Android

Realme C55 launches with Dynamic Island clone called ‘Mini Capsule’

Damien Wilde | Mar 9 2023 - 4:50 am PT

It has taken longer than expected, but we have the first Android phone from Realme that clones the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island.

Given many Chinese OEMs’ penchant for lifting popular iPhone hardware and software features, it’s a shock to us that it has taken an Android maker this long to replicate the software-based notch-hiding technique.

The Realme C55 has officially been unveiled in Indonesia with its own Dynamic Island function called “Mini Capsule.” What’s interesting here is that unlike Apple’s pill-shaped punch-hole, the Realme C55 has a centrally placed punch-hole. The “Mini Capsule” animations actually extend the screen area, which is lost to this cutout.

Just like Apple’s Dynamic Island, certain system information will be shown to the left and right of the punch-hole. However, the animation only shows SuperVOOC charging and battery information in the animation shared by Realme Indonesia. Other data like daily step count and data usage are also said to be shown within the animated panels. Just like on iOS, it’ll likely require developers to tune their apps to work with Realme’s solution for further integrations.

It’s a solid mid-ranger with a 6.72-inch FHD+ 90Hz screen, MediaTek Helio G88 processor and up to 8GB of RAM. 256GB of onboard storage is also offered with microSD card expansion up to 1TB. A side-mounted fingerprint scanner provides biometric security with a 5,000mAh battery and 33W charging also included.

A dual camera is also included here with a 64MP main sensor and 8MP depth sensor. The Realme C55 selfie camera is rated at 8MP here too, so not quite as good as the iPhone 14 Pro series despite cloning the Dynamic Island function.

Interestingly, the Realme C55 is set to come to Europe “soon” according to Realme Europe CEO Francis Wong who shared a teaser image on Twitter. Just whether we’ll see more Android OEMs follow suit with their own iterations remains to be seen.