Realme continues its meteoric rise, posting some surprising growth figures despite the fact that it is no longer a small business. Their 2020 lineup was marked by an incredibly short model rotation in the constant battle to offer something a little cheaper or more flashy, as quickly as possible. That led to a number of great successful products, but also a lot of failures and experiments gone wrong and everything in between.
Winner: Realme 7 Pro
Currently the most popular Realme phone in our database, the Realme 7 Pro has a lot to offer. Probably one of the best things about Realme’s market flooding approach to smartphones is that finding the right set of features can be done through trial and error in the real market. That seems to exactly describe the development of the Realme 7 Pro, which swapped out the Realme 6 Pro’s 90Hz IPS LCD for a 60Hz Super AMOLED panel.
Incredible battery life and fast charging, decent stereo speakers, adequate performance, and solid photo quality all add up to a 2020 mid-range offering.
Winner: Realme 7 5G
We have to mention another of the successful members of the Realme 7 family: the Realme 7 5G. It’s another perfect example of the company’s strategy of tweaking specs slightly on the fly and delivering a winning combo. The new Mediatek Dimensity 800U out of China was paired with a 120Hz display and an incredible price.
Despite 5G being the main feature, the smartphone was quite competitive even in markets where next-generation networks are not available and had to match the value for money of the LTE competition. Add excellent battery life and excellent camera quality to the mix and it’s easy to see why the Realme 7 5G is getting such warm reception.
Loser: Realme X50 Pro 5G and Realme X50 Pro Player
The Realme X2 Pro was arguably one of the best deals of 2019 and early 2020, but the X50 lineup as a whole only managed to elicit timid enthusiasm from fans. The likes of the X50 5G and X50m 5G found a place in the sun as value mid-range 5G phones, although the key to their relative success could have a lot to do with lower expectations.
However, the Realme X50 Pro 5G and X50 Pro Player don’t really have that excuse. Both large Snapdragon 865 chipsets and a 90Hz Super AMOLED HDR10 + panel. It just felt like they were simply offering a chipset upgrade over the X2 Pro and at a higher price for the booth, not the same market disruptor.
Loser: Realme C3 (3 cameras)
The Realme C3 (3 cameras) was just confusing. That extra bracketed text, by the way, is not an official part of the title, but just an attempt to make some sense of the company’s confusing naming strategy. It is one thing to change the name of a phone or slightly modify its name to launch it in another market. It’s completely different to drop a phone with an additional 2MP macro camera and rear fingerprint reader just weeks after unveiling the original Realme C3 with the exact same name.
It’s also not like the two are destined for vastly different markets. The Realme C3 (3 cameras) came out in India as well as internationally. In fact, looking at online retailers, it appears that only the newest variant still remains for sale. Or at least that’s what the listings suggest. So indeed, the quick “switch” maneuver that Realme did was successful. That doesn’t make it any less confusing for those who tried to make sense at the time.
Winner: Realme C15
There is no denying that Realme excels at crafting inexpensive devices. Out of the sea of offers of this type this year, the Realme C15 has to take the proverbial cake. However, if you prefer to be on the Qualcomm team, the Narzo 20A comes pretty close to it in almost every respect.
However, we would probably still stick to the Realme C15, if faced with a strict budget. It manages to shine above its Narzo sibling in some respects, like the massive 6,000mAh battery, an ultra-wide, though not particularly good camera, and better Bluetooth 5.6, LE, and aptX connectivity, courtesy of the MediaTek Helio G35 chipset.
Loser: Realme X3
Closing the list, the Realme X3 family deserves a mention. It’s not that its members are particularly bad; They were actually among the most unorthodox and interesting, opting for the 2019 Snapdragon 855+ flagship chipsets well into 2020 and combining that raw power with 120Hz IPS panels.
The Realme X3 SuperZoom, in particular, had an intriguing 8MP periscope with 5x optical zoom and an OIS-enabled camera in its quiver. That’s probably why it managed at least to arouse a bit more interest than its vanilla brother Realme X3. Ultimately, however, neither of them managed to deliver astonishing value and ventured into flagship chipset territory, which definitely contributed to its latest slide into darkness.
It’s natural, you can’t win them all, especially when it produces as many smartphones as Realme in 2020. What would you like to see from the Chinese giant in 2021? Double the economic offers? A major fucus in the middle rangers? Or is it perhaps worth trying another stab at the flagship hardware? Tell us in the comments.
