The Realme GT 5G is the cheapest Snapdragon 888 phone in the world

It’s time for an annual reminder of how much better the smartphone market is when you live in a hypercompetitive area like India or China. The new Realme GT 5G is now the cheapest Snapdragon 888 smartphone in the world, boasting almost everything you would expect from a flagship smartphone of ~ $ 1,000, for the low price of CNY 2,799, or ~ $ 433. Of course, the phone is for sale only in China at the moment.

The specs here look fantastic for the price: a Samsung 120 Hz, 6.43 inch, 2400 × 1080 OLED panel; a Snapdragon 88 SoC; 8 GB of RAM; 128 GB of UFS; a 4500 mAh battery; 65-wire fast charging; a fingerprint reader under the screen; NFC; a USB-C slot; and a headset. There is also a higher level version with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage per CNY 3,299 or ~ $ 510. The operating system is Android 11 with a “Realme UI 2.0” skin. If you really want to choose nits, there are some shortcuts here, like the lack of wireless charging and water resistance. For $ 430, though, this is a spectacular package.

Realme is playing some games with prices. The prices of $ 430 and $ 510 are “first sale” prices. At some point in the future, they will move to CNY 2,899 (~ $ 448) and CNY 3,399 (~ $ 525). That still makes it the cheapest Snapdragon 888 phone on the market, but a little less cheap.

The cameras are not on the main level; the phone boasts a medium-range 64 MP Sony IMX682 as the main camera, an 8 MP ultra-wide and a simple looking 2 MP “macro” camera. But Realme has an interesting view of the phone cameras. The company says it is adopting a “dual flagship strategy” with a “performance flagship” (this phone) and a “camera flagship” (some other unannounced phone). I totally endorse the idea of ​​a phone for people who don’t care about tiny cell phone cameras, but the company must commit to the idea and just have a rear camera for basic things and use the space it saves for a bigger battery. This supposedly un-focused camera phone still has three rear cameras (an absurd amount of cameras!), And one of them is a poorly functional 2 MP junker.

We are getting some design talent with the GT 5G as well. The yellow version has synthetic leather backs, and the dark blue and light blue versions are made of glass.

Realme is a sub-brand of the Chinese smartphone giant BBK, the same company that owns Oppo, OnePlus, Vivo and iQoo. Realme does business mainly in India and China, although it has started to infiltrate the European market. For now, this phone is only available in China, but any of Realme’s usual locations has a chance to get it in the future. The phone will be sent on March 10.

Listing image by Realme