Realme GT5 240W charging test

Fast charging is one of those life-savers that we now take for granted on most modern flagships. Say you forgot to charge your phone before going to bed. No worries, a quick top-up while you get ready to tackle the day ahead and you’re back to 100% in no time. In the case of the Realme GT5 240W you’re able to do a full charge in 10 minutes, and a 20% top-up in just 80 seconds as per the maker's claims.

This isn’t anything new since the Realme GT3 aka GT Neo5 in China pioneered the 240W SuperVOOC charging system earlier this year. Still, it’s mighty impressive to see the rate of development in the smartphone charging industry and we’re always thinking back to the humble beginnings of fast-charging smartphones from over a decade ago.

For our latest charging test, we’ll be using the 240W SuperVOOC charger and the thick double-sided USB-C cable that come bundled with the Realme GT5. The charging brick claims a 20V/12A max output (12A current) translating to 240W peak charging speeds. It’s also PD 3.0 compatible, offering 65W speeds (20V/3.25A) which is good enough for most other phones, tablets and even some low-powered laptops.

It’s not the largest charging brick around but it’s not something you’ll want to carry around in your pockets either. The entire solution comes in at a combined 210 grams – 170 grams for the charger and 40 grams for the cable.

We’re charging a 4,600 mAh dual-cell battery split between two 2,300 mAh cells here. It features a nine-layer cooling system ensuring thermals don’t get out of hand and a total of 60 (sixty) layers of safety measures. We’re also assured that the blazing fast charging won’t degrade the battery more than regular charging. In fact, Realme did the tests and the battery retained 80% of its initial capacity after 1,600 charging cycles - which is twice the 80% after 800 cycles commitment of most other phones out there.

But enough talk, let’s see how fast the Realme GT5 240W charges.

Well, Realme GT5 240W managed a full charge in exactly 12 minutes and 10 seconds. Not exactly the advertised 10 minutes, but still faster than any other smartphone not named Realme GT3.

Breaking down the GT5 240W charging test - we were sitting at 8% after just 30 seconds on the charger and that climbed to 15% at the 1-minute mark. From there it was all gas, no brakes as the GT5 240W reached a 20% charge in 80 seconds just as advertised. It then progressed steadily to 50% after 4 minutes and 80% at the 8-minute mark. Things slowed down a bit after that as we reached 93% at the 10-minute mark and then 97% after 11 minutes.

You can see how some of the fastest-charging phones on the market fare in the following comparison.