels seldom make for the best camera phones.

Realme’s latest flagship smartphone features a class-leading screen for the price. Measuring 6.5-inches, its Super AMOLED panel packs a peak iPhone-grade brightness and a OnePlus 7T smooth 90Hz refresh rate. Starting at €399 (£340, $445), you’d expect pure midrange power inside, but Realme has somehow fitted the X2 Pro out with a best-in-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus processor complete with between 6-12GB RAM. 

Combine all that with stereo speakers, a huge 4000mAh battery and the fastest charging we’ve seen to date, and it’s a head-scratcher as to why the Realme X2 Pro doesn’t cost more than it does. 

On paper, the phone’s quad-camera set-up also sounds impressive with its big pixels and multiple focal lengths - including a wide, telephoto and ultra wide lens; but, it’s ultimately a bit of a guinea pig. The first phone to feature Samsung’s new high-resolution 64MP sensor, Realme opted against a safe choice - Sony’s ubiquitous 48MP sensor. This all means, this fantastically specked phone could fall flat at what could be the most important hurdle, imaging. 

Realme X2 Pro: camera specifications

The quad-camera setup around the back of the Realme X2 Pro features a wide angle 64MP sensor with 0.8µm pixels combined with a 26mm lens. With an aperture of f/1.8, it lets in a fair amount of light, though with no image stabilisation, isn’t as well-specced for low light photography as some competition, not least of all the 108MP Xiaomi Mi Note 10.

The Realme X2 Pro’s telephoto camera features a resolution of 13MP, combined with an f/2.5 aperture lens with a 52mm focal length, and once again, no OIS. The phone’s ultrawide camera is the lowest resolution picture taker clocking in at 8MP, and with a 16mm angle of view, works out to about 0.6 times that of the primary camera. 

There is a fourth low-resolution 2MP sensor at the bottom of the camera array, but this is a depth sensor so doesn’t independently capture images.

As for the selfie camera, it’s 16MP sensor is coupled with a 25mm wide angle lens, which has an aperture of f/2.0 - virtually identical on paper to that of the Oppo Reno 2.

Shooting modes: Despite the Realme X2 Pro’s 64MP resolution sensor, the phone captures 16MP images, combining four pixels on the sensor into one dot in the final photo. You can override this and shoot at full resolution by firing up Ultra 64MP mode, but this is at the expense of HDR-capture.

Additional shooting modes are plentiful - Video, Photo, and Portrait occupy the bottom bar for quick access, with additional modes - Nightscape, Pano, Expert, Time-lapse, Slo-Mo and Ultra Macro - available through an expanded menu. 

While the expert mode supports control over ISO up to 3200 and a shutter speed of up to 16 seconds, there’s no support for RAW shooting here.

Realme X2 Pro camera performance

In well-lit environments, photos taken on the Realme X2 Pro share some similarities with those captured on 48MP camera phones like the Huawei Nota 5T and Redmi Note 8T. Despite being loaded up with plenty of detail, occasionally, they lose out on nuance found in dark shadows or bright highlights, with mid tones impressing for the most part. 

This isn’t all down to the sensor; Realme’s processing boosts the saturation and contrast a fair bit, so photos shot in auto mode pack punch but sacrifice nuance. Using a third party camera app can help mute things a little; we had great success with an unofficial port of the Google Camera app. Serious photographers will definitely want to try out a couple of third party solutions, as there’s no other way to drop the contrast and saturation.

Stick with Realme’s own camera app, however, and you can still get some impressive shots with an Instagram-ready look to them. Despite the lack of OIS, images are seldom blurry, focus is on point and snappy, even in middling light, and when shooting indoors, the Nightscape mode helps pull out textures when the camera phone’s automatic mode struggles. 

The telephoto camera’s 2x zoom lens may be missing OIS as well, but with a steady hand it outperforms the primary camera in challenging lighting. If you want maximum flexibility and the light is right though, you’ll be as well off to shoot in 64MP mode and crop into your shot after the beat. 

As for the ultra wide angle camera, it does the job in good to middling light, but, unfortunately, doesn’t work with the Realme X2 Pro’s night mode, so all-encompassing low light landscapes are out of the question. One party trick it does pack is Ultra Macro mode though, focusing at around 2.5cm away from a subject just like the OnePlus 7T Pro.

Video on the Realme X2 Pro climbs up to 4K resolution at 60fps. As with photos, footage captured has a saturated, contrasted look to it that looks pleasing, but doesn’t leave much wiggle room for edits. At 60fps, there’s also a fair amount of live view lag, especially noticeable at 4K resolution, and mid-capture autofocus is hit and miss. Nevertheless, the Realme X2 Pro’s electronic image stabilisation does keep things steady for the most part across all resolutions which is a boon.

Realme X2 Pro: sample images

Realme X2 Pro: Battery, connections and OS

Realme includes a beefy 4000mAh battery in its X2 Pro, so it’s little wonder that even with that large, 90Hz screen, it comfortably makes it through a full day of use. Adding to an already excellent battery story is the fact this phone charges very quickly. With 50W fast charging, capable of powering up from 0-100% in just over half an hour, it’s the fastest we’ve seen on a smartphone to date in the UK or US. 

The Realme X2 Pro also features a host of other flagship features - an under display fingerprint scanner, NFC for contactless mobile payments, stereo speakers tuned by Dolby and Gorilla Glass 5 protection. 

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus processor, it’s also a powerhouse, and there are plenty of storage options available too. Having said that, the phone doesn’t support expandable storage - so you can’t bump up the space inside with a microSD card. In turn, we’d recommend you pick up the 128GB version or 256GB version if you’re not sure 64GB will give you enough room for all your files, photos and videos.

Running Android 9, app support for the X2 Pro is excellent as well, with plenty of apps available through the Google Play Store. Color OS, the interface Oppo and Realme both use on their phones is a mixed bag, heavier than most skins; but Realme’s done a great job of stripping it back going into 2020, removing much of the bloatware that weighed down other Color OS devices like the Oppo Reno 10X Zoom.

Realme X2 Pro: Verdict

What you end up with in the Realme X2 Pro is a phone that punches way above its weight. It doesn’t have the most premium styling, but its build is solid, and it definitely doesn’t look bad. With a fantastic, bright, smooth OLED screen, plenty of power, stereo speakers and day-long battery life, for the phone’s €399 (£340, $445) starting price, nothing else can touch it when it comes to value. The one addition that would have made it a total no brainer would have been a microSD card slot. 

What’s more, while the camera definitely isn’t the best around, or, even the best that you can get for best budget camera phone under £400 - that accolade goes to the Huawei Nova 5T and Oppo Reno 2, depending on the kind of photographs you like to capture - it’s still perfectly usable, grabbing plenty of detail and snapping decent photos across lighting conditions.

The kicker, however, is how limited its availability is. If you’re in the UK, you can only buy it online through select channels, and for anyone in the US, it’s an import-only option. 

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Just days after the Realme X2 Pro launched, breaking records by being the world's first 64MP camera phone, the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 (aka Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro) will launch in China on 05 November and will be the world's first 108MP phone.

More than that, the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 / Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro will possess a five-camera array, which the company is billing as "the world's FIRST 108MP Penta Camera".

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At the heart of the phone is the 108-megapixel Samsung Isocell Bright HMX sensor,  which is the result of "close collaboration" between Samsung and Xiaomi – a resolution that actually outmuscles almost every camera on our list of 10 highest-resolution cameras you can buy today.

The HMX sensor features Tetracell technology that enables four sensors to combine like Voltron into a single photosite for 27MP images in low light conditions, and also supports video recording "without losses in field-of-view" at 6K resolution up to 30 frames per second. 

The sensor is believed to be making its home court debut in the Samsung Galaxy S11 next year, with the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 being the first camera phone to feature the technology.

While little has been announced about this model designation in specific, by all accounts it seems to be the international name of the Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro – which launches in China next week and about which we do know a few key details.

According to Gadgets 360, the main 108MP primary camera will be supplemented by a 20MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 117° field of view, a telephoto camera with a rumored 10x hybrid and 50x digital zoom, a macro camera, a 12MP portrait camera and a 32MP selfie camera.

It is said to feature a 6.47-inch display, and is powered by a Snapdragon 730G processor with a 5,170mAh battery. 

With the device launching in China next week as the Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro, we should have the full specs and details – and hopefully an international release date – for the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 very soon. 

Of course, there's also the Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha 5G due out in December – Xiaomi's 108MP concept phone with a wraparound screen that equates to a ludicrous "180.6% screen-to-body ratio". 

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Realme, the Chinese phone manufacturer has launched a 64MP camera phone, the X2 Pro, proving that the megapixel race really isn’t over - or, is it? By combining many pixels into one, the phone actually produces 16MP images, a technique we’ve seen before in devices like the Honor 20 Pro and OnePlus 7T. 

That said, while in the past, 48MP resolution has processed to create 12MP images, this is the first example of Samsung’s new 64MP sensor we’ve seen hit the shelves, and the rest of the phone impresses too, making this a contender for one of the best camera phones. 

Who is Realme?

If you haven’t heard of the brand, don’t be too hard on yourself. Despite having launched an excellent, affordable budget phone in the UK in early 2019, the Realme 3 Pro, this is its first big flagship-grade splash. 

Realme is owned by BBK Electronics; BBK also owns OnePlus, Oppo and Vivo - three other exciting upcoming smartphone brands, so this definitely isn’t some small startup. 

• Realme XT2 Pro hands-on review

What about the X2 Pro?

The Realme X2 Pro is a big-screened smartphone with a high-resolution quad-camera setup around the back, a large, 4000mAh battery and premium glass and metal design. 

The phone’s Super AMOLED display is loaded up with 90Hz smoothness, just like the OnePlus 7T Pro, as well as HDR10+ tech and FullHD+ resolution, delivering a pixel density of 405 pixels-per-inch - similar to that of the iPhone 8 Plus.

There’s plenty going on under the hood too, with a class-leading Snapdragon 855 processor combined with a starting spec of 6GB RAM, climbing all the way up to 12GB. Meanwhile, the storage capacity begins at 64GB and maxes out at 256GB.

Its battery is also large at 4000mAh, but more impressive is its 50W fast charging, filling it up by 100% in just 30 minutes, according to Realme.

The 64 million pixel elephant in the room

By combining multiple pixels into one, the primary 64MP camera on the Realme XT2 Pro is able to deliver resolution, well managed dynamic range and decent noise handling - or at least that’s the theory. Taking on Sony’s popular IMX586 sensor, Samsung is hoping to eke some market share away from the Japanese tech giant, who’s mobile sensor division dominates with a 50% revenue share, according to Strategy Analytics. 

The pixel-tastic 1/1.7” sensor is combined with an f/1.8 lens and PDAF as well as three other cameras, a 13MP telephoto camera with a roughly 2x optical zoom, an 8MP ultrawide camera that captures with a 13mm focal length, and a 2MP depth sensor.

Able to shoot 4K video at up to 60fps, or slow motion at up to 720p, 960fps, its video credentials look impressive, though the lack of OIS might hurt its performance in this regard, and when capturing photos at night too. 

While a UK price is yet to be confirmed, the X2 Pro will be available on Amazon in Early November across Europe starting at €399 (6GB+64GB), with two other configurations available, a €449 (8GB+128GB) mid-tier option, and a OnePlus 7T McLaren Edition rivalling €499 (12GB+256GB). 

Undercutting OnePlus’s excellent 2019 line and virtually everything else out there, we can’t wait to see if the promise of all these pixels and specs lives up to the hype when we get the phone in for review - watch this 64MP space. 

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There are few things more hilarious than corporations making pop culture references that are 14 years out of date. We'll forgive this one, though, as it confirms that the Realme XT camera phone will be a 64MP quad-camera powerhouse.

"All I can say right now about this phone is quad me up when September ends," quipped Realme CEO Madhav Sheth at the company's Leap To Quad Camera event, with Green Day's 2005 anthem Wake Me Up When September Ends playing on stage. 

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The event was ostensibly to launch the 12MP Realme 5 and 48MP Realme 5 Pro camera phones, both of which possess quad-camera setups. However, it was also the perfect platform to tease next month's release of the Realme XT in time for the Diwali festival. 

Touted as the world's first 64MP camera phone, the XT looks set to be the first one to market – unless a rival manufacturer does something suitably punk rock and releases their own before September ends. 

The Realme XT makes use of the shiny new 64MP Samsung Isocell Bright GW1 sensor for its primary camera, and also incorporates an f/2.4 macro camera, an 8MP f/2.2 118° wide-angle camera, along with a telephoto affair that offers 2x zoom – but not optically. 

However, GSM Arena has already been hands on with the device – and it came away with some interesting observations that don't paint an entirely optimistic picture of the new phone… or Samsung's new sensor. 

"The 64MP unit has a 1/1.72" type sensor and a pixel size of 0.8μm and works similarly to its 48MP counterpart… The sensor does have a demosaic algorithm for full 64MP shots, but there's so much interpolation going on there that you get very limited extra detail, if any."

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In terms of the new macro lens and telephoto camera, the reception was similarly lukewarm from the site.

"The [macro] photos looked mostly fine but we were not all that impressed with the pictures of the artificial small grass… a company executive told us that the 'telephoto lens' won't support optical zoom. It's a bit confusing the whole thing… The prototypes offered 2x and 5x zoom toggles, but with no telephoto lens this is all done digitally and as you can expect the results aren't great."

Could it be that the much ballyhooed increased resolution doesn't really hold up to closer scrutiny, or is this simply a case of the prototype tech not being reflective of the finished product?

Somebody wake us up when September ends. 

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Realme will reveal the world's first 64 megapixel camera phone on 08 August, at its Realme Camera Innovation Event taking place in New Delhi. 

The company will simultaneously showcase its move into quad camera technology, making it a double-whammy announcement of the world's first quad-camera phone, widely expected to be the new flagship handset.

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"Get ready to witness some of the world's first in smartphone camera technology at the #realme camera innovation event", tweeted the manufacturer. "Stay Tuned as we #LeapToQuadCamera and reveal the world's first 64MP Quad Camera technology on a smartphone."

As GSM Arena points out, Realme already produces dual-camera phones in the form of its 3 series and the Realme X. In both cases, one of the cameras features a depth-detecting time of flight sensor.

It stands to reason, therefore, that one of the four sensors on Realme's new 64MP quad-camera phone will similarly be a time of flight affair. And, since the company doesn't make any triple-camera handsets, this new model will indeed be a big leap for the company.

In addition to the depth-detecting camera – which facilitates software-driven effects like background-blurring portrait modes with artificial depth of field – the other two non-primary units are almost certain to feature a wide-angle and a telephoto lens.

The race to produce a 64-megapixel camera phone has been a hotly run one. While Samsung announced the first 64MP camera phone sensor back in May, it appeared that Xaomi would be the first company to actually bring it to market. 

However, when Redmi released the first 64MP camera phone picture (of a cat, no less), it looked like it may be in pole position to win the race. And now Realme has come out of nowhere to steal the spotlight.

Stay tuned to Digital Camera World as we bring you the latest on Realme's new handset – and in the upcoming camera phone megapixel battleground.

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