The Realme X2 Pro is the brand’s first proper
flagship and it is such a massive jump up from the X2 that the two don’t share
much more than their name. Realme is no longer content with playing in the
mid-field, with this phone it’s challenging Xiaomi, Honor and OnePlus flagships
directly.
The phone boasts a 90Hz display – a “fluid” Super
AMOLED with a 6.5” diagonal and 1080p+ resolution. Color rendering is bolstered
by HDR10+ support and full coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. Behind the screen is a new,
faster in-display fingerprint reader, which will unlock the phone in 0.23
seconds (for comparison, the reader on the X2 needs 0.36s).
The Snapdragon 855+ chipset was picked to power the
phone. It’s Realme’s first 8-series chip and one of the fastest available for
Android. With a 15% boost to GPU performance over the vanilla S855 chip, this
is one of the few chipsets we’d trust to handle 90fps gaming. The chipset is cooled by a vapor
chamber through a graphite sheet to help spread the heat more evenly.
HyperBoost 2.0 promises more stable frame rates while Touch Boost 2.0 will
increase touch responsiveness by 35%.
The base configuration has 6GB of RAM and 64GB of
UFS 2.1 storage. You may want to upgrade to the 8/128GB or even 12/256GB options
as those switch to the even faster UFS 3.0 standard. And the phone has no
microSD slot, so extra built-in storage will be useful.
The Realme X2 Pro has a quad camera on its back.
Let’s start with the 64MP regular camera – it uses the large Samsung GW1 sensor
(1/1.72”) with a bright f/1.8 aperture and 0.8µm pixels. The sensor’s Quad
Bayer design is meant for 4-in-1 pixel binning and 16MP output, but you can
access the full resolution if you want to. Realme also developed a new
version of its dedicated night mode, Nightscape 2.0, which utilizes AI and
multi-frame synthesis to reduce noise, glare and handshake, while improving the
dynamic range.
The second most interesting camera is the 2x
telephoto unit with a 13MP sensor. Neither this cam, nor the main camera have
OIS. However, for video recording there’s the electronic video stabilization,
which works in 4K mode. Next up is the 115° ultra wide-angle camera. It features an 8MP
sensor with relatively large 1.4µm pixels and PDAF with dedicated macro mode (minimum
focus distance of just 2.5 cm or 1 in). This camera has another trick up its
sleeve, it can shoot slow-motion videos, 720p at 960fps. The fourth and final camera on
the back is the 2MP portrait cam, or depth sensor. It’s there to assist the
main camera by helping to enhance the image contrast and texture. There’s one more shooter to
mention, the 16MP selfie camera with 1.0µm pixels and a Quad Bayer filter. Like
the rear cameras, the selfie cam features a Nightscape mode and has EIS for
video.
The Realme X2 Pro is powered by a 4,000mAh battery
with the latest 50W SuperVOOC fast charging support. It promises to fill the
first 80% of the battery in just 30 minutes. That’s a good deal faster than
OnePlus’ 30W charger, but even better is the support for the USB Power Delivery
and Qualcomm QuickCharge standards – this makes shopping for power banks and
additional chargers so much easier. You can even borrow a friend’s MacBook
charger if you need a quick top up.
The phone is covered with Gorilla Glass 5 front and
back. The glass on the front is flat (save for the beveled edges) while the
rear glass is shaped to fit the contours of the phone. The frame is made of
metal. The smartphone comes in four color options - Ocean Blue and Midnight
Silver - and two Master Editions which come in red and grey colors. The X2 Pro has a Tactile Linear
Motor for better haptic feedback in games. Realme says this is the first phone
with Ultra-Linear dual speakers. They support Dolby Atmos as well as Hi-Res
audio.
The Realme X2 Pro will go on sale in China from
October 18. It's priced at CNY 2,699 (US$ 380/€ 345) for the 6GB/64GB variant, while
the 8GB/128GB model costs CNY 2,899 (US$ 410/€ 370). If you go for the top-end
version, with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, you will have to shell out CNY 3,299
(US$ 465/€ 425).
The Master Edition comes in a single configuration -
12GB/256GB - and costs the same as the regular variant. For a limited time,
Realme is offering a discount of CNY 100 (US$ 15/€ 12) on all the models.
