Realme Debuts Fast Charging Smart Phone

Phone batteries may have peaked. We’ve been hovering around the 5,000mAh mark in Android phones for years, and there’s no magical technology on the horizon to increase that. High charging speeds are almost as good, and that’s increasing by leaps and bounds with devices like the new OnePlus 11. The latest device from Chinese smartphone maker Realme leaves everyone else in the dust. The new Realme GT Neo 5 supports incredible 240W fast charging, making it the fastest-charging phone in the world.
The GT Neo 5 has a 4,600mAh battery, which the company claims can go from zero to 100 in just nine and a half minutes. If you don’t even have that long, a moment on the charger will ensure your phone has all the juice it needs before you head out the door. GSMArena reports it can charge to 80% in just 80 seconds and 50% in four minutes. You could plug in your totally dead phone while you put on your shoes and have enough charge to last the better part of a day.
Realme is a subsidiary of BBK Electronics, the Chinese megacorportation that also owns Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus. Oppo showed off a 240W charger in 2022, and we assume this device uses the same technology. Realme says the 240W charger takes advantage of the latest USB power specification, which was updated in 2021 to add support for charging at 240W. It has yet to appear in any Oppo or OnePlus phone, but that might be on the way.
The Realme GT Neo 5 has only been announced for China, and it’s unlikely it will make it to many international markets. Realme doesn’t operate in the US at all, and even if it did release the GT Neo 5, it wouldn’t charge as fast. China uses 220v electricity, but many other markets, like the US, have 110v. That makes it harder to reach extremely high charging wattages. For example, the OnePlus 11 charges at 80W stateside but 100W in China.

Aside from the charging, there’s not much that sets the GT Neo 5 apart from other high-end Chinese Android phones. It has last year’s Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, a 6.74-inch 1240p OLED with 144Hz refresh, and an underwhelming triple-camera array with a 50MP main, 8MP ultrawide, and 2MP macro. It also has some LED lighting on the back that can act as a notification alert.
For those in China, the Realme GT Neo 5 starts at 2,599 yuan ($380-ish), but that version only supports 150W charging. To get the world’s fastest charging, you’ll have to spend 3,199 yuan (about $470) on the 240W version. The more expensive SKU doubles the RAM from 8 to 16GB, but the cheaper one actually has a slightly larger 5,000mAh battery.
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