Realme GT 7 Pro review

Introduction

The Realme GT Pro series returns with another high-performance package that will now be going global - we have the GT 7 Pro here with a super-bright display, ginormous battery, the fastest chipset available on an Android, and even an underwater camera mode. What?

Well, just like a certain vivo we encountered a while back, the Realme GT 7 Pro carries not only the usual IP68 rating, but also an IPX9 one for some extra tight sealing - against pressurized steam jets. So with that level of water protection, Realme figured it could go ahead and market the GT 7 Pro as an underwater camera, with a dedicated mode to cater to the specific... conditions.

What came first is unclear - the underwater mode, or the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, but there's an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on the GT 7 Pro and it does come into play for underwater shooting. It's a welcome development on the ground too.

The GT 7 Pro is, admittedly, not the best cameraphone out of the water - its hardware is somewhat of a downgrade compared to the GT5 Pro (the GT Sixes aren't really in the same lineage, are they). Still, with a reasonably well-specced main camera and a not-too-bad 3x telephoto, the GT 7 Pro isn't to be dismissed by casual picture-takers.

And then, of course, there's the brand new Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm's latest top-tier chipset with in-house-designed CPU cores that should be a bit more than the average generational improvement we've gotten used to recently.

Realme didn't stop there though, and packed a whopping 6,500mAh battery inside the GT 7 Pro - a silicon carbon type unit that still doesn't push the handset's size and weight beyond what's reasonable, but does offer more juice than competitors. The Dolby Vision-capable 6.78-inch OLED display with up to 6,000nits of brightness doesn't sound too shabby either. There is a lot to like in the list below.

Realme GT 7 Pro specs at a glance:

• Body: 162.5x76.9x8.6mm, 223g; Glass front, aluminum frame; IP68/IP69 dust/water resistant (up to 2m for 30 min).
• Display: 6.78" LTPO OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, 2000 nits (HBM), 6000 nits (peak), 1264x2780px resolution, 19.8:9 aspect ratio, 450ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8750-AB Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm): Octa-core (2x4.32 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix L + 6x3.53 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix M); Adreno 830.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 256GB 16GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• OS/Software: Android 15, Realme UI 6.0.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm, 1/1.56", PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/2.7, 73mm, 1/1.95", PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 112˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm.
• Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, 25mm (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 6500mAh; 120W wired.
• Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.4; NFC; Infrared port.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); stereo speakers.

Just a quick note - Realme is adamant that we call the global version "GT 7 Pro", with a space before the 7. Their official Chinese pages for what's essentially the very same model still go without the space, so perhaps that's some sort of an attempt to differentiate the two versions.

Realme GT 7 Pro unboxing

Realme isn't doing anything crazy with the GT 7 Pro's retail packaging or box contents. It's a standard size black box with all the bases covered from the get-go.

You get a 120W charging adaptor and a cable to go with it, labeled with an 8A marking. Also included is a protective case - a fairly basic gray plastic one that will hide the nice body color and finish, but will provide some shielding.