Adding to the short list of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-powered flagships, Realme has launched the GT 8 Pro, only the second phone after the OnePlus 15 to feature Qualcomm’s most powerful mobile processor yet. It arrives with a 3nm architecture, a dedicated HyperVision+ AI chip, and a 2K 144 Hz HyperGlow display, placing Realme in direct competition with the OnePlus 15 and the Oppo Find X9 Pro. Realme calls this its “best flagship in history,” and this time, the company seems determined to prove it. But powerful specs do not guarantee greatness. The GT 8 Pro must hold its ground against two mature, polished rivals. So the big question is simple: can Realme finally graduate from a performance-first brand to a true flagship contender?
Design
Realme has taken a bold swing with design this year. The GT 8 Pro introduces the world’s first switchable camera bump, a modular island you can swap. It is clever, expressive, and risky. While the OnePlus 15 leans into a refined rectangular housing and the Find X9 Pro embraces a flatter, cleaner look, Realme chooses personality. The Urban Blue variant uses organosilicon leather with photonic nano-carving, creating a matte, paper-like texture. It feels more unique than the OnePlus’s ceramic-grade MAO finish, but also more polarising.
The in-hand feel is balanced, thanks to its dual 2.5D curvature and solid metal frame. Buttons are aligned precisely and the grip is steady, even during long sessions. Despite the massive battery, the weight distribution avoids the top-heavy feel that plagues many large phones. Realme matches the IP68 rating of its rivals, but the OnePlus 15 goes far further with the list of certifications it has. Compared to the Find X9 Pro’s rugged SGS Five-Star build, Realme still sits a step behind on durability, but ahead on creativity.
From the front, however, Realme is finally playing in the big league. The FIAA ultra-thin bezels produce an almost borderless look that rivals the Find X9 Pro’s symmetrical 1.15mm edges. The rounded flat display removes the slippery feel of curved screens, offering a clean, premium front profile. It is a major improvement over last year’s GT 7 Pro, and one of Realme’s most polished front designs yet. But if Realme wants to be taken seriously as a flagship maker, it needs to refine its camera bump idea and reduce the gimmick factor.
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Display
The GT 8 Pro’s display is outright impressive. The 6.79-inch 2K HyperGlow AMOLED panel pushes 144Hz with razor-sharp clarity and rich 10-bit color. Peak brightness hits a staggering 7,000 nits, brighter than the Find X9 Pro’s 3,600 nits and well beyond the OnePlus 15’s 1,800 nits. This is one of the most visible screens outdoors, period.
The 3200 Hz touch response feels instantaneous, and Full DC dimming helps lower eye strain during night use. HDR10+ and Dolby Vision enhance content, while the Circular Polarizer reduces reflections competently. Oppo’s display is more consistent in extreme low-light scenarios with its 1-nit mode and 2160 Hz PWM dimming, but Realme wins the visibility war under the sun. The Ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate, adding to the experience.
For Realme users upgrading from the GT 7 Pro, the jump is dramatic. This is a flagship-class display with real advantages, not just marketing numbers. However, the OnePlus 15 still edges ahead in pure smoothness thanks to its 165 Hz LTPO panel and better adaptive tuning. Where Realme wins in brightness, OnePlus wins in finesse.
OS and AI
Realme UI 7.0 on Android 16 introduces visual improvements and more fluid motion, but it still feels one step behind the polish of OxygenOS 16 and ColorOS 16. The Light Glass Design refreshes icons and menus, while Flux Theme 2.0 brings deeper customisation. Animations are smoother, though not as tight as Oppo’s Luminous Rendering Engine.
The NEXT AI suite adds useful tools like AI Notify Brief for summarised alerts, AI Framing Master for composition help, and AI Gaming Coach for performance insights. These features feel practical, but lighter than the deep contextual intelligence offered by OnePlus’s Plus Mind and Pixel-style data linking. Oppo’s AI Mind Space, paired with the Snap Key, feels more mature and seamlessly integrated.
Realme earns points for cross-ecosystem support. The iPhone and Apple Watch Connect feature is a surprising and welcome addition, offering call sync and health data integration for users who live between platforms. Realme UI 7.0 is a step forward, but next year it needs more cohesion and tighter animations to truly compete with Oppo’s fluidity.
Performance
This is where the Realme GT 8 Pro shows its true strength. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, built on TSMC’s 3nm process, delivers serious muscle. Paired with the HyperVision+ AI chip, the GT 8 Pro’s dual-chip architecture boosts real-time processing and gaming responsiveness. The phone scored 3647 in single-core and 10698 in multi-core on Geekbench, with an AnTuTu score of 3,685,578. These are flagship-grade numbers, going head to head with OnePlus 15. Against the Oppo Find X9 Pro, the difference is clearer. Realme comfortably pulls ahead in raw CPU and GPU performance, thanks to Qualcomm’s brute-force architecture and its own thermal tuning. Oppo’s Dimensity platform is more efficient under sustained loads, but the GT 8 Pro is the phone you pick if you want the highest numbers and the most instant power on tap.
The 12 GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256 GB UFS 4.0 storage variant handled everything effortlessly. Heavy multitasking, 4K video editing and long daily workflows ran without hesitation. The Flux Engine improves touch responsiveness over the GT 7 Pro, making the UI feel snappier and more stable.
Gaming is a highlight. The HyperVision+ AI chip enables AI Super Frame and AI Gaming Super Resolution, producing eSports-level smoothness in titles like BGMI and CODM. The 7K Ultimate VC Cooling System keeps temperatures in control, even when playing for over an hour. Compared to the OnePlus 15’s Cryo-Velocity cooler, Realme sustains its performance better over time, although OnePlus still holds an edge in peak GPU stability. Against the Find X9 Pro, Realme simply pushes higher frames for longer. Oppo wins in thermal consistency, but Realme wins in sheer speed.
Camera
Realme’s collaboration with Ricoh GR is more than marketing. The 50 MP IMX906 main sensor, 200 MP HP5 telephoto and 50 MP ultrawide form a capable system, but what elevates it is the GR-inspired shooting philosophy. The Ricoh GR mode produces cinematic, grounded images with excellent tonal balance, and the GR Film Tone profiles add artistic flexibility without artificial exaggeration. Realme also recreates the two classic GR focal lengths, 28mm and 40mm, giving photographers familiar framing options that immediately feel more intentional than typical smartphone crops.
Realme GT 8 Pro camera sample
| Photo Credit:
Haider Ali Khan
A big contributor to this fast-shooting experience is the Super QPD Snap Algorithm, which pre-focuses the frame almost instantly. It behaves like Ricoh’s signature snap-shooting technique: raise the phone, press the shutter, and the image is captured with barely any delay. Combined with Snap Focus Mode, the GT 8 Pro carries forward that street-photography DNA with surprising competence.
Realme GT 8 Pro camera sample
| Photo Credit:
Haider Ali Khan
Daylight images look natural and crisp. Oppo still leads in dynamic range with its 50 MP Ultra XDR sensor, but Realme produces more realistic tones. Portraits have clean separation and believable skin texture. The OnePlus 15’s DetailMax engine offers more micro-detail, but Realme’s results feel more organic and less processed.
Realme GT 8 Pro camera sample
| Photo Credit:
Haider Ali Khan
The 200 MP telephoto holds detail well at 3x, 6x and even 12x. Oppo remains the king of extreme zoom with its 120x system and massive sensor, but Realme is not far behind. Night mode impresses with accurate highlights, controlled noise, and realistic shadow handling. The 32 MP front camera captures natural selfies without over-smoothing and supports 4K 60fps video, producing clean footage without aggressive beautification.
Realme GT 8 Pro camera sample
| Photo Credit:
Haider Ali Khan
This is Realme’s best camera system yet, expressive, fast and honest delivering a distinct and enjoyable photographic style that finally gives Realme an identity in imaging.
Battery
The 7,000 mAh Titan battery is a major highlight. It improves upon the GT 7 Pro’s 6,500 mAh pack while keeping the form factor manageable. Real-world endurance is solid: a day and a half with heavy use and two days under moderate load. Gaming drains around 12 to 13 percent per hour, which is reasonable given the display brightness.
Charging is fast. The 120W Ultra Charge fills the phone from 0 to 50 percent in 15 minutes and to 100 percent in 43 minutes. The addition of 50W wireless charging is a first for Realme. Compared to rivals, the GT 8 Pro sits between the OnePlus 15’s 7,300 mAh battery and the Find X9 Pro’s class-leading 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon pack. But Realme charges faster than both. Thermal control during charging is excellent.
Verdict
The Realme GT 8 Pro is the brand’s most confident flagship yet. It mixes bold design with serious hardware, a stunningly bright display and a camera system that finally feels distinctive. It does not outperform the OnePlus 15 in refinement or the Find X9 Pro in computational depth, but it does something more interesting. It gives Realme an identity.
The switchable camera bump is ambitious, though divisive, and the software still needs polish. But the GT 8 Pro proves Realme can build a flagship that stands shoulder to shoulder with the big players. With a starting price of ₹72,999, the phone offers character, power and creativity and earns its place in the 2025 flagship conversation.