Realme GT 7 Pro Review: A Fantastic Device With Only a Few Misses!

Realme’s return to the premium smartphone space in India has captured the attention of tech enthusiasts, especially as it also launched the next-gen Snapdragon Elite processor in the country. On paper, the Realme GT 7 Pro promises top-tier performance, a stunning display, and a massive battery. But as you dig deeper and take a closer look, especially at the camera, the UI, and real-world performance of the "big" battery, it becomes clear this device may be more about raw horsepower than a truly cohesive premium experience. Let us explain. This is our Realme GT 7 Pro review.

Also, with iQOO 13 and OnePlus 13 also available now, and Galaxy S24 coming up, should you grab the Realme's SD 8 Elite phone right now?

Key Specs of Realme GT 7 Pro:

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor
• 12GB/16GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 256GB/512GB UFS 4.0 storage
• Android 15 with Realme UI 6.0
• 6.78-inch AMOLED, 120Hz, Gorilla Glass 7i
• 5,800mAh battery, 120W charging
• IP68 and IP69 rating
• Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner

Yes, Realme GT 7 Pro is a powerhouse. It's faster than anything released in till Q3 2024 in the smartphone world, and features a capable camera too (from my own one-month use!). Which really bags the question, what's the not so impressive stuff in the Realme GT 7 Pro that you should know if you are looking to buy the GT 7 Pro. If you are wondering where Realme has cut the corners with GT 7 Pro, then let us tell you what our one-month's use tells us. Hint: It's great, almost perfect, but watch out for software experience (especially if you prefer stock UI) and battery (we are having an issue with it we didn't anticipate). Here's our Realme GT 7 Pro review!

Realme GT 7 Pro review: Pros, Cons and Verdict

Pros

• Great hardware (Snapdragon 8 Elite, UFS 4.0 storage, IP 69, big battery)
• Cameras too are surprisingly impressive
• Orange color is awesome!
• As future proof as you want (improvements over SD 8 Elite and IP69 could be minimal)
• Impressive gaming performance

Cons

• Thermals are good but not impressive
• Software support is good but shorter than rivals
• Realme UI fails to impress
• Battery life is not very impressive

Verdict:

Realme GT 7 Pro offer very impressive hardware in really striking color options for Rs 60,000 – and that too, without compromising much. If you are into buying a new phone that's as much future-proof as possible and looks eye-catching, GT 7 Pro is that device. We won't call the cameras to be all-time greats, but the practical thing is, in our one-month use, we have come to loved them – I even used GT 7 Pro's camera mostly even with Pixel 8 Pro in my pocket. That says a lot about its camera.

Yes, Realme UI 6.0 is not to my liking, because I love stock UI (that you get in Pixel and Motorola phones), but if Realme's custom skin is fine with you, then no issues there. You get a ton of useful features with Realme UI, for what's it worth. You also get a ton of AI features that do the job well, but they are poorer compared to AI in Pixel devices. Realme UI 6.0 does get you Circle to Search, which was Pixel exclusive earlier.

Our GT 7 Pro's battery is kind-of malfunctioning, so we have some worries there, but we hope that's a one-off case and that in general, the battery quality and life remains good for GT 7 Pro users.

If you ask us, we would recommend the GT 7 Pro, if you can bear with the Realme UI custom skin. Rest all is just perfect(ish)!

Needless to say, at Rs 59,000 right now (January 10, 2025), where the Realme GT 7 Pro undercuts the OnePlus by good Rs 11,000 and while it costs a bit more than iQOO 13 (priced Rs 52,000), the Gt 7 Pro gets you a strikingly cool color-option and a bit better camera (though, iQOO 13 offers slightly better display, battery, updates promise, and is thinner). If you ask us, we would have you pick up GT 7 Pro over OnePlus 13 and iQOO 13 thanks to its reasonable price, better color options, and loveable camera performance.

Overall review score: 8.5/10

Realme GT 7 Pro review: Design & build

Key specs: Design & build:

• Dimensions: 162.45mm x 76.89mm x 8.55mm
• Weight: 223 grams
• IP68 and IP69 rating
• Mars Orange and Galaxy Grey colorways
• IR blaster

Our review unit was purchased from Realme's online shop and it delivered really fast (just the next day even in a smaller city in Rajasthan). We got the Mars Orange colorway, and while I like the orange color with wave patterns on the back of the phone, I totally adore the deep-orange, almost-brown undertone on the aluminum side frame. It's a killer, really! Check out the pics below for visual aid.

Got it! Here's the revised version, including the additional details:

The wavy pattern on the orange GT 7 Pro is subtle, decent, and doesn’t scream for attention—but when you notice it, it’s not distracting either. Personally, I’d have gone with something other than waves. The Galaxy Grey version skips the patterns entirely, which is a win in my book—no “galactic” inspiration here. It’s sleek and professional, perfect if you’re after a no-nonsense vibe. Meanwhile, the orange? Bold and eye-catching, making it a fantastic pick for the fashion-forward crowd. It feels great in hand, too, striking just the right balance between boldness and comfort.

Sadly, the free black case Realme throws in kills the orange’s impact. I switched to a simple transparent case (Rs 206, a steal!)—no bulky edges, just clean, minimal protection that lets the orange shine.

The GT 7 Pro makes a statement the moment you pick it up. At 162.45mm x 76.89mm x 8.55mm and 220g, it’s big and solid—a real powerhouse thanks to its 5,800 mAh battery. Sure, it’s hefty, but that weight adds a reassuring sturdiness. If you’re into large phones with long-lasting batteries, this one’s for you.

Button placement is practical, with the power button below the volume rocker on the right (like the Galaxy S24). Both are satisfying to press with a solid click. That said, I’d have preferred the power button above the vol5ume rocker, like on the Pixel 8 or 9. This setup makes it easier to control the volume, whether you’re sitting and using the phone in portrait mode or lying down watching content in landscape. On the GT 7 Pro, the volume rocker sits a bit too high, making it harder to reach in both scenarios. The left side of the phone is clean, while the bottom houses the SIM tray (dual SIM support), main speaker, and a Type-C USB 2.0 port. USB 3.0 would’ve been nice for faster data transfer, but hey, we can’t have it all!

That said, admittedly, taking screenshots is a bit easier on Realme GT 7 Pro as you have the volume down and power buttons next to each other and thus pressing them together is very easy. Though, even easier is not using the buttons at all for taking screenshots as you have a dedicated button for it under Smart Sidebar. more on this below under the "Software" section.

The IP69 rating is a standout feature that's rare on smartphones right now – it lets the phone stand out in 2 meters of depth for 30 minutes. You have to take care that the device temperature and water temperature do not differ by 5 degrees. Yes, how can a user do that, though?

Anyway, it will allow you to take underwater photos, also made easy by the presence of ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. But you can use the camera buttons also by configuring them in camera settings.

Yet, design quirks exist. The IR blaster isn’t on the top frame but integrated into the camera module—unusual, but not a deal-breaker. It makes using the phone as a remote awkward and you have to hold the phone like when holding it to use the camera for example. With no wireless charging and a USB Type-C 2.0 port (on a flagship, no less!), you start wondering if Realme cut corners where it shouldn’t have.

Design score: 9/10

Realme GT 7 Pro review: Display

Key Specs:

• 6.78-inch AMOLED (2780 x 1264 pixels)
• 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling
• LTPO 8T technology
• Gorilla Glass 7i protection
• Up to 2000 nits brightness (6500 nits in limited scenarios)
• Dolby Vision, HDR10+ support, PWM dimming at 2600Hz

The 6.78-inch AMOLED panel is one of GT 7 Pro's best features. Co-developed with Samsung, this micro quad-curved display (they do feel good to be honest!) boasts 2,780 x 1,264 pixels, a 120Hz refresh rate, and LTPO 8T technology. Gorilla Glass 7i shall provide good protection we believe and using the GT 7 Pro outdoors doesn't pose any problem as it can hit 2,000 nits in regular usage – if enabled in settings, you can crank it up to 6,500 nits for some time, but it will drain battery significantly, Realme warns.

The color production of the GT 7 Pro's display is excellent. It's very rich, amply lit up and coupled with nice bass form the speakers, makes watching video content extremely satisfying for the device that costs only 55K approx. (with launch offers). The big size of the display coupled with great quality makes it a great experience.

Now, why did I use (just) the adjective "amply" for brightness? Well, that's because it not a very bright display. Yes, I know Realme says it can light up to 2,000 nits and even 6,500 nits manually, but it doesn't seem to be delivering that in real-world. Let me explain.

For comparison, I took two devices, the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 8 Pro, costing Rs 45,000 and Rs 70,000 respectively, as of January 08, 2025. This provides a good range, as 7 Pro is about 10K less and 8 Pro is about 15K more than what GT 7 Pro costs right now (January 01, 2025). FYI, while GT 7 Pro boasts of 2,000 nits brightness at peak automatically, Google's Pixel 8 Pro and 7 Pro offer 1,500 and 2,400 nits respectively (1,000 and 1,600 nits respectively on HDR). Now, let's compare them.

I tested the above by playing the movie "Big Hero 6" on Disney Hotstar. I even tested the GT 7 Pro with video booster enabled and disabled, but it did not make any impact at all on the movie – perhaps it doesn't support Disney Hotstar at the moment (January 08, 2025).

Also, we conducted the test in a room filled with some daylight, so, I think this won't be an issue when you watch something in a dark or dimly lit environment.

That said, and to lay down all your worries aside for video consumption, we further tested the GT 7 Pro for Netflix (by playing a The Big Bang Theory episode) and we observed the color production improved significantly. Even with direct comparison with the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 8 Pro, the GT 7 Pro holds up well in Netflix.

When I compared the GT 7 Pro with Pixel devices using everyday apps like Gmail and Maps, I noticed that the display on the GT 7 Pro felt slightly muted in terms of color reproduction. The Pixel devices offered noticeably better color vibrancy, while the GT 7 Pro had a subtle blue undertone that dimmed the overall brightness. However, I should emphasize that this is a minor observation I only noticed after directly comparing the two. Despite this, I remain quite satisfied with the GT 7 Pro, as the slightly subdued tone didn’t bother me at all when I first started using it.

Enabling the "Adaptive tone" added a pink-ish tone on the white background in the Gmail app and it didn't look good compared to Pixel sets.

So, compared to the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 8 Pro, the GT 7 Pro produces much less light, even though the color production is deep and rich, or let's say a bit saturated – admittedly, we are considering the Pixel 8 Pro's screen to be truest display. This is a small problem in daylight conditions and should not pose even an iota of worry in dark or dimply lit environment.

That light saturation on GT 7 Pro is a tad more satisfying to me personally than the color production on Google's devices. But you can see it's a bit too dim, and that may not sit well with some. Not only the video, the overall brightness on GT 7 Pro in real-world looked less to me, but let's stick to this comparison for now. See the video below to check it out yourself. See the two videos above where we compared the GT 7 Pro with Google Pixel 8 Pro and Google Pixel 7 Pro respectively.

It's fair to say GT 7 Pro delivers excellently on the display part and you can expect yourself to totally enjoy its screen. It can produce excellent colors, and even though we found it to be just a bit dim in some areas, it shall keep you happy for the most part.

You have a lot of AI features and options under display settings but even at its default settings and all, it's excellent. For the starters, you get usual color modes like Natural, Pro and Vivid, but you also also have features like Adaptive tone, Image sharpener and Video colour boost (I used this above, if you are wondering) to further customize the display for content viewing.

Setting the brightness to very dim is also easy on the GT 7 Pro. This is particular helpful when you watch content in dark environment (like in bed, before sleeping) and thus need the dimmest possible display.

For this, under the "Display & brightness" settings, set the "Lowest allowed brightness" to its lowest. That the Realme developers including brightness in the display settings' moniker shows they care about proper brightness a lot. The brightness management on Realme is very good, perfect if you want – better than Pixel devices which usually rank higher on software side of things.

Yes, the software on Pixel devices is far better, like leaps ahead of what you get on Realme, but for brightness settings, Realme wins!

You get Dolby Vision support, HDR10+ playback, and a flicker-free experience at 2,600Hz PWM dimming, crucial for those sensitive to low-light flicker.

The ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is fast and works even with wet fingers. However, I did have trouble unlocking the phone a few times with wet fingers and thus I wouldn't call it very reliable in that area.

Overall, the display is excellent and you can't complain about it, given pretty solid and it doesn't disappoint at all but it does have its drawbacks: mainly, a but dim when playing video content lacks the do not put it side by side to

Display verdict

In a summary, I have come to love the GT 7 Pro's display. It's a bit saturated, yes, but I am loving the little tweaking it applies. The fingerprint scanner works great for the most time, watching videos and surfing the web or Instagram feed is also great. On Netflix, with HDR10+ content, the little issue with brightness is also absent and the variety of options to tweak the display to your liking are also good. Unless you want realistic display only that Google's Pixel device offer, or really the best quality ones that only Samsung offers with their Galaxy S series (called Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X for the Galaxy S24 series), you will be satisfied with the GT 7 Pro's display.

Display score: 9.0/10

Realme GT 7 Pro review: Cameras

Key Specs:

• Primary: 50MP, f/1.8, OIS
  • 4K60fps, 8K24fps video recording (primary)
• Telephoto: 50MP, f/2.65, OIS (3X optical)
• Ultrawide: 8MP, f/2.2
• Selfie: 16MP, f/2.45
  • 1080p, 30.60fps video recording
• AI Unblur, AI Eraser, and other AI features

The camera setup reads well on paper: a 50MP primary (f/1.8, OIS), a 50MP telephoto (f/2.65, OIS, 3X optical zoom), and an 8MP ultrawide. A 16MP selfie camera rounds things out. But the execution is mixed at best.

In daylight, the primary camera delivers vibrant colors, deep contrast, and decent dynamic range. However, HDR processing can go overboard at times. Skin tones vary wildly—one shot looks accurate, the next too warm or too red. Portrait mode struggles with edge detection and bokeh, often looking artificial.

But frankly speaking, we are loving pics from GT 7 Pro more than what we got o Pixel 8 Pro (yes, more lifelike but not that pleasing compared to GT 7 Pro). I am a huge fan of Pixel's camera and realistic photography, but I and my family/friends often appreciated pics from GT 7 Pro over that from Pixel 8 Pro.

I even compared the Realme GT 7 Pro's camera with iQOO 13, and preferred the GT 7 Pro. First, for the better saturation (processing by Realme looked better to me), and second, zoom options available in video recording. Speaking of which, I love the telephoto camera on GT 7 Pro that produces great 3x and 6x zoom quality in both photos and videos in daylight (yes, it struggled in low light and night time conditions).

GT 7 Pro's ability to switch between 1x, 2x, 3x and 6x in video recording makes the whole process seamless and allow you to capture details and focus on subject as you want with great ease.

Low-light performance is a bit disappointing. Aggressive noise reduction flattens textures, and detail falls apart. The ultrawide is the weakest link, offering soft, low-detail images. The telephoto lens does a decent job at 3X and even at 6X, but it’s nothing to write home about in challenging lighting.

More camera samples below:

Video quality is not among the best but it's not the worse. 4K30FPS footage looks soft due to heavy noise reduction, though stabilization is decent. 4K60FPS is smoother and more detailed in daylight, but suffers at night.

The ultrawide camera can’t record 4K video, limiting its versatility on a so-called flagship. This camera system falls short of the competition—if top-notch photography is your priority, consider the OnePlus 12, OnePlus 13, or even upcoming rivals from iQOO.

Front camera is also good, but the lack of 4K video recording via the selfie shorter sensor is a big miss. We loved the photos in general but don't expect it to be one of the best.

Realme GT 7 Pro camera verdict

After using the GT 7 Pro camera's for a month now, and having used both Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro – the phones I am a big fan of – a lot in the last one year, I can confirm I have loved the camera on GT 7 Pro a lot!

Its mild saturation makes pics and videos more Instagram-friendly, without a doubt, and ability to zoom in on pics using 6x (virtual 2x on the telephoto lens that offers 3x zoom) is incredibly satisfying.

Yes, the low-light and night photos are not that great, like the Pixel 8 Pro for example, but they are satisfying. If you take a lot of night time photos, then you may need to think twice before committing to GT 7 Pro.

Camera score: 8.0/10

Realme GT 7 Pro review: Software & AI Features

Key Specs:

• Android 15 with Realme UI 6.0
• 3 years of OS updates, 4 years of security patches
• AI Unblur, AI Eraser, Sketch-to-Image tool
• Live Alerts (dynamic island-like feature)

The GT 7 Pro runs Realme UI 6.0 custom skin atop Android 15. While Realme promises three years of OS updates and four years of security patches, it feels a tad stingy for a flagship—especially since the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset itself supports up to eight years of updates. Compared to competitors offering four or five years of software support, Realme’s promise feels short. Who knows, maybe Realme decides to provide more updates for the GT 7 Pro like Google did for Pixel 6 and 7 sets.

Speaking of Realme UI 6.0, well, to be very blunt about it because I have my reasons, I do not like it. I prefer stock Android and Realme's custom skin is an exact opposite of it.

Realme UI 6.0 tries to mimic iOS, which is great if you want that. Else, it can get unbearable. I didn't like it at all. I find it okay if small wannabe phones on a budget try to give you iOS-like experience, but it doesn't look very good on a premium phone like GT 7 Pro. Users can actually grab iOS at this price by buying an iPhone 14/15/16. But that's me, as even Samsung doesn't think that way in 2024 (more on this below).

Inspired from iOS, Realme's UI mutes down the app icon colors in the notification drawer, grey out everything, has iOS like buttons for quick settings, minimizes the YouTube now-playing notification to quick settings only too (no persistent notification for it), and mimics the iPhone in every way it can in the notification drawer. You get iOS like separate screens for notification drawer and quick settings by default, but you can change to single screen with quick settings as top and notifications underneath in Settings.

I have found many instances where the Realme's custom skin let me down so heavily that I wanted to shift to a Pixel device right away. Sadly, my disappointment is not confined only to how it looks, rather how it functions too. How the Realme Ui 6.0 handles the whole notifications system (poor management, app icons losing their colors, etc.) Always-on-Display, and other small stuff here and there, is completely not to my liking. When I reviewed the Lava Agni 3 recently, I was overjoyed by how great it was to use as Lava stuck to stock Android and focused on adding utility features on top of that only.

Oh, Realme also has Dynamic Island like feature called Live Alerts, where some services show you the content in the form of a pill around the camera. Sadly, only a handful of apps can use this and we don't expect many apps to provide support for it, either. Samsung's also incorporating a similar feature in One UI 7.0 and their implementation is much better as they are using this

The iOS-like vertical bars for brightness and volume did cause some issue to me initially as I had a habit of swiping down two times access more quick setting tiles, but it stopped happening after a week or so, except a few times even now.

For what it's worth, the Realme UI 6.0 has a fan in Samsung's big upcoming update, One UI 7.0, as the latter too is heavily inspired by iOS (yeah, it's sad for this Android fanatics to see how Samsung is (mis)behaving the last 12 months or so!).

But, back to GT 7 Pro, the Realme UI 6.0 gets you a ton of useful features too, which is really, really, great! You can get easily (and happily) overwhelmed by the truckload of settings and features at your disposal, but I am sure it's not a bad thing at all.

Most of the features are tucked away in settings and won't bother you at all. You can visit them in Settings and enable what you like manually and have fun with them. I loved this about Realme 6.0. There are many, many very useful features, mostly AI-based too, and they make using the fun a lot easier – even though gaps/changes from stock Android continue to bother you. Realme 6.0 on GT 7 Pro even has Circle to Search, something which only limited handsets have had thus far.

Realme UI 6.0 even lets you access Google's Assistant in more than a single way – you can swipe up from bottom corners of the screen to launch it (but enable it in Settings first) or, press and hold on the Power button. Mind you, you can't launch the camera app by double-pressing on the Power button, something I have been used to doing with all Android devices I have had in the past from different OEMs, but thankfully, the camera settings let you enable the Volume up key double-press for that.

In this range (Rs 60K), where you can buy a Pixel and iPhone, sticking to Realme and its wannabe software, making do with Pixel-like features and iOS-like UI feels, it all feels a bit odd. Personally, I feel that the whole software-mimic thing is fine for budget devices (Realme or not) but in t he lower-premium segment, it doesn't make much sense. Unless, of course, all you care about is processor (read: Snapdragon 8 Elite), which Realme GT 7 Pro gets you the best (kind-of).

Realme installs a ton of its own apps and some of other 3rd party apps. So, if you hate bloatware on your phone, the GT 7 Pro might upset you. If you love the minimal software and all, you won't find that in Realme GT 7 Pro.

There's a ton of AI features and software settings that I really loved playing with. So, in spite of the otherwise unlikeable UI, I do admire it for the advanced features and AI stuff it got me.

AI-driven tools in the Photos app like AI Unblur, AI Ultra Clarity, AI Eraser, AI Studio, and Sketch-to-Image are always great to use. AI Eraser, AI Ultra Clarity, and AI unblur are not the best, you will find them better in Pixel 7 and 8, who also have the ability to further resize the objects. AI Studio is limited to 10 run per day, but that's enough for you to have fun with it and create some entertaining studio shots using AI of you, family and friends.

GT 7 Pro also features an extremely useful and super-quick-to-access feature called Smart Sidebar – it's a small panel with useful – even contextual – shortcuts to apps and features. You can use the Smart Sidebar to quickly grab a screenshot, start a screen recording, use contextual AI features, launch favorite apps, and even use the "All" shortcut to search and quickly launch apps and tools from anywhere (no need to go to home screen to open an app).

If your screen is showing text, this panel lets you directly access features like "AI Speak" and "AI Summary". The whole "Smart Sidebar" thing is very nifty! Oh, did I tell you it also helps you launch an app in split screen by simply dragging its icon?

Software verdict

You get a ton of latest and greatest features, including AI stuff (useful or not), but the experience is not great if you love stock Android or minimal software designs. While we're not a fan of iOS-like UI in premium smartphones that GT 7 Pro is, we understand many of you may appreciate iOS looks – in that department, Realme implementation looks better than that of iQOO in iQOO 13. Because GT 7 Pro is priced between Pixel 7 Pro and 8 Pro's price, we can't help but compare the software available on those two devices, and that's where is feels a bit underwhelming – not is what it offers, but how it offers and works!

Software score: 7.0/10

Realme GT 7 Pro review: Performance

Key Specs:

• Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
• 12GB/16GB LPDDR5X RAM
• UFS 4.0 storage
• CPU stability ~75%, GPU stability ~71.1% in stress tests
• Frame+ Tech for 120fps interpolation in select games

Here’s where the Realme GT 7 Pro truly flexes its muscles. Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, it pairs up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM with UFS 4.0 storage. All these numbers are kind-of the best Android can offer you at the moment (January 08, 2025).

Realme GT 7 Pro benchmarks are stellar! On AnTuTu, we got a score of remarkable 2.78 million. Yes, iQOO 13 gets you similar numbers and soon, you will OnePlus 13 and Samsung Galaxy S25 offer this level of performance.

Gaming is a blast, too! Titles like Genshin Impact and BGMI run near 60fps consistently. Realme’s Frame+ interpolation tech can simulate 120fps gaming on certain titles, and some enthusiasts have even managed to emulate PC games like Cyberpunk 2077. The phone’s thermal management has improved significantly, maintaining a CPU stability score of about 75% and managing GPU stability around 71.1% in stress tests. Temperatures peak around 42°C—a decent figure for a phone pushing this kind of performance.

So, the raw numbers are great, but about real-world performance. Well, it's equally impressive in day-to-day usage, too. The device is very snappy – it performs the tasks super quickly. You do feel the power of Snapdragon 8 Elite in real work usage too. But that doesn't mean it's on another level compared to other devices – like you get equally snappy performance from Pixel 8 Pro too, and even the Pixel 7 Pro.

Animations, gestures all work great. We did not see GT 7 Pro lag or stutter at all, even in our 3 weeks of usage. And that's with heavy burden on the device – with over 350 apps installed, countless running in background (because of my work as a tech blogger), where normal devices do start to panic (looking at you Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 and Motorola Edge 50 Neo, and other devices in under Rs 25K range, where we found only Lava Agni 3 to do well).

What's more? People are hoping you will soon be able to run PC games – mostly old – on your Snapdragon 8 Elite processor powered phones.

Performance verdict:

Well, thanks to Snapdragon 8 Elite's presence, the performance in Realme GT 7 Pro is never an issue, should not be so in the next 3-4 years. The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset is a big leap over previous generation processor and I think such leap is unexpected in the next 3-4 years. From gaming to daily use, the phone delivers terrifically. Full marks here!

Performance score: 10/10

Realme GT 7 Pro review: Battery & Charging

Key Specs:

• Battery: 6,500mAh (China) / 5,800mAh (India)
• 120W SuperVOOC fast charging (0-100% ~37-40 mins)
• 6-7 hours SOT (mixed use), up to 8.5 hours light use
• No wireless charging

This is where regional inconsistencies arise. The Chinese variant ships with a 6,500mAh battery, while the Indian variant gets a reduced 5,800mAh unit. We have bought out GT 7 Pro unit from Realme's online store, so got to test the 5,800 mAh battery unlike many earlier reviewers who tested the Chinese version with larger battery. So, here's the review of the Indian version's 5,800 mAh battery.

Well, it's great, we were loving it, until we didn't – which happened battery started giving us some issues.

While the battery is large, lasts well, kind-of a 2-day battery life giver, and charges pretty quickly too, but it degraded surprisingly quickly for us and now would often empty itself from 30% to 0% in a minute.

One day, specifically on January 3rd, I started to use the phone at 30% battery and in a minute itself, it reached 6% (see the first screenshot below) and then within seconds, it dropped to 3%, then 2% and then 1% when the phone automatically switched to the Super power saving mode. See screenshots below.

I often found the GT 7 Pro to go from 30-40% to 0% in night. In the last one week, it has happened to me multiple times that I woke to see the deice powered off as it ran out of battery – when I had more than 30% battery left when I put it aside when going to sleep. So, this was a shocker. Because, it's a great battery that can really deliver two days of use for average users.

I suspect it's a battery calibration issue. When I encountered the issues above, I left it one day to to charge for several hours extra even after it reached 100% and then I saw two things. One, in my use it remained at 100% for like 3-4 hours as far as I remember, and two, the battery Guru app showed that it charged to 130%. But even with this, the battery reduced from around 30-40% to zero at night and I woke with a switched off phone.

The Battery Guru app currently (January 08, 2025) shows the battery health to be "bad" at 1964 mAh out of its capacity of 5,800 mAh. When first signs of battery degradation appeared, I had installed the battery Guru for the first time in my life and found the battery health to be at around 50% I remember. It degraded from 50% approx. to 34% right now (January 08, 2025) in just a week or so.

If the battery works alright for you, then it really is an amazing one. It charges super quickly, so much that I am still not facing any big issues with battery life even at 34% battery health. It lasts me throughout the day easily. And I take care to recharge it for 20-30 mins two times a day, right after waking up and before sleeping. I do not need to use Battery Saver mode either. And I am using the phone heavily, but no gaming.

Before we encountered the issues, we experienced really good battery life with GT 7 Pro. We would often find the battery to be at 40 to 50% after a day's use.

With the included 120W SuperVOOC fast charger, the phone can go from 0–100% in about 37–40 minutes. That’s mind-blowing. Realme also claims the battery will retain 80% capacity after four years of use. Sadly, it didn't last us 4 weeks even! Unfortunately, wireless charging is missing, which is a shame at this price point. But given the larger battery size, super quick charging, and other specs, we are not complaining about the lack of wireless charging. You really don't need to charge this battery a lot, anyway.

Realme GT 7 Pro battery verdict

Well, the new-generation silicon-carbon 5,800 mAh battery on the Indian GT 7 Pro fares pretty well by delivering excellent battery life and superfast charging – until it started degrading for us. It may not happen to everyone, and for them, the battery is as awesome as it can get. When it was working fine for us, it really made us forget all phone charging worries you have usually with phones. But we suspect the issue we faced could hit other Indian users too because Realme made some last-minute changes in replacing the 6,500 mAh battery in their default Chinese units to smaller one for Indian units, and in doing so, maybe they did do something wrong. Thus, a lower score for battery performance.

Battery score: 6.0/10

Note: We are giving a low score of 4.0 to the GT 7 Pro's battery because it has degraded for us just in a month. If that hadn't happened, we would have given it a solid 9.0/10, one point deducted only for the lack of wireless charging.

Realme GT 7 Pro review: Additional Observations: Connectivity, Audio, and Haptics

Key Specs:

• Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 7, NFC
• Stereo speakers
• Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor
• Corning Gorilla Glass 7i
• Haptics less refined than competitors

The GT 7 Pro supports Wi-Fi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, and multiple 5G bands. Stereo speakers are present, but the sound quality is only average (on flagship level), and haptics—though good—don’t reach the standard set by certain competitors like the OnePlus 12. iQOO 13 and Pixel 8 have better haptics.

Haptic feedback feels a notch below the best in class, and Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, while robust, isn’t the absolute toughest solution out there. Considering these details, “premium” feels like a label the GT 7 Pro doesn’t fully earn across the board.

Wrap-up

As given in the verdict, Realme GT 7 Pro is an impressive device that's known of great hardware – but whose camera performance is likeable too. You get a superb gaming device that's delivers superbly on performance, great battery (unless yours run into issues like ours), great cameras, superb color options, great thermals (doesn't heat easily), and some more, but only the software is something that we did not like. So, if you have a thing for stock UI, then skip this device.

Also, we would recommend you to wait a bit and let us recalibrate our battery to confirm if that fixes the battery issues we faced. We will update this review those findings. Furthermore, let more users reviews appear on Amazon.in to confirm the battery performance from more users before deciding to buy the GT 7 Pro.

That's all from us. We will update this review with more camera samples later on. Do let us know if you need more low light and night time camera captures. Also, we would try to recalibrate the battery and see if its fixes itself out. Else, a call to Realme's support and inform them of the issue we got here, and let's see what's their reaction.

Do let us know what do you think of the Realme GT 7 Pro.