After much teasing, realme has officially launched its latest smartphones in China. The GT 8 series consists of a base model, as well as a Pro variant with an interchangeable camera housing.
Starting with the GT 8 Pro, it features a 6.79-inch 1,440p AMOLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 4,000 nits. Aside from that, it comes with an under-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, as well as IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance.
Under the hood, it packs Qualcomm’s newest flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. This is paired with realme’s custom R1 graphics chip. For memory, you get your choice of either 12GB or 16GB of RAM. Meanwhile, storage options range from 256GB to 1TB. Keeping the lights on is a 7,000mAh battery with support for 120W wired and 50W wireless charging. For software, it runs on Android 16 via realme UI 7.
The highlight of this phone is its imaging system. As part of the brand’s new collaboration with Ricoh, realme has fitted the GT 8 Pro with a Ricoh-tuned main camera. This 50MP shooter features a 1/1.56-inch sensor and f/1.8 aperture. Additionally, it is compatible with Ricoh GR’s full-frame equivalent focal lengths of 28mm and 40mm. The camera also comes with five photography tones: Positive, Negative, High-contrast Black & White, Standard, and Monochrome.
In addition to the primary camera, the GT 8 Pro gets a 200MP 1/1.56-inch periscope telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and up to 12x lossless zoom. Finally, the ultra-wide lens is a 50MP unit. For the selfie enthusiasts, the phone sports a 32MP front camera.
As mentioned earlier, the phone sports a swappable camera housing for more customisation. Apparently, the system uses magnets, allowing the user to easily snap the camera deco into place. Two Torx screws on either side help keep the module secure. While realme is officially offering several designs through its stores, the company has also shared the 3mf model file, so users can create and 3D print their own.
Moving on to the vanilla version, it shares many of the same characteristics as its fancier sibling, including display and storage options. However, it does not feature the customisable camera island.
Furthermore, realme has equipped the regular GT 8 with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. While the phone also comes with a 7,000mAh battery, it only supports 100W wired charging. This battery also does not support wireless charging.
Beyond that, the camera system also differs from the Pro model. The GT 8 does get the same Ricoh-tuned 50MP primary camera, but the telephoto lens is a 50MP unit. Additionally, the phone features an 8MP ultra-wide lens. Meanwhile, the front sports a 16MP selfie snapper.
Both the regular GT 8 and the Pro variant come in three colours, including white, blue, and green with a textured rear panel. Pricing for the vanilla GT 8 starts at CNY2,899 (~RM1,719) for the 12GB+256GB configuration. As for the GT 8 Pro, it has a starting price of CNY3,999 (~RM2,372) for the 12GB+256GB model.
realme has confirmed that it will be bringing the GT 8 Pro to Malaysia. However, at the time of writing, the company has yet to disclose when a local launch is happening.
(Source: realme [1], [2])
