Realme 6 Pro review

Introduction

There's no shortage of Pros in Realme's smartphone lineup and, as we've come to anticipate, the moniker stands for something extra on top of a vanilla model. And if the Realme 6 takes the baton from the Realme 5 Pro, as the company suggested at their announcement, just what does that mean for the Realme 6 Pro? Double-Pro?

For starters, the plain 6 is already a well-rounded package, featuring a potent chipset, a quad camera, and a high refresh rate display. How much better can it get in the midrange? Looking at the head-to-head spec sheets, it's not a lot indeed.

One key change is readily apparent - the Realme 6 Pro has a dual selfie camera in a pill-shaped cutout in the display, while the 6, as most other phones, has a single imager on the front. But there's another Pro upgrade that's not as easy to pick up in a world of marketing speak where (almost) every Realme has a quad cam on its back - the 6 Pro swaps out the 6's questionably useful 2MP depth camera for a proper 12MP 2x zoom module. Two more cams then.

Another major difference is the chipset - the Realme 6 Pro comes with a Snapdragon 720G instead of the Helio G90T in the Realme 6. We'll see as we go along with this review if that's side step or an upgrade. In any case, the Pro starts out at 6GB of RAM while the non-Pro has a 4GB base tier, for what that's worth.

And that's really mostly it. Sure, a tenth of an inch in extra screen diagonal (6.6" on the Pro) lights up our difference-o-meter, and the Gorilla Glass 5 cover is 2 more than the GG3 on the Realme 6. Meanwhile, the added heft of the 11 grams will surely be felt as well. Not.

Realme 6 Pro specs

• Body: 163.8x75.8x8.9mm, 202g; Gorilla Glass 5 on the front, glass back, plastic frame.
• Screen: 6.6" IPS LCD, FHD+ (1080x2400px) resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 399 ppi.
• Camera: Primary: 64MP Quad-Bayer, 0.8µm pixel size, 1/1.72" sensor size, 26mm equivalent focal length, f/1.8 aperture, PDAF; Ultra-wide: 8MP, 1.12µm, 1/4.0", 13mm, f/2.5, fixed focus; Telephoto: 12MP, 1.0µm, 1/3.4", 54mm, f/2.5, PDAF; Macro: 2MP, 1.75µm, 1/5.0", 22mm, f/2.4, fixed focus.
• Front camera: Primary: 16MP, 1.0µm, 1/3.1", 26mm, f/2.1, fixed focus; Ultra-wide: 8MP, 1.12µm, 1/4.0", 17mm, f/2.2, fixed focus.
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G (8 nm): Octa-core (2x2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver) CPU, Adreno 618 GPU.
• Memory: 6GB/64GB, 6GB/128GB, 8GB/128GB, expandable via microSD card (dedicated slot).
• OS: Android 10, Realme UI.
• Battery: 4,300mAh, 30W VOOC Flash Charge 4.0.
• Connectivity: 4G LTE; Dual SIM; Dual-band Wi-Fi, Buetooth 5.1, NFC, GPS, USB Type-C 2.0.
• Misc:Side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Realme 6 Pro unboxing

The 6 Pro comes in a plain, yet eye catching, yellow Realme box. There's little to set it apart from the regular 6 other than a small-ish Pro label. The contents are very much the same too - you get a 30W proprietary VOOC charger, a USB-A-to-C cable (also brand/technology-specific), and a silicone protective case with a slightly smoked effect.

Okay then, so far there's not much to justify the 30% price premium the 6 Pro commands over its slightly lesser stablemate. We're only getting started, though.