Realme GT5 240W review

Verdict

Sadly, the global market will once again miss Realme's top-end smartphone. The company has confirmed with us it has no plans on launching the GT5 outside of China, and that's unfortunate because the handset is a pretty solid all-rounder. However, it does seem to be a marginal upgrade over its predecessor, and aside from a couple of cosmetic changes and a more powerful, the GT5 is almost identical to its predecessor, the GT3.

In a sense, the Realme GT5 240W is a tech showcase more than anything else. It seems like the charging tech is the centerpiece feature, and the phone is an afterthought. But the 240W charging was introduced with last year's GT3, so it's not really all that new. The regular GT5 with 150W fast charging may pose a better value as it's cheaper and has a bigger battery.

One could make a case for the GT5 being a good all-rounder with flagship-worthy hardware (display, chipset, charging and main camera), but the feature set from other competitors is much more enticing. We would have wished for a dedicated zoom camera, a better ultrawide and improved battery life. While last year's GT3 was a missed opportunity for users outside of China, this year's GT5 probably won't be missed all that much. There's plenty of fish in the sea with more meat on it.

Pros

• Big and bright 144Hz OLED panel.
• Good main camera performance.
• Unrivaled fast charging.
• Good sustained performance and low outer temperatures.
• Realme UI 4.0 is highly customizable

Cons

• No ingress protection of any kind; more premium materials could have been used.
• No telephoto cam, lackluster ultrawide and selfie performance.
• The 240W version is expensive at launch.
• Battery life is lower than before.