realme GT 6 Review

The global launch of the realme GT 6 has been highly anticipated for quite a while now due to the fact that it has been some time since we’ve had the GT line from realme in our shores.

The last time we reviewed a realme GT series was in 2022 with the GT Neo 3 and then prior to that was the realme GT Master Edition and the realme GT 5G back in 2021.

This June 20, all eyes are on realme as it officially reveals the realme GT 6 and dubbed it as a flagship killer (realme’s words, not ours). So, in this review, we’re going to look a little closer to see if the realme GT 6 is what it hopes to be.

Design and Construction

Right off the bat, you can see that the realme GT 6 looks really simple yet elegant with all the glass-on-glass construction. It comes in two colorways –- Fluid Silver and Razor Green. Between the two, the Fluid Silver that we have as our review unit is perhaps the most elegant and stunning of the two.

The glass back design comes in two tones that complement each other, with majority of the back panel covered in smooth Titanium-textured glass that somewhat absorbs surrounding light and reflects it differently in a nice, muted fashion.

A band of Nano Mirror Glass complements the Steel Deco camera module, giving it a nice sheen and reflection, much like a silver mirror. This isn’t just for aesthetic, though, as the mirror finish is so reflective, you can use it to frame your shots when you do those Gen-Z selfies.

Despite the 8.6mm profile, which is partly due to the larger battery, the GT 6 still feels slim and manageable, all thanks to the curved display and the tapered edges of the back panel.

The power button and volume rocker are on the right side with nothing on the left side. Up top, you have the secondary noise-canceling microphone, an IR blaster and an air vent hole (for checking water resistance and pressure inside the device). At the bottom, you have the primary speaker grill, the USB Type-C port, primary microphone and the SIM card slot.

If you’re wondering where the second stereo speaker, it’s found along the edge of the upper glass display. It’s a very minute slit that you can barely see, unless you slap the rubber case on it where it’s carved out along the edge.

Additionally, the phone also comes with an IP65 Rating which means it is completely dust-proof and splash resistant.

Display, Multimedia and Biometrics

With a large 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display, you get an immersive experience – whether watching your favorite Netflix show or playing games with your friends.

The thin bezels and curved glass display makes it look like the images overflow from the edges of the screen, giving it a generous 94.2% screen-to-body ratio. You’ll enjoy games and movies even more, thanks to the 120Hz screen refresh rate and up to 6,000 nits peak brightness (1,000 nits, typ; 1,600, HBM).

The full HD+ display has a 1.5K (2780×1264 pixels) resolution with up to 450ppi pixel density.

The GT 6 also sports a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for protection from scratches, dings and accidental drops.

We also loved the inclusion of the IR blaster as you can use the native remote app to pair and control your home appliances. It’s a small feature but a huge help when you need it.

Audio quality is great, very loud yet still clear and crips. Not much on the bass side but still very good with playing music or mobile games.

Camera

For photography, realme GT 6 features a triple camera system that is headlined by a Sony LYT 808 sensor with optical image stabilization and is capable of 4K @ 60fps video recording. The LYT 808 is among the latest and most capable camera sensors for smartphones, allowing for more light intake due to its large 1/1.4” sensor size.

This allows you to take great photos in any situation or light condition and still get clear and crips images.

This is paired with a secondary telephoto camera using a 50MP Samsung JNS sensor with 2x optical zoom capabilities, which can be great for portrait shots.

The 3rd camera is an ultrawide camera using an 8MP Sony IMX355 sensor with an 112-degree field-of-view.

For better selfies, the front camera uses a 32MP Sony IMX615 that is also capable of shooting 4K @ 30fps videos.

You can check out the sample shots below:

For video recording, the main camera can shoot 4K @ 60fps. We took a few sample clips from the rear camera and the selfie camera as well in this sample clip:

Performance and Benchmarks

Powering the GT 6 is the latest Snapdragon 8s Gen3 chipset from Qualcomm. This is composed of a single high-performance Cortex-X4 running at 3.0GHz, a quad-core Cortex-A720 @ 2.8GHz, and a triple-core Cortex-A520 running at 2.0GHz.

This is a twin brother of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that is not pricey but still as capable, so you still benefit form the great performance but will not be charged a premium.

The chipset also comes with a powerful Adreno 735 GPU that is paired with 12GB of fast LPDDR5X RAM and an additional 12GB of Dynamic RAM Expansion for better multi-tasking capability.

As expected, you get a very fast and snappy device capable of just about anything you throw at it—from heavy multitasking to intensive gaming, the GT 6 can handle it without a sweat.

Likewise, in our series of benchmark tests, the GT 6 scores very well across the board and surpasses the 1.5 million mark in Antutu benchmark, among others.

As you can see, the UFS 4.0 storage scored high in both read and write speeds. PCMark also gave it high marks for all productivity tasks.

This could be attributed to the special cooling technology incorporated into the GT 6 which “has a 10,014mm² 3D Tempered Dual Vapor Chamber Cooling System that covers a large area & dissipates heat fast and keeps the phone’s temperature low even during intense activity.”

We’re able to see the effects of this in our battery test where we also monitored the device temperature over the entire period.

OS, Apps and UI

The realme GT 6 runs on the latest Android 14 operating system with realme UI 5.0 skinned on top. It is the same simple and familiar yet highly customizable user-interface we used to like with realme devices.

(During the course of this review, we encountered 2 instances of software updates which we promptly installed and it resulted to noticeable increase in benchmark scores.)

This one includes new features, such as Smart Image Matting, File Dock, Flash Capsule, and Windows PhoneLink.

Other new features include Riding Mode, Air Gestures (In-App and System Navigation), Smart Code Scan, Dedicated RAM for Games, AI Assistant, and Quick Launch.

On top of that, there are a ton of AI-optimized features included in this release, dubbed realme Next AI.

Among the more notable ones include the following:

AI Smart Loop. The Smart Loop feature is a predictive on-screen “task wheel” that suggests the next steps you might want to take on any object on your screen (whether it’s a photo, video, text, or location). The Smart Loop will give you possible actions, such as sending via Bluetooth, email, searching, or buying on Amazon, and more.

AI Smart Removal. Remove unwanted objects from photos and generate content to recognize and recreate the missing portions after removing an object.

AI Night Vision Video. Allows the ability to take brighter videos even under extremely low light conditions through advanced night algorithms.

The realme UI 5.0 is also highly customizable you can practically make granular and specific changes to how you interact with the UI and make the most out of the phone.

Aside from the native apps that we found useful, the phone also got a few unwanted apps to go with it, like Lazada, Shopee, Temu and Bigo, although you can just simply uninstall it right away if you don’t need them.

Connectivity and Battery Life

The realme GT 6 packs a dual-cell (2,750mAh) battery to produce a total capacity of 5,500mAh. This is one of the biggest in the flagship level where it’s mostly goes up to 5,000mAh.

In our experience, the phone can last the entire day with 5G enabled and with heavy usage (email, video streaming, a little bit of Mobile Legends and social media). When, connected to WiFi for most of the day, you get much longer battery life that can last up to noon the next day.

In our PCMark Battery Test, the GT 6 managed to last 17 hours and 16 minutes on a full charge at 50% brightness, zero volume, and in airplane mode.

Likewise, in our proprietary video loop test, the unit copped an impressive 35 hours and 47 minutes playing a full HD movie under the same conditions. For gaming, we ran a few Ranked games of Mobile Legends at high graphics and ultra settings, the phone managed to last about 7 hours and 13 minutes (extrapolated).

This is battery life we’ve never seen before in most of the flagship smartphones we’ve reviewed in a long time.

Again, that Tempered Dual Vapor Chamber Cooling System not only increased sustained performance but also made the battery last longer.

Additionally, the GT 6 comes with a 120W GaN adaptor with SUPERVOOC charging technology that can juice up the phone from zero to 100% in just 26 minutes. Considering that it has a 5,500mAh capacity and not the usual 5,000mAh or lower in most other flagship phones, this is super fast charging already.

For connectivity, you have dual 5G from the 2 nano SIM trays, WiFi 7 support, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, GPS and the infrared blaster we mentioned earlier. SIM configuration is just nano + nano SIM with no options for eSIM. However, realme has ORoaming baked into the system.

ORoaming provides data packages from local carriers while you are traveling worldwide. Purchasing a data package allows you to access the Internet without a SIM card.

In a way, ORoaming can be a good alternative for buying eSIMs if you want to travel abroad. However, that still means you can use any of the eSIMs provided by Globve or Smart in the Philippines, or anywhere else for that matter.

Conclusion

So, we come to the conclusion and the question still remains — is the realme GT 6 really the “flagship killer” as what realme touted it to be? Before we answer that, we’d like to define what a flagship killer is, because this term has been used way too often and too loosely.

For us, it means that the device “performs at par or very close to the levels of a true flagship despite not packing the greatest configuration and packaged at a more affordable price-point that’s below your average flagship device.

In that sense, yes, the realme GT 6 has got what it takes to challenge any of the current flagship smartphones in the market today. The specs are not over-kill or over-done yet it manages to perform at a level that can be considered a true flagship.

The realme GT 6 showed it can perform very well, has a great set of cameras, impressive display and a battery life that trumps every other flagship out there.

What we liked about it:
* Nice build and elegant design
* Impressive display
* Great primary camera
* Top-notch performance
* Very long battery life and super fast charging

What we liked about it:
* A few bloatware
* Not water-proof

realme GT 6 specs:
6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display FHD+ 1.5K resolution @ 2780×1264 pixels, 450ppi
120Hz refresh rate, 1,000 nits (1,600 HBM, 6,000 peak brightness)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
1x Cortex-X4 3.0GHz, 4 Cortex-A720 @ 2.8GHz, 3x Cortex-A520 2.0GHz
Adreno 735 GPU
8GB, 12GB, 16GB LPDDR5X RAM (+12GB Dynamic RAM Expansion)
256GB, 512GB UFS 4.0 internal storage
Triple rear camera system:
• 50MP Sony LYT808 OIS Camera
• 50MP Samsung JNS Telephoto Camera
• 8MP 112° Wide Angle Camera
32MP Sony IMX615 front camera
WiFi-7 support
5G, dual nano SIM
Bluetooth 5.4
NFC
GPS
IR Blaster
realme UI 5 (Android 14)
5,500mAh battery, 120W SUPERVOOC wired charging