Review Summary
Expert Rating
The new GT-series smartphone, Realme GT 6T, is making its debut in India after a two-year hiatus, and it arrives with a touch of flair. The handset features the newly launched Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset and an LTPO panel that comes with never heard before 6,000 nits brightness. Additionally, the Realme smartphone houses a 5,500mAh battery and supports rapid 120W charging to minimise downtime. Do these features make the Realme GT 6T the best affordable flagship on the market? We attempt to find out in this review.
Table of Contents
Verdict
The Realme GT 6T delivers well on its promises. The handset provides swift performance, with an exceptional viewing experience even under direct sunlight, reliable battery life, and quick charging speeds. However, if an appealing design and versatile camera setup are what you are after, you might need to explore alternatives.
Design and display
In my opinion, the Realme GT 6T design looks a bit underwhelming compared to the latest Realme smartphones, especially the 12 Pro series. It’s subjective though, and you might feel differently. The handset features a glossy dual-tone finish, which looks rather bland I think, and smudges easily. The latter can be countered using a case like the one provided in the box. If you are one of those who like to keep their phone protected in a case all the time, then you won’t mind the appearance of the device.
The device is fashioned out of plastic and features a curved screen form factor, though the edges are not as sleek as you might expect. The handset measures 8.65mm in thickness and has slightly flat edges to avoid accidental screen touches. This also ensures users get a good grip over the device, which is further assisted by its weight which measures just 191 grams despite packing a beefy 5,500mAh battery.
On the back, the handset boasts three individual rings: two for the cameras and one for the LED flashes. The camera rings protrude from the frame, which might cause the phone to wobble when lying flat on a surface. As for I/O, there is a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer on the bottom edge, sandwiched between a SIM ejector tray and a speaker grille. The earpiece doubles up as a secondary speaker, helping provide stereo output with crisp audio. Furthermore, the phone includes an IR blaster for sending signals and controlling all compatible large appliances in the house. For security, the device sports an in-display fingerprint scanner. While accurate, it’s not the quickest, and its placement which is slightly lower than where your thumb naturally rests on the screen can make it a bit challenging to access in certain situations.
The Realme GT 6T is equipped with a 6.78-inch 1.5k panel of AMOLED variety, a standard choice for a mid-range smartphone these days. What sets it apart, however, is its astonishing peak brightness of 6,000 nits. While this figure is impressive and far exceeds that of even ultra-premium smartphones, it is only achievable in a small display area, with specific colours, and for a brief duration to prevent display burn-ins. Otherwise, the display offers a typical brightness of 1,000 nits and a high brightness mode (HBM) of 1,600 nits, which is still quite high. The iPhone 15 Pro Max display, in context, only offers 1,000 nits HBM.
The high display brightness ensures easy legibility under direct sunlight, even during Delhi’s scorching summers. The Realme smartphone has received certification from SGS that validates its display’s outstanding clarity in challenging lighting conditions. Apart from this, it is an LTPO panel, which comes with an adaptive refresh rate that can go as low as 1Hz to a maximum of 120Hz depending upon the content to save some battery. The viewing experience is quite impressive on the phone, with punchy and vibrant colours, a high contrast ratio, and excellent viewing angles. The display supports Dolby Vision, 2,160Hz PWM dimming, and is flicker-resistant. It also boasts eye protection certifications.
Cameras
While cameras are not its strong point, the smartphone won’t disappoint you in favourable lighting conditions. The Realme GT 6T has opted for a dual camera setup, comprising a 50MP Sony LYT600 main sensor and a 112-degree FoV 8MP ultra-wide lens. The main sensor outputs images with 12.5MP resolution by default, that exhibit high level of detail and good colours even against the light. The handset tends to favour warmer tones, which enhances the appeal of the images, though the dynamic range can appear somewhat limited.
In comparison, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro (review), which boasts among the best camera setups in the segment, outputs images with better dynamic range, retaining most of the highlights even in shadowy areas. However, its colours are not as natural as those of the Realme GT 6T. The Motorola smartphone tends towards colder tones and over-saturates the shades.
Moving on, the GT 6T’s 8MP ultra-wide camera is average at best, producing images that lack sharpness. There’s a noticeable decline in both detail and colour accuracy. Furthermore, its field of view (FoV) is relatively limited. The selfie camera on the phone is a 32MP snapper arranged in a punch-hole setup. It captures images with respectable facial detailing and accurate skin tones. However, there’s a slight issue with overprocessing, leading to a noticeable loss of detail. Nevertheless, the selfies it produces are still likeable and suitable for social media sharing. The portraits it captures are also impressive, with excellent edge detection and minimal warping, especially in well-lit environments. However, the edge detection falters in low light or when the sun goes down, much like the overall quality of the images.
Performance and software
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 ticking at Realme GT 6T’s core is a mid-range SoC with 4nm manufacturing process and up to 2.8GHz clock speeds. The phone promises lightning-fast load times, effortless multitasking, and the ability to handle intensive mobile games. The handset is available in 8GB/ 12GB RAM and 128GB/ 256GB/ 512GB storage options. The storage is not user-expandable, so choose your variants wisely.
The smartphone also features an ‘Advanced Iceberg Vapor Cooling System’ to regulate its thermals. This was evident during our gaming test, as the handset exhibited less heat compared to some of its competitors, such as the Motorola Edge 50 Pro, OnePlus 12R, and iQOO Neo9 Pro. The Realme GT 6T’s temperature rose by approximately 14 degrees after playing BGMI, Call of Duty, and Real Racing 3. Furthermore, the handset delivered smooth gameplay with no stutter or frame drop issues. Apart from that, the phone managed casual usage activities such as browsing, social media scrolling, and multitasking well.
Users will also be pleased with the performance of the smartphone. The handset scored 14,50,949 on AnTuTu, falling just shy of the segment leader iQOO Neo9 Pro’s score. On Geekbench, the Realme GT 6T achieved 1,826 on single-core and 4,544 on multi-core tests, whereas its performance throttled by approximately 40 percent under intense load.
It is worth mentioning the smartphone integrates an Independent Privacy Security Chip and Firewall System. As per the brand, this is a dedicated privacy chip that ensures your private data such as biometrics, facial recognition, screen locks, passwords, app locks, and file encryption never leaves the device.
On the software front, the new GT-series smartphone runs Realme UI 5.0 layered atop Android 14 out of the box. There are a total of 52 apps pre-installed on the smartphone, most of which are from Google and Realme. The list of third-party apps includes Snapchat, PayTM, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Amazon. These apps have a huge user base and should provide convenience to those who use them. However, if you don’t happen to be one of them, they can be uninstalled.
The handset also boasts several customisation options, as well as useful features such as Split View for multitasking, Flexible Window, and a Quick Launch feature, among other things. The Realme GT 6T is also futureproof, with three years of major software updates and an additional year of security updates.
Battery and charging
The Realme GT 6T is equipped with a 5,500mAh battery with a whopping 120W fast charging speed. The charger is bundled in the box and can juice up the device from 20-100 percent in approximately 30 minutes. This is pretty impressive for a phone that boasts a battery capacity north of 5,000mAh.
A full charge should last over a day with substantial usage. When we tested the phone with YouTube video playback at 50 percent brightness and volume level, there was a 3 percent reduction in battery life after half an hour. Regarding gaming, the handset’s battery life dropped by around 20 percent after playing BGMI, Call of Duty, and Real Racing 3 with moderate graphics for 30 minutes each.
Final verdict
The Realme GT 6T is well-packaged for performance-focused users. There are very few smartphones in the segment that can match its value, but none come close to providing a comfortable viewing experience even outdoors under direct sunlight. That astounding 6,000 nits peak brightness is a game-changer for the smartphone. However, the design and cameras of the phone seem to be lacking a bit, which might dissuade some buyers who might be better off with the Motorola Edge 50 Pro.
That said, if you prioritise performance, display quality, and fast charging in an affordable flagship, the Realme GT 6T is well worth considering. The handset is selling in India starting at Rs 30,999.
Editor’s rating: 8 / 10
Reasons to buy
- The phone promises lightning-fast load times, effortless multitasking and gaming.
- The 6,000 nits peak brightness sets this smartphone apart in terms of viewing experience.
- The primary camera exhibits high level of detail and good colours.
- The handset should last over a day with substantial usage and provide rapid charging speeds.
Reasons not to buy
- The design looks a bit underwhelming compared to the latest Realme smartphones.
- Cameras are not the strongest point for the smartphone, lacking a telephoto lens.
 | Rs. 30,999.00 | Go To Store |
