Realme has fired its opening salvo in September, debuting today the X7 series alongside the cheapest 5G phone.

(Update, April 2, 2021: There’s now an Extreme Edition in the Realme X7 Series. See how it compares with the regular Realme X7 Pro on paper here!)

The fastest-growing smartphone brand has launched the Realme X7 and Realme X7 Pro 5G handsets in China, with prices set as follows:

• Realme X7
  • 6GB/128GB: ¥1,799 (around P12,775 or $264)
  • 8GB/128GB: ¥2,399 (P17,047 or $352)
• Realme X7 Pro
  • 6GB/128GB: ¥2,199 (P15,631 or $322)
  • 8GB/128GB: ¥2,499 (P17,763 or $366)
  • 8GB/256GB: ¥3,199 (P22,738 or $469)

What’s special about these two? How different are they when it’s hard to tell them apart just by looking at the devices?

Well, the Realme X7 is the first phone in the world to be powered by a MediaTek 800U. The 7nm octa-core chip has two ARM Cortex-A76 processors with a clock speed of 2.4GHz and six ARM Cortex-A55 processors clocked at 2.0GHZ. Integrated into it is an ARM Mali-G57 GPU, an independent AI processing unit, and LPDDR4x RAM. Meant for mid-tier smartphones, the 800U is designed for multi-core high performance and 5G+5G Dual-Sim Dual-Standby technology.

The Realme X7 Pro, on the other hand, uses a MediaTek Dimensity 1000 Plus, which can already be found on the Vivo iQOO Z1 and Xiaomi Redmi K30 Ultra. It has a bigger, 6.55-inch Super AMOLED screen with a higher refresh and touch-sampling rates of 120Hz and 240Hz, respectively; a better main 64-megapixel camera sensor in the Sony IMX686; and a 2-megapixel portrait lens instead of a black-and-white one. It also has a larger battery at 4,500mAh, stereo speakers, and support for dual-frequency GPS and NFC.

The rest of the specs are the same. You still get four rear cameras, a 32-megapixel selfie shooter, an under-display fingerprint sensor, support for 65 watts of fast charging to take it from 0% to 100% in only 35 minutes, and Android 10 with Realme UI on top. You can see a comparison of the two models’ specs below.

Realme X7 specs

• 6.4-inch AMOLED display, 2,400 x 1,080 resolution, punch hole, 60Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch-sampling rate
• Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 800U processor with 5G
• 6GB/8GB LPDDR4X RAM
• 128GB UFS 2.1 storage
• Quad 64-megapixel, f1.8 (main), 8-megapixel, f/2.3 (ultra-wide), 2-megapixel, f/2.4 (mono), 2-megapixel, f/2.4 (macro) rear cameras
• 32-megapixel, f/2.5 front camera
• Fingerprint reader (under-display)
• 4,300mAh battery with 65-watt USB-C charging
• Super linear speaker
• Realme UI based on Android 10
• Color options: Haiyu Blue, Fantasy White, C Color (gradient)

Realme X7 Pro specs

• 6.55-inch Super AMOLED display, 2,400 x 1,080 resolution, punch hole, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch-sampling rate
• Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ processor with 5G
• 6GB/8GB LPDDR4X RAM
• 128GB/256GB UFS 2.1 storage
• Quad 64-megapixel, f1.8 (main, Sony IMX686), 8-megapixel, f/2.3 (ultra-wide), 2-megapixel, f/2.4 (portrait), 2-megapixel, f/2.4 (macro) rear cameras
• 32-megapixel, f/2.5 front camera
• Fingerprint reader (under-display)
• 4,500mAh battery with 65-watt USB-C charging
• Stereo speakers
• Support for dual-frequency GPS and NFC
• Realme UI based on Android 10
• Color options: Xingyu Black, Fantasy White, C color (gradient)

Only the gradient version has the big and bold “Dare to Leap” tagline on the back panel, so if you’re the minimalist type, you can opt for the other variants.

Question, though, is, will the Realme X7 and Realme X7 Pro be ever introduced in the Philippines, where the brand did exceptionally well in the second quarter of 2020? We can only hope.

Images via Weibo

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