Realme X brings elevating selfie camera and 48MP main snapper, X Lite tags along

It's official - the Realme X is here and it's the most premium phone the brand has ever put out. Alongside it the company unveiled the Realme X Lite, which is merely the Chinese name for the Realme 3 Pro.

Think of the Realme X as a Realme 3 Pro with a bigger, now AMOLED screen and the OnePlus 7 (non-Pro) cameras.

Now let's dig in. The Realme X has a 6.5-inch 1080p AMOLED with an in-display fingerprint scanner and no notch. Realme has achieved this by tucking the selfie camera into a motorized pop-up mechanism behind the display.

The in-display fingerprint scanner is an optical one (instead of an ultrasonic) and lights up the part of the screen overlapping the sensor to capture a fingerprint and unlock. Like the OnePlus 7 Pro, the Realme X uses a larger (44% larger, to be exact) sensor, which in combination with a DSP acceleration engine provides a snappier unlock.

Despite its bigger footprint, the Realme X has a slightly smaller battery than the Realme 3 Pro. Still you get VOOC Flash Charge 3.0, which promises to bring the 3,765mAh unit from flat to 55% in 30 minutes.

Realme X next to the Realme 3 Pro

The Realme X has a 10nm Snapdragon 710 chipset paired with 4GB, 6GB or even 8GB of RAM. You'll have a pick of 64GB or 128GB of storage too.

Now on to one of the biggest selling points of the Realme X - the new cameras. On the rear there's a 48MP f/1.7 main snapper and a 5MP f/2.4 depth-sensor while technically on the for selfies, there's a 16MP f/2.0 elevating camera.

The 48MP snapper is a Sony IMX 586 sensor found in an ever increasing number of phones these days. It uses pixel binning to combine 4 pixels into one for 12MP final images.

The main camera is equipped with all the clever software tricks you'd expect - Chroma Boost, AI Scene recognition, Nightscape, new portrait styles, while the 16MP selfie camera brings Beauty Mode (that also works with groups of people).

The Realme X Lite costs CNY1,199 ($175) for its base 4GB RAM/64GB storage version, CNY1,299 ($190) for the 6GB/64GB units and CNY1,499 ($220) for the top 6GB/128GB variant.

The Realme X comes in Steam white or Punk Blue. Its 4GB/64GB version is CNY1,499 ($220), the 6GB/64GB goes for CNY1,599 ($230) and the 8GB/128GB hits CNY1,799 ($260).

Realme X: Onion • White Garlic

There's a special collection by Naoto Fukasawa, a proponent of the "Without Thought Design" philosophy. Two models dedicated to onion and garlic, simple but vital ingredients of a tasty dish. They have a special finish on the back inspired by onion and garlic peels. They will cost slightly more, CNY1,899 ($275), for the same 8GB/128GB memory.