realme has finally pulled the curtains on its latest C series model, with the official launch of the realme C67 in the Philippines.

Locally, the phone is priced from P9,999 (converted $177). If you preorder it online at any time until February 7, you can get the 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB kits for as low as P7,699 ($137) and P8,699 ($155), respectively.

realme describes the C67 as “champion redefined.” But how well does this stylish smartphone live up to its maker’s claim? Is this another case of style over substance? Read our review to find out.

Best-looking C series phone to date

This is easily the best-looking C series model we’ve tested to date, but that’s hardly surprising considering realme’s recent focus on design as a selling point for its smartphones, as we’ve seen on its number lineup, and now, the realme C67. You have two color options — Sunny Oasis and Black Rock, which is pictured here — and both are remarkably attractive in person.

Our black unit features hints of green and gold and sports a rectangular glossy section at the top housing the oval-shaped camera module with golden accents. The back also has subtle streaks of silver lines that resemble time-lapse star trails, visible only when you tilt the phone at certain angles. You have to see it for yourself to appreciate the attention to detail that went into creating this model. This is one of those rare instances where we prefer going case-less with our smartphone.

Thankfully, the realme C67 boasts an IP54 rating as well, meaning it should be safe to use in light rain. Meanwhile, the flat sides add to the realme C67’s grip by offering you more room to rest your fingers. The side frame, like the rest of the chassis, is made of plastic, which feels durable and of good quality.

The power key sits below the volume rocker and doubles as a fingerprint reader. Notably, you also get two SIM slots and a dedicated microSD card slot for expandable storage. realme has fitted the C67 with dual speakers, which is uncommon in this price range and bodes well for streaming music and shows. The small secondary speaker is located along the top edge of the device instead of using the earpiece.

The 6.72-inch FHD+ display is of the LCD variety and supports up to a 90Hz refresh rate, as well as a touch-sampling rate of 180Hz for faster input-response times. But what’s even more impressive is that the screen is rated to produce up to 950 nits of peak brightness, providing more than enough brightness for outdoor use under most circumstances.

The realme C67 introduces the company’s Dynamic Island-inspired Mini Capsule 2.0 feature, which you can now interact with via taps. When playing a track on YouTube Music, for example, you can double-tap to pause it or tap once to bring up its waveform and other information, such as the artist and song name.

We’re happy to see it trending in the right direction. Perhaps with future updates, realme can incorporate swipes and other physical gestures and, of course, support for more third-party apps.

A whole lot of pixels on a budget

There’s no denying the realme C67’s hallmark feature at the back: its 108-megapixel main camera with up to 3x in-sensor zoom — a first in realme’s C series. This allows the primary camera to function like a telephoto camera by cropping into its native sensor resolution. The camera viewfinder includes quick toggles for 2x and 5x zoom.

We noticed that images taken with the aforementioned toggles lack the vibrancy and dynamic range of their 1x counterpart. This is something that can be fixed with a future software update, and it should be.

You can apply a further digital zoom for an effective 10x total zoom on the main camera, but this will come at the expense of image quality, since there’s no additional hardware for the camera to rely on to enhance detail. The higher resolution will also let you capture portrait-style pictures at 3x zoom for improved bokeh compared with 1x portraits.

In addition to the 24mm-equivalent main shooter capable of achieving 3x zoom by cropping, you also get a 2-megapixel filler sensor on the rear and an 8-megapixel camera up front for selfies. There’s no ultrawide option here, but there’s a Panorama mode that will let you pan left or right to put together a panoramic shot.

Sample shots

Our favorite is Street mode, which, by default, is accessible by swiping left from the camera UI’s default screen. This dedicated photo mode offers adjustable focal lengths at 24mm, 72mm, and 120mm, plus several filters that apply black-and-white, retro, and cinematic effects, among others, directly to photos as you capture them.

Video recording is capped at 1080p and 30 FPS on the front- and rear-facing cameras. The realme C67 gets an Ultra Steady mode as well when shooting video, so you can capture stable 1080p footage for your vlogs and social media posts. There’s Movie mode, too, which is basically manual mode for video recording. This could prove useful for amateur videographers who want to lock the camera’s settings to get the highest-quality footage possible.

New chipset, same reliable performance

The realme C67 arrives as the second Qualcomm Snapdragon 685-based smartphone on the local market after the Redmi Note 13 4G. And, as you might have guessed based on the model name, the Snapdragon 685 is the direct successor to the highly popular Snapdragon 680 SoC featured on many budget devices. Compared with its predecessor, the new chipset boasts higher CPU and GPU clock speeds, but, unfortunately, not much else, hence the similar benchmark scores.

The Snapdragon 685 runs well enough and performs adequately in day-to-day use, although you might notice some significant pauses when loading apps and switching between them. And like the Snapdragon 680, it’s also capable of playing demanding games like Genshin Impact at the lowest graphics settings with a 30 FPS cap, despite being built specifically with battery endurance in mind.

The Snapdragon 685 also uses TSMC’s 6nm process technology, so expect good performance when it comes to power efficiency and battery life. Notably, our realme C67 unit posted one of the most impressive PCMark battery-test results we’ve seen from any modern smartphone, lasting 19 hours and 15 minutes in the app’s battery-life benchmark, which replicates real-world usage and simulates everyday tasks, such as web browsing and document and photo editing.

Benchmarks

In our testing, we found that the 5,000mAh battery can stretch to two or more days with light to moderate use. Battery life is one of the key pillars that you should take into consideration when buying a phone, and we’re happy to report that the C67 delivers on that front. realme’s newest budget blower supports fast charging as well, and it took us approximately 80 minutes to charge the battery from zero to full. That’s perfectly fine in the bargain segment.

In terms of software, the realme C67 ships with the company’s realme UI overlay out of the box, and it’s based on the latest Android 14 build and security patch (January 2024). Our unit comes with 8GB of RAM, which can be expanded up to an additional 8GB through the RAM extension function, and 256GB of onboard storage. For most users, the 256GB configuration should prove more than sufficient for apps and media.

Final thoughts

Like the Mini Capsule 2.0 update that realme has recently rolled out, the C67 is a step in the right direction for the lineup. This device offers as many highlights as its biggest rivals in the segment, on top of Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 600 series chipset and an IP rating for splash resistance, and a design that practically begs to be seen without a case. If you’re after a truly budget smartphone with a decent all-around experience, you won’t find many more affordable options than the realme C67.

‘The realme C67 offers as many highlights as its biggest rivals in the segment, on top of Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 600 series chipset and an IP rating for splash resistance, and a design that practically begs to be seen without a case’

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Again, the 8GB/128GB config carries a suggested retail price of P9,999 ($177) in the Philippines, while the 8GB/256GB variant that we tested in this review costs P10,999 ($195). The storage is expandable, and since you’re not getting more RAM on the more expensive model, you’re probably better off purchasing the base version assuming you already have a microSD card standing by.

You've seen how the #realmeC67 looks on the outside, so how about we take a look on the inside? 📦👀

Discover all the amazing features of the realme C67 by tuning in to our online launch later February 1 at 6pm!✨ (Facebook and Tiktok)#ChampionRedefined pic.twitter.com/znFC75uywC

— realme Philippines (@realme_ph) February 1, 2024

Official realme C67 unboxing. The phone is available for purchase offline and online — on TikTok Shop, Shopee, and Lazada

realme C67 specs

• 6.72-inch IPS display, FHD+ resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling, 950 nits peak brightness
• 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 685 4G processor
• Adreno 610 GPU
• 8GB LPDDR4X RAM
• 128GB/256GB expandable storage
• Dual 108-megapixel main + 2-megapixel rear cameras
• 8-megapixel front camera
• Side fingerprint reader
• Dual speakers
• IP54 rating
• 5,000mAh battery with 33-watt fast charging
• realme UI based on Android 14
• Color: Sunny Oasis and Black Rock

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