Realme reclaimed the charging speed crown last week with the launch of the first 240W phone. Last year, the company briefly held the title with the arrival of the GT Neo3 with a 150W charging system. but progress over a year means 150W is now the slower option.
The Realme GT Neo 5 240W has a 4,600mAh battery, 100mAh larger than last year’s GT Neo3 150W. As for the 150W version of the GT Neo 5, that’s back to the full 5,000mAh capacity that the 80W GT Neo3 had.
That’s a tremendous progress in a year, and while it’s still true that you’re losing battery capacity on faster-charging phones, the loss is reducing over time. And if you’re willing to settle for “only” 150W, the loss is completely gone. We should also mention that the 240W model charges fully in just under 10 minutes.
Realme GTNeo 5
Realme isn’t ready to move to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 yet, but choosing the 8+ Gen 1 is fine for us, especially considering the mid-range price. The 150W model starts at CNY 2,500 ($370/€345/₹30,250) for an 8/256GB drive, while the 240W model starts at CNY 3,200 ($470/€440/₹38,750) for 16 /256GB of memory.
And while you might think these are pretty low prices for 8+ Gen 1 phones – and they are – take a look. The 16GB/1TB 240W model at full load costs CNY 3,500 ($515/€480/₹42,500), only slightly higher than the basic 16/256GB phone. How much does Samsung charge for phones with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage? Right.
At prices like these, we find it hard to get mad that there’s no microSD slot (although as much as we love the RGB lighting on the back, we’d probably swap it for a 3.5mm jack if we could).
Of course, these are the prices in China and we don’t know the global prices yet. However, the two versions of Realme GT Neo 5 have real potential to shake up the premium market.
Well, let’s see what the competition has to offer. The Redmi Note 12 Discovery starts at CNY 2,400 and has a 210W charging system. It’s not widely available (actually only in China) and uses a weaker Dimensity 1080 chipset, although it does boast a 200MP main camera.
The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ retains the Dimensity 1080 chipset and 200MP camera, but reverts charging to 120W. It costs CNY 2,200 in China and ₹30,000 in India. The Discovery has a fairly small 4,300mAh battery and can get to 100% in 9 minutes. The Pro+ has a 5,000mAh battery and fully charges in 19 minutes.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Discovery • Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro+
Last year’s iQOO 10 Pro has a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 along with a 4,700mAh battery with 200W charging (100% in 10 minutes). One of them (8/256GB) costs 4,400 CNY in China.
The focus has shifted to the iQOO 11 and 11 Pro. Both have upgraded to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The Pro model has a 4,700mAh battery with 200W charging like its predecessor and will set you back 5,500 CNY for a 12-pound phone /256GB, the Vanilla model remains at 5,000mAh/120W and costs CNY 4,100 for an 8/256GB unit. The iQOO 11 is available in India for ₹60,000 for the 8/256GB phone. Note that the two Pros also have 50W wireless charging, which Realme phones lack.
vivo iQOO 10 Pro • vivo iQOO 11 Pro • vivo iQOO 11
There is also the Realme GT3, also with 240W fast charging: the global presentation of the GT3 is scheduled for February 28th. Realme is mum on how the GT3 will be different from the GT Neo5. The two phones certainly look the same:
Realme GT Neo 5 (left) • Realme GT3 (right)
So which will it be: a Realme GT Neo 5 with 150W charging or with 240W charging? Or none of the above? Vote below or using this page.
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