The Realme GT 6: A Premium Mid-Range Smartphone with Powerful Performance and Versatile Cameras
The Realme GT 6 marks the latest addition to the company’s popular GT series, aiming to deliver a premium mid-range experience without breaking the bank. This phone boasts high-end specifications like the powerful Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset and a 50-megapixel triple rear camera setup, all while maintaining a price point around Rs. 40,000. With features like a 5,500mAh battery with 120W SuperVOOC charging and integrated AI functionality, the Realme GT 6 certainly appears promising. But does it live up to the hype and offer a compelling alternative to other smartphones in its price range? Join us as we dive into a detailed review and explore the strengths and weaknesses of the Realme GT 6.
Realme GT 6 Price in India
The Realme GT 6 comes in three storage configurations with varying price points:
- 12GB RAM + 256GB storage: Rs. 40,999
- 12GB RAM + 512GB storage: Rs. 42,999
- 16GB RAM + 512GB storage: Rs. 44,999
The phone is available in two stylish color options – Fluid Silver and Razor Green.
Realme GT 6 Review: Design
At first glance, the Realme GT 6 design bears a striking resemblance to the more affordable GT 6T model. The familiar curved display edges, the arrangement of the rear cameras, and even the color options are strikingly similar. However, the GT 6 differentiates itself with a glass rear panel, resulting in a more premium feel and a more slippery surface.
The rear panel features a distinctive mirror-like section, encompassing the triple rear camera setup, which also cleverly doubles as a handy pocket mirror. While this design element adds a touch of elegance, it attracts fingerprints, smudges, and dust like a magnet. This holds true for the rest of the panel as well, although the cloudy finish does a better job of masking these blemishes. Notably, the asymmetrical camera placement on the rear panel causes the phone to wobble when resting on its back without the included TPU cover.
The front showcases a curved Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protected display. Despite its impressive size (6.78 inches), the tall screen remains mostly comfortable to use with both hands, facilitating smooth scrolling through apps even when fingers are resting on the curved edges.
The bottom edge houses a speaker grille and a USB Type-C port, while the right side accommodates the volume and power buttons. The top edge features an infrared transmitter, allowing for the control of various household appliances via the phone. This is a welcome addition, offering expanded functionality and convenience. The phone’s metallic sides exude a cool, sleek feel.
Realme thoughtfully includes a charging brick, a USB charging cable, and a TPU cover. The TPU cover, showcasing the reflective rear panel portion, proves essential due to the slippery sides of the phone, providing a more secure grip. The raised section on the cover’s rear effectively guards the camera module against scratches.
Realme GT 6 Review: Specifications and Software
The Realme GT 6 packs a powerful punch in the performance department, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset paired with an Adreno 735 GPU. This cutting-edge 4nm processor boasts an Arm Cortex X4 core clocked at 3.0GHz, along with four Cortex-A720 and three Cortex-A520 cores clocked at 2.8GHz and 2GHz, respectively. To further enhance performance, the processor is paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM.
On the software front, the Realme GT 6 runs Android 14 out-of-the-box, with Realme’s signature Realme UI 5 skin on top. However, there’s a caveat – the phone comes preloaded with five third-party apps (Amazon, Finshell Pay, Myntra, ORoaming, Snapchat) that, while removable, raise a question mark at this price point.
Despite the preloaded apps, Realme UI 5 offers a number of useful features beyond the standard Android experience, including a dedicated gaming mode, "air gestures," and the ability to use both wired earphones and a wireless headset concurrently, which is a unique and convenient offering.
As Realme’s first AI-branded smartphone, the GT 6 boasts the company’s "Next AI" technology. This feature is designed to enhance low-light camera performance, remove objects from photos, and proactively suggest actions by analyzing on-screen content. Realme promises three Android OS updates and four years of security updates, guaranteeing a sustained software experience.
For connectivity, the Realme GT 6 supports Wi-Fi 6, 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, and a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfers. It also boasts an IR transmitter for controlling various appliances.
Realme GT 6 Review: Performance
With its impressive Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset and ample RAM, the Realme GT 6 effortlessly handles everyday tasks and demanding workloads. From editing and exporting 4K videos on InShot to extended gaming sessions and browsing the web, the phone performs flawlessly.
Testing the phone with Genshin Impact and Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, two of the most graphically intensive mobile games, on their highest supported settings revealed no lag, stuttering, throttling, or overheating, even after an hour of continuous gameplay. The built-in gaming mode allows for optimization settings such as HDR content, touch response, and the selection of battery saving or performance modes, enhancing the overall gaming experience.
Comparing the Realme GT 6 to its competitor, the Poco F6, which utilizes the same Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, in various synthetic benchmarks, the Realme GT 6 often matched or slightly outperformed its rival. The table below provides a detailed comparison of benchmark performance across both CPU and graphics tests, including the iQoo Neo 9 Pro, featuring the slightly more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.
| Benchmark | Realme GT 6 | Poco F6 | iQoo Neo 9 Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 Single Core | 1944 | 1835 | 2050 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi Core | 4895 | 4693 | 5741 |
| AnTuTu v10 | 1,405,190 | 1,457,491 | 1,585,868 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 18,828 | 15,743 | 13,319 |
| 3DMark Wild Life | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | Maxed Out |
| 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited | 11325 | 11734 | 12789 |
| 3DMark Sling Shot | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | Maxed Out |
| 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | Maxed Out |
| GFXBench Car Chase | 60 | 71 | 85 |
| GFXBench Manhattan 3.1 | 60 | 112 | 119 |
| GFXBench T-Rex | 60 | 120 | 120 |
Realme UI 5 feels well-optimized, free from intrusive promotional messages, and provides the option to disable or uninstall the preinstalled apps. RAM management is exceptional, ensuring that recently used apps remain in memory for seamless switching. However, similar to other Realme phones, users are required to agree to separate privacy and usage agreements before accessing specific system apps, which can be slightly cumbersome.
The Realme GT 6 boasts a 6.78-inch Full-HD+ (1,264×2,780 pixels) LTPO AMOLED display with a dynamic refresh rate ranging between 1Hz and 120Hz, and a 360Hz touch sampling rate. The display provides ample brightness when automatic brightness is enabled, enabling clear visibility even under direct sunlight. A toggle allows for increased screen brightness beyond the default setting, albeit at the expense of battery life.
Realme GT 6 Review: Cameras
The Realme GT 6 is equipped with a triple rear camera setup, consisting of:
- 50-megapixel primary camera: Sony LYT-808 sensor
- 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera: Sony IMX355 sensor
- 50-megapixel telephoto camera: Samsung JN5 sensor
It also houses a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the front, utilizing an unspecified sensor.
The star of the show is undoubtedly the primary camera, which produces clear images with accurate colors and ample detail when sufficient light is present.
In low-light scenarios, the camera still captures commendable photos in the default mode, with the dedicated Night mode offering even brighter images in less than a second.
The ultra-wide angle camera, while offering a lower resolution and slightly darker images compared to the primary camera, proves useful for capturing panoramic shots and larger subjects that are not too far away. It lacks noticeable warping around the edges, ensuring quality output. In low-light conditions, the camera’s performance drops slightly, resulting in less detail compared to the primary camera. This makes the primary camera the go-to option in dimly lit settings.
For capturing distant subjects, the telephoto camera delivers sharp images at 2x optical zoom, along with an additional 4x zoom option. Images captured with the telephoto camera feature slightly less vibrant colors than those from the primary camera. In low-light conditions, zooming in on distant subjects introduces a slight amount of noise and softening, but the results remain acceptable. The camera interface conveniently displays an indicator during zoom levels beyond 15x, guiding users when to capture images.
Both the primary and telephoto cameras can record video at up to 4K/ 60fps. However, to utilize the "ultra steady" mode, limiting the resolution to 1080p/ 60fps and opting for the primary camera is necessary. This mode delivers the best image stabilization results for recording videos while moving around. The ultra-wide angle camera supports video capture at up to 1080p/ 30fps.
The front-facing camera offers detailed selfie images when the "beautification" features are disabled. It produces good quality selfies in well-lit environments, but the quality drops notably in low-light scenarios.
Both the primary and telephoto cameras can record videos in Dolby Vision at up to 4K/ 30fps. These videos exhibit enhanced brightness and contrast, showcasing a more vibrant and immersive viewing experience. However, it’s important to note that viewing Dolby Vision content requires a compatible display. Videos recorded using the front-facing camera are satisfactory during the day, but the quality drops significantly at night.
Realme GT 6 Review: Verdict
If you are in the market for an excellent phone under Rs. 40,000 in India, the Realme GT 6 is an easy recommendation. It expertly balances strong performance, impressive battery life with fast charging, and reliable cameras. Throughout my review, I encountered no issues with casual use, voice calls, or gaming on the handset, making it a dependable choice.
However, the competition in this price segment is fierce. The iQoo Neo 9 Pro and the OnePlus 12R both feature the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, but the Realme GT 6 boasts a more versatile camera setup, offering a broader range of photography options.
If performance takes priority, the recently launched Poco F6, also equipped with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, presents a tempting option at a more budget-friendly price point.
Alternative choices worth considering include the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE and the Google Pixel 7a, both offering less powerful processors but standing out with their lack of preinstalled apps and incorporating unique features from Samsung and Google, respectively.
In the end, the Realme GT 6 firmly establishes itself as a solid contender in the premium mid-range smartphone segment. It ticks all the essential boxes: powerful processor, long battery life, fast charging, and capable cameras. The choice hinges on individual preferences and priorities. If you seek a phone with a versatile camera system and a competitive price, the Realme GT 6 is undoubtedly a compelling option.
