Realme India, for reasons best known to the company, stopped launching any of its new GT-branded smartphones after the launch of the GT Neo 3, which also came in a special 150W model. If you recall, the GT line started as mid-range devices like the Realme GT Master Edition and then branched out into more gamer-focused (or youth-focused) smartphones like the GT Neo series. The last GT Neo 3 150W we reviewed (June 2022) was all about offering high-end gaming performance (along with its obvious drawbacks) and average cameras. These devices, despite their high-end specs, were hard to recommend to the casual user, mainly because they were also priced a bit too high (Rs 42,999) and didn't offer any practical features like a good camera, IP rating or even. wireless charging for the casual user.
It has been a few years and while Realme has been launching GT-branded devices in the Chinese market, it has finally decided to relaunch the GT series in India. Its new smartphone is called Realme GT 6T which is not related to any of its previous GT series devices launched in India. So where does this new GT fit in? Let's find out!
The Realme GT is priced at Rs. 30,999 for the base 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant, which immediately makes it a very competitive offering given the hardware on offer. The phone is available in four variants, with the highest variant equipped with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage, priced at Rs. 39,999.
The Realme GT 6T has a slim design as it features a large battery and a vapor chamber cooling system
However, this competitive price makes Realme win a few corners. Now that I've used the phone for a while, the obvious is the plastic frame and back panel, which, despite its modern minimalist look, is a proper dust magnet. The back panel also flexes a bit. Interestingly, despite using plastic for the chassis and back panel, Realme claims that its phone is also IP65 rated, which would be a first for a GT series device in India.
I really like the GT 6T design, which is a mix of curved edges and flat sides. I also like the dual-tone finish on the back panel, which has a highly reflective mirror finish (that's still a bit hazy at the same time) near the cameras, but a metallic gray finish for the rest. Like its rear panel, the phone has a curved edge display on the front, which is curved on the left and right sides. It's a 6.78-inch Full HD+ AMOLED panel of the LTPO variety, which means it can drop its refresh rate down to 1Hz when needed to save battery life. The panel also has a normal touch sample rate of 360 Hz and a turbocharged touch sample rate of 2,500 Hz while gaming. This screen is also protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
It's also surprisingly thin for a phone that claims to have the largest vapor chamber cooling system on a smartphone. The phone has a large 5,500mAh battery that can be charged at 120W.
The Realme GT 6T is currently the only mid-range smartphone (or even smartphones in general) that has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 SoC. This is quite a powerful processor, as it takes borrowing a lot of its architecture and cores from the premium Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 series found in premium devices costing more than Rs. 50,000.
Considering the latest GT Neo series and its very average camera performance, it's nice to see Realme adding a new Sony LYT-600 camera with a 50-megapixel resolution. The camera has a bright f/1.8 aperture and also features OIS, which should technically provide better low-light photography. Now, the same sensor was also baked into the Realme 12+ smartphone, but it did not perform well in our review. So it will be interesting to see how this camera performs with the Qualcomm silicon backing.
The screen on the Realme GT 6T is of the AMOLED LTPO variety and is curved on the sides
Realme UI 5.0, which is based on Android 14, powers all of the above.
Indeed, the Realme GT 6T looks like a step in the right direction for its GT series. Although it's designed for gaming, given its performance-oriented hardware choices, there's finally a balance with other practical features as well.
It's not as powerful or more design-focused as the old GT Master Edition, and it's also not completely gamer-focused, which would reduce its appeal to the average consumer.
So far, it looks like a very balanced combination of hardware and software, but we'll have to put it through our paces to find out how it compares to other premium smartphones at this price point. So, stay tuned for our detailed review, coming soon.
