GT 7 Pro: Realme steps into premium territory

Initially a spin-off from Oppo, Realme went on to become an independent entity, and one that has been very successful in India. Realme has so far focused on selling value-for-money smartphones to young people, but also has a number of other products in its AIoT range: smartwatches, tablets, phone accessories, laptops, TVs, audio products and even smart toothbrushes. Now, the company seems to have decided to pivot to step into premium territory, and it’s making a play for that category with its newest phone, the GT 7 Pro.

The GT 7 Pro costs either ₹56,999 or ₹62,999, depending on whether one wants a 12GB/256GB variant or a 16GB/512GB one. The colours, Mars Red and Galaxy Grey, also seem to have slightly varying prices. This is a decidedly weighty phone, but it looks like people react to its premium feel strongly enough to forget about its heft. The Mars Red model is a truly fiery colour, that corporate users may skip in favour of the more sedate Galaxy Grey. The back is smooth, non-glossy glass, but it does show smudges, surprisingly. The device is also slippery enough to require a case. Luckily one is supplied in the package, along with charging paraphernalia. Prominent on the back is a large camera square, in keeping with today’s phone fashion. Being essentially a large phone, be warned that it could be a little tiring for someone who uses a smartphone primarily for long calls. The form factor of the GT 7 Pro is more suited to those who like to do something or the other on the phone, including gaming.

This smartphone’s main claim to fame is its processor. It’s the first in India to be powered by Qualcomm’s new Smapdagon 8 Elite chipset, which is strongly performance-oriented and capable of handling AI tasks as well as delivering good thermal management. We’ll see this chipset in more devices in the coming months, and in fact the launch of the GT7 Pro was closely followed by the IQOO 13, which uses the same chipset. The upcoming OnePlus 13 will also be based on the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Meanwhile, the benchmark scores for the GT7 Pro are truly impressive - and higher than those of the iPhone.

The powerful processor is coupled with 16GB RAM (or 12GB if one opts for that variant). Part of the RAM is set aside for gaming. That’s how the Genshin Impact game runs smooth at 120fps, if that sort of thing matters to you. Needless to say, everyday tasks are lightning-fast on the device. However, it’s a bit of a waste if you only use the phone in a basic manner.

An enormous 5,800mAh battery runs the GT7 Pro. Amazingly, it charges in just half an hour with the 120W charger provided. There’s no wireless or reverse charging. One premium feature the phone does have, however, is its IP69 rating, which means it’s quite waterproof. In fact, the company encourages you to try some underwater photography, for which there’s a special mode.

The phone works on Android 15 and has a reasonable skin, RealmeUI 6, bringing in some new features including AI ones like Sketch to Image, which allows users to generate images from sketches or rough drawings. Other AI features relate to the camera.

The Realme GT 7 Pro has a three-camera system on the rear, including of a 50MP main lens, a 50MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, and an 8MP ultrawide lens. Performance from the main and telephoto cameras is generally good, with adequate detail and good dynamic range although HDR is overdone. Daylight performance is good enough, but low-light could have been better in several ways. AI features include an Unblur, a clarifier that oversharpens, Eraser, Sketch to Image, and, of course, there’s that underwater photography mode. Overall, the cameras are average, rather than being anywhere near flagship level.

It takes more than new hardware and AI frills to get anywhere in the premium space — and stay there. An entire paradigm shift would be called for from Realme. Whether the company will really want to make that pivot or not remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the Realme GT7 Pro is not a bad attempt.