Realme GT 5G goes official w/ Snapdragon 888, 120Hz display, $430 price

Damien Wilde | Mar 4 2021 - 3:23 am PT

The Realme GT 5G has now officially launched as the cheapest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888-powered device with an effective $430 price.

Last year we saw the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 more or less bump prices across the entire industry by a few hundred dollars courtesy of a 5G tax. This saw many devices adopt the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G in a bid to add the superfast connectivity but without passing any added cost on to consumers.

Realme is naturally a budget-oriented brand, but with the launch of the GT 5G, it’s hard to see where the corners have been cut to enable the usage of the latest top-tier processor. The device comes with a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel that supports a 120Hz refresh rate.

Then, inside the Realme GT 5G the internals include the aforementioned Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, either 8 or 12GB of RAM, and 128 or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. There’s even a 4,500mAh battery with 65W fast charging included. On paper that is one heck of framework for a flagship Android device.

At the rear, it’s clear that the camera is an area where some of the savings have been made. The Realme GT 5G includes a 64-megapixel main sensor, 8-megapixel ultrawide-angle lens, and 2-megapixel macro camera. It’s fairly modest to say the least. The upper-left display punch-hole includes a 16-megapixel selfie camera.

The Realme GT 5G ships with Realme UI 2.0, which is based upon Android 11. Biometric security is achieved with an in-display fingerprint scanner, while there is also room for a 3.5mm headphone port for wired audio. It will be available in three colors: Galatic Silver, Deep Sea Blue, and Dawn Yellow — which really gives off Kill Bill vibes.

Chinese pricing has the base 8GB RAM/128GB model priced at 2,799 yuan or around $430, while the top tier 12GB RAM/256GB configuration is priced at 3,299 yuan or around $520. No word has yet been shared on global availability, but a worldwide launch has been teased by Realme UK.