Every year around this time Qualcomm introduces a new flagship silicon under its Snapdragon branding, and Chinese brands race to be the first to hit the market with the chip (North American consumers, who have very limited access to Chinese devices, usually have to wait until January for Samsung).
Usually, Xiaomi wins the race to first, but this year, it’s BBK group’s Realme, whose GT 7 Pro phone launched in China mere days after Qualcomm’s October announcement, and now the global version is ready for launch in Europe and Southeast Asia too.
Realme, for those who follow smartphones, is a brand that tend to focus on value proposition, offering devices that are near flagship level at mid-range prices — meaning well below the $1,000 mark that Apple, Samsung, Google, Xiaomi and Huawei flagships go for.
The GT 7 Pro continues the trend, priced at about equivalent to $500 in China. While I don’t have the official price for Europe and Southeast Asia yet, I am certain it will fall in the $650 range in Asia and $750 range in Europe.
And to get that latest Snapdragon flagship silicon at this price is a steal. For example, North American consumers will certainly have to pay at least $999 for any device with this chip in 2025.
In addition to the top tier Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, the phone also comes with Samsung’s latest Eco2 display panel, with a refresh rate up to 120Hz and maximum brightness of 6,500 nits.
The final bit of eye-opening hardware comes in the battery size: a 6,500 mAh cell (for reference, the biggest iPhone has a battery size of 4,685 mAh).
So for less than flagship prices, Realme is offering the best possible silicon on the Android side, the newest display panel technology from the leading display maker, and the largest battery in a mainstream phone yet.
Unfortunately, corners had to be cut somewhere to meet this price point, and to that end: the camera system here is average. The main camera is fine, but the telephoto lens is below average, and ultra-wide camera is not good, producing very soft details in low light conditions.
There’s also no wireless charging and the USB-C port is 2.0, without the ability to output to an external monitor.
That’s about it though as far as noticeable shortcomings, and I think these are fair tradeoffs for most people. Most average consumers care about display quality and processor performance more than, say, the ability of the phone to snap a credible 15mm ultrawide photo at night.
The main camera is quite capable, however, as is the 3X zoom, and the phone leverages Google’s suite of AI services (with some Realme tweaks), so you are able to access many of the AI features Samsung phones had been advertising for the past year, such as Circle to Search, generative AI photo editing, and AI image generation.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is an absolute beast, able to run graphically intensive games like PUBG at 120fps sustained. The GT 7 Pro was also able to finish the 20-minute Wild Life Extreme Stress Test in the benchmarking app 3DMark with high scores.
Just exactly how much of a value proposition this phone is depends on the price of the device in your region. If you can find this for around the $500 mark, it is a borderline steal. If you’re in Europe where the price will likely be around the $700 range, then it’s still an inexpensive device, but there may be devices with a better camera at just a little bit more. Ultimately, the Realme GT 7 Pro is a phone that punches above its price range.
