Realme GT5 Pro review

Super-bright high-res 6.78-inch OLED

The Realme GT5 Pro has a 6.78-inch display that leaves little to be desired. The LTPO OLED panel by BOE has a 1,264x2,780px resolution (pixel density works out to 450ppi, the aspect ratio is 2.2:1 or 19.8:9), supports refresh rates up to 144Hz, has Dolby Vision certification, and can display 1 billion colors.

Realme product pages also advertise a peak brightness of 4,500nits, which we all know by now isn't possible on the whole display at all times, but is a momentary value for small patches of white. We also saw 1,600nits thrown around for full screen white, and that we did measure to be true.

In our standardized test, the GT5 Pro's panel proved very bright indeed - the adaptive brightness maximum of 1660nits is truly excellent, if a little short of the iPhone 15 Pros' record numbers. Even more impressive is the GT5 Pro's result when adjusting the slider manually, which at nearly 1000nits with the 'Extra brightness' toggle enabled is the highest we've measured on an OLED (if memory serves us right, at least). Switch off that setting and you'd be getting a more pedestrian, though still above-average 593nits.

Refresh rate

The GT5 Pro's display supports up to 144Hz refresh rates and it can also dial down all the way to 0.5Hz - refresh once every two seconds. There are three refresh rate modes - Auto select, Standard, and High. All three will employ advanced refresh rate switching, and Standard will cap things at 60Hz, while Auto and High will go up to 144Hz. In High mode, you also get an additional menu with per-app settings for refresh rate where you can choose between 60, 90, 120, and 144Hz.

Regardless of mode, we couldn't reliably force a 144Hz or 120Hz refresh rate. Browsers would be allowed 144Hz when you touch the screen, but dial down to 60Hz when idling. Video playback apps did behave reliably and we saw no issues with playback of 24fps or 48fps content even though the Android refresh rate tool would show changing values during playback of such clips. We also say momentary readings of 144Hz and frame rates above 60fps in some games, but the Realme UI/Color OS in-house tool would read 60-ish fps a few seconds into a game.

Streaming and HDR

The GT5 Pro supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ playback, and we did get HDR streams on YouTube. The phone only has an L3 Widevine certification, so playback of DRM-protected content in apps like Netflix is capped at 480p. Speaking of, Netflix doesn't show up on a sideloaded Play Store on the GT5 Pro and sideloading the app itself does work, but videos are limited to standard definition with no HDR capability.

Realme GT5 Pro battery life

The GT5 Pro packs a 5,400mAh battery, a number we've seen on several phones in the Realme/Oppo/vivo realm, like the vivo X100 Pro and the iQOO 12 Pro. The X100 Pro has a Mediatek chipset, while the iQOO 12 non-Pro we've reviewed (with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) has a 5,000mAh capacity battery, so direct comparisons with the GT5 Pro aren't quite warranted, and that's before even accounting for the Realme's unusual display and China-specific software.

But while we did expect to see some differences (and differences we saw), the GT5 Pro posted solid numbers across all disciplines in our Active Use test.

Charging speed

The phone is bundled with a SuperVOOC-branded 100W adapter, and that's the power rating that the phone is quoted to support as well. Realme promises that a 12-minute charging session will get you from 1 to 50% and that's what we measured as well. A full charge took us 28 minutes.

The GT5 Pro is not as fast as the GT5 or the GT3 240W, but we wouldn't call a 28-minute result slow by any stretch. The iQOO 12 and the Xiaomi 13T Pro are marginally faster too, though not meaningfully so.

The GT5 Pro supports wireless charging too. We couldn't find a listing in the Wireless Power Consortium's database, but those aren't all too informative anyway since they don't take into account proprietary tech that outspecs the Qi standard. In this Realme's case, the product page states a 50W wireless charging capability - presumably with compatible in-house charging pads.

Speaker test

The GT5 Pro's speaker system employs two drivers - one on each end of the phone, with the top one also serving as earpiece. Each speaker will output its own channel, plus the opposite channel's track at an attenuated level. The top speaker is assigned the left channel in vertical orientation, while in landscape, the phone will switch channels accordingly.

Bottom speaker • Top speaker opening on top • Earpiece

In our testing, the GT5 Pro earned a rating for loudness on par with stablemates and a lot of potential rivals - 'Very Good'. The output quality can also be described in a similar manner - we found the Realme to be delivering likeable sound, with pleasing vocals, some low-end presence and well-defined treble.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.