Realme GT3 review

Introduction and specs

This year, Realme launched only a vanilla Realme GT3 without a Pro. Technically, this isn't a pure GT either since it's a rebranded Realme GT Neo 5 240W, which is available only in China. Still, the specs suggest that the GT3 is more of a GT2 successor, as far as Western markets are concerned.

With semantics out of the way, the GT3 offers a big improvement over last year's GT2 in terms of display quality, performance and charging. However, the 240W charging is the GT3's standout feature, as it's the world's first 240W charging on a commercial smartphone. The OEM promises all-day battery life in just a few minutes of charging while a top-up takes less than 10 minutes. Of course, we put that to the test in the following pages.

In addition to faster charging, the GT3 also adopts a more advanced OLED display. It's no LTPO, but it has all the bells and whistles. The screen supports 144Hz refresh rate, as opposed to the more common 120Hz refresh rate, it's HDR10+ certified (unlike its predecessor), and it's brighter and has a higher resolution.

Realme GT3 specs at a glance:

• Body: 163.9x75.8x8.9mm, 199g; Glass front and back, plastic frame; Illuminated RGB (on the back).
• Display: 6.74" AMOLED, 1B colors, 144Hz, HDR10+, 500 nits (typ), 1100 nits (HBM), 1400 nits (peak), 1240x2772px resolution, 20.12:9 aspect ratio, 451ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
• Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 256GB 16GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 13, Realme UI 4.0.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.9, 24mm, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 112˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/3.3, 20mm (microscope).
• Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, 25mm (wide), 1/3.09", 1.0µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
• Battery: 4600mAh; 240W wired, PD, 1-50% in 4 min, 1-100% in 10 min (advertised).
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); Infrared port; stereo speakers.

Performance is also improved as the new generation uses the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, and we are happy to see the Plus variant of the chipset since the GT2 settled for the standard Snapdragon 888. Notably, the GT3 is not the top-tier flagship model from Realme's lineup so using last year's flagship chipset was expected. It's a potent chipset that would handle anything you throw at it. And besides, we'd bet that most users won't feel the difference in performance between the SD8 Gen 1 and SD8 Gen 2 in day-to-day use.

In the camera department, little has changed, which is mostly good news. The main Sony IMX766 50MP sensor with OIS is here to stay, joined by the usual suspect, the 8MP ultrawide shooter, but the rather useless macro unit has been replaced with a microscopic lens, which is a tad better. It can take some nice close-up shots.

Last, but not least, the GT3 now adopts a largely different design from its predecessor with a huge camera island and customizable RGB LED lighting on the back, which Realme calls Pulse Interface Design. It may be useful to people missing the abolished LED notification light in modern smartphones.