When does the Realme 8 launch?
Realme half-announced the range in early March, with an event specifically focussed on the photography features of the Realme 8 Pro – which boasts the company’s first 108Mp-led camera system.
It then held an official launch for the series on 24 March that saw the official unveiling of the Realme 8, 8 Pro, Watch S Pro and Buds Air 2, although not all products are coming to all markets.
In the UK, the Realme 8 Pro was made available to pre-order from launch and available to purchase from both Realme and Amazon starting 31 March. The Realme 8 will reach the EU and UK at a later date – Realme has confirmed. We’ll update this feature when we learn when exactly that is.
How much will the Realme 8 cost?
Pricing has always been aggressive in this sector of the smartphone market, with Realme delivering some real bargains with its past offerings. You can see how much they cost in the list below:
- Realme 6i – £189
- Realme 6 – £219
- Realme 6 Pro – £299
- Realme 7 – £179
- Realme 7 Pro – £279
- Realme 7 5G – £279
With the Realme 8 not yet available in the UK, we only have the Realme 8 Pro to compare in terms of regional pricing, which coming in at £279 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB model, seems reasonable, considering the hardware exchanges and upgrades Realme has made compared to last year’s 7 Pro.
For reference, in India the Realme 8, in its 8GB RAM + 128GB configuration, costs ₹16,999 (which directly converts to roughly £170), while the same RAM and ROM on an 8 Pro comes to ₹19,999 (or around £200).
Related: Where to buy the Realme 8 Pro in the UK?
What specs and features does the Realme 8 offer?
Realme 8 Pro
The biggest talking point with this series is the 8 Pro’s 108Mp camera. It’s the first time the company has pushed past 64Mp on any of its devices and the phone leverages the respectable 1/1.52in Samsung ISOCELL HM2 also found in devices like the recently-released Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro.
More pixels means the promise of higher quality snaps and superior low light performance but Realme has also thrown in some fun photography features too, like a tilt-shift mode and an AI-enhanced 3x (digital) zoom.
Here’s the full rundown of Realme 8 Pro specs:
- 6.4in 60Hz Full HD+ (2400×1080) Super AMOLED display
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor
- 6GB or 8GB LPDDR4 RAM
- 128GB storage
- microSD expandable
- Dual-SIM support
- 108Mp primary camera
- 8Mp ultrawide camera
- 2Mp macro camera
- 2Mp b&w depth camera
- 16Mp hole-punch selfie camera
- In-display fingerprint sensor
- Android 11 w/ Realme UI 2
- Bluetooth 5.0
- 4G
- Hi-Res Audio certified
- 4500mAh battery
- 50W SuperDart charging
- 160.6mm x 73.9mm x 8.1mm
- 176 grams
- Colours: Infinite Blue, Infinite Black, Punk Black, Illuminating Yellow
While 50W wired charging is still impressive – giving the phone a full charge in 47 minutes – rather curiously, this is actually a downgrade from the 65W charging seen in last year’s Realme 7 Pro.
Realme 8
Despite sporting the same size display, the standard Realme 8 features a more conventional (for the brand, at least) 64Mp main camera and swaps out a Snapdragon processor for MediaTek’s Helio G95, along with a larger 5000mAh battery but slightly slower 30W fast charging
Here’s the standard Realme 8’s spec sheet:
- 6.4in 60Hz Full HD+ (2400×1080) Super AMOLED display
- MediaTek Helio G95 chipset
- 4GB, 6GB or 8GB LPDDR4 RAM
- 128GB storage
- microSD expandable
- Dual-SIM support
- 64Mp primary camera
- 8Mp ultrawide camera
- 2Mp macro camera
- 2Mp b&w depth camera
- 16Mp hole-punch selfie camera
- In-display fingerprint sensor
- Android 11 w/ Realme UI 2
- Bluetooth 5.0
- 4G
- 5000mAh battery
- 30W charging
- 160.6mm x 73.9mm x 7.99mm
- 177 grams
- Colours: Cyber Silver, Cyber Black
That’s the same chipset, battery and charging speed as the Realme 7, though the camera has clearly been boosted from 48Mp to 64Mp. The display is more complex; the Realme 7 had a 90Hz LCD, but the 8 offers a 60Hz AMOLED screen; so while colour quality and battery life should be improved, refresh rate, and thus visual fluidity, aren’t as impressive.
We breakdown our review of the Realme 8 Pro and the launch of the Realme 8 series as a whole in our weekly podcast, Fast Charge:
What about the Realme 8 5G?
Sorely absent from the Realme 8 Series’ launch event was a 5G-capable entry in the line. The company did confirm during the presentation, however, that one was to be expected in the near future, with signs of when that might actually be having since surfaced.
Realme Thailand’s social channels shared a ten-second video teasing the Realme 8 5G, with a date of 21 April. Little else is mentioned in the video, however, as GSMArena – who initially spotted the video – pointed out, the phone shown bears a strong resemblance to the China-exclusive Realme V13 5G and as such speculate that it serves as the basis (in terms of hardware) for the Realme 8 5G.
Here are the Realme V13 5G’s specs, for reference:
- 6.5in 20:9 90Hz Full HD+ (2400×1080) IPS LCD
- MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G chipset
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB or 256GB UFS 2.1 storage
- microSD expandable
- Dual-SIM support
- 48Mp primary camera
- 2Mp macro camera
- 2Mp depth camera
- 8Mp hole-punch selfie camera
- Side-mounted power button fingerprint sensor
- Android 11 w/ Realme UI (potentially version 2)
- Bluetooth 5.1
- 5G
- 5000mAh battery
- 18W charging
- 162.5mm x 74.8mm x 8.5mm
- 185 grams
- Colours: Blue, grey
Should these stats ring true for the Realme 8 5G, it’ll have dropped a whole camera sensor compared to its siblings and charge slower, to boot. No word yet on pricing, but for reference, last year’s Realme 7 5G cost £279 at launch.
Look out for our full reviews of each of these devices, and in the meantime, read our best budget smartphone and best budget Chinese smartphone roundups to see what the Realme 8/8 Pro/8 5G are up against – or check out our round-up of all the latest Realme GT news on the company’s new flagship.