Realme GT 6T First Impressions: Geared for Gaming

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 arrived in a special 150W model. If you remember, the GT lineup started off as mid-range devices like the Realme GT Master Edition and then branched out into more gamer-centric (or youth-centric) smartphones like the GT Neo series. The last GT Neo 3 150W we reviewed (back in June 2022) was all about offering high-end gaming performance (along with its obvious downsides) and average cameras. Such devices, despite their high-end specifications, were hard to recommend to the casual user mainly because they were also priced a bit too high (Rs. 42,999) and did not offer any practical features like a good camera, an IP rating or even wireless charging for the casual user.

It’s 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 the Realme GT 6T which does not connect with any of its past GT-series devices launched in India. So, where does this new GT fit in? Let’s find out!

The Realme GT is priced from Rs. 30,999 for the base 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant, which immediately makes it a very competitive offering given the hardware it offers. The phone is available in four variants, with the most high-end 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, given that it packs a large battery and vapour chamber cooling system

However, this competitive price does see Realme cutting a few corners. Now that I’ve used the handset for a short while, the obvious one is the plastic frame and rear panel, which, despite its modern minimalist appearance, is a proper dust magnet. The rear panel also flexes a bit as well. Strangely, despite using plastic for its chassis and rear panel, Realme claims 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 of the rear panel, which has a very reflective mirror finish (that is still a bit misty at the same time) near the cameras but a metallic grey finish for the rest. Just like its rear panel, the phone has a curved edge display on the front, which is curved on its left and right sides. It is a 6.78-inch full-HD+ AMOLED panel of the LTPO variety, meaning it can drop its refresh rate down to 1Hz when needed to save battery life. The panel also has a 360Hz normal touch sampling rate and 2,500Hz turbocharged touch sampling while playing games. This display is also protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

It’s also surprisingly slim for a phone that claims to have the largest vapour 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) to have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 SoC. This is a rather powerful processor as it borrows plenty of its architecture and cores from the premium Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 series found in premium devices costing upwards of Rs. 50,000.

Keeping in mind the last GT Neo series and its very average camera performance, it’s nice to see Realme add a new-age Sony LYT-600 camera with a 50-megapixel resolution. The camera has a bright f/1.8 aperture and also packs OIS, which should technically deliver better low-light photography. Now, the same sensor was also baked into the Realme 12+ smartphone, but it did not yield good results in our review. So, it will be interesting to see how this camera fares when backed by Qualcomm silicon.

The Realme GT 6T’s display is of the AMOLED LTPO variety and is curved on the sides

Powering all of the above is Realme UI 5.0, which is based on Android 14.

Indeed, the Realme GT 6T seems like a step in the right direction for its GT series. While it is geared for gaming, given its performance-oriented hardware choices, there’s finally a balance with other practical features as well.

It’s neither as underpowered nor more design-focused as the older GT Master Edition, and it’s also not completely gamer-focused, which would reduce its appeal to the average consumer.

At the moment, it seems like a very well-balanced mix of hardware and software, but we will have to put it through its paces to find out how it compares to other premium smartphones at this price point. So, stay tuned for our detailed review, which will be out soon.