The world’s first phone with a MediaTek Helio G96 chip, introduced in India in September, has been launched in the Philippines.

(Update: Our review of the Realme 8i is up!)

Yes, the Realme 8i has gone official locally, bringing to the country’s affordable smartphone segment a G96-based device with a high refresh rate of 120Hz. This should give users #infinitelySmooth capabilities — or the ability to perform any task seamlessly. This is something that Filipino mobile gamers will most likely welcome.

The 4GB + 64GB model is priced at P9,990 (roughly $198). If you need more memory, you can spring P2,000 ($40) more for the version with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage; the said variant retails at P11,990 ($238).

Here’s what’s even better: Each Realme 8i model gets a P1,000 ($20) discount from November 17 to November 21 at the brand’s official store on Lazada. Of course, that means you’ll only need to pay P8,990 ($179) for the base model and P10,990 ($218) for the one with the higher configuration.

The Realme 8i features a 6.6-inch punch-hole display that not only boasts a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, as we mentioned earlier, but also sports a 20:9 aspect ratio and offers 600 nits of peak brightness. The smartphone likewise gets a 50-megapixel triple rear camera, a 16-megapixel selfie shooter, a power key that also serves as a fingerprint sensor, a big battery rated at 5,000mAh, and Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11.

“Filipinos are a discerning market, and it’s important for us to deliver to all of their diverse needs,” Realme Philippines vice president for marketing Austine Huang said. “We’re doing this with the exciting launch of the Realme 8i, a worthy new entry to what is already our undeniably successful lineup in the 8 Series.”

We’ll be posting our review of the Realme 8i in a few. Check back here to see if the latest offering of the Philippines’ No. 1 smartphone brand is a hit or a miss.

Video: Realme 8i Philippine launch, in case you missed the livestream

Realme 8i specs

• 6.6-inch LCD display, FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling
• 12nm octa-core MediaTek Helio G96 processor
• Mali-G57 MC2 GPU
• 4GB/6GB LPDDR4x RAM (DRAM)
• 64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 storage
• Triple 50-megapixel (main), 2-megapixel (monochrome portrait), 2-megapixel (macro) rear cameras
• 16-megapixel front camera
• Side fingerprint reader
• 5,000mAh battery with 18-watt USB-C charging
• Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11
• Colors: Space Black and Space Purple

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