Audio player loading…

The Realme GT line excels at offering high-end features for a fraction of the price. These phones do this so well that they’re sometimes contenders for our best Android phones and even best phones lists, so we’re looking forward to the Realme GT 3.

We might not have to wait long either, as this power-packed handset could land in early 2023. Below we’ll look in more detail at the likely release date and the possible price, along with what little we’ve heard about its specs and features.

As soon as we hear more, we’ll add it to this article, but in the meantime you’ll also find a list of the things we most want from the Realme GT 3.

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? The next powerful mid-ranger from Realme
  • When is it out? Probably early 2023
  • How much will it cost? Expect a mid-range price

Realme GT 3: release date and price

We don’t know when the Realme GT 3 will launch but early 2023 looks likely, given that the Realme GT 2 was announced in January 2022, and the original Realme GT landed in March 2021.

Given that most phones launch around a year after their predecessors, our best guess then is January 2023, but sometime in the first few months of the year seems very likely anyway.

We don’t yet know what the Realme GT 3 will cost either, but the Realme GT 2 started at £499 (around $660, AU$885), so a similar price is possible.

But as you’ll gather from the price conversions there, the previous model wasn’t available everywhere, so while the Realme GT 3 – and any siblings like the Realme GT 3 Pro – will probably land in the UK, we’re less sure about other regions.

A Realme GT 2 from the front, held in someone's hand

The Realme GT 3 might have a similar price to the Realme GT 2 (Image credit: TechRadar)

Realme GT 3: news and leaks

There’s not much in the way of Realme GT 3 news yet, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has been announced, and while Realme hasn’t confirmed that it will be using this chipset in upcoming phones, it’s likely to, as the Realme GT 2 Pro used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, a year prior.

So we’d think there’s a high chance that the Realme GT 3 Pro will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, though based on past form, the standard Realme GT 3 might be stuck with an older chipset – perhaps the 8 Gen 1 or 8 Plus Gen 1.

The new Gen 2 is likely to be the most powerful chipset we see in Android phones during at least the first half of 2023, so the Realme GT 3 Pro will be no slouch if it does use this silicon.

What we want to see

As great as the Realme GT 2 is – achieving 4.5 stars in our review – there’s always room for improvement, so with the Realme GT 3 we want to see the following things.

1. Better secondary cameras

The camera block on a Realme GT 2

The Realme GT 2’s cameras need work (Image credit: TechRadar)

The Realme GT 2’s main camera is great, but we found the ultra-wide middling and the macro to be outright bad, so there’s definitely room for improvement here on the Realme GT 3.

We’d like to see real improvements to the ultra-wide camera, and ideally for the macro snapper to either be replaced with a telephoto or just removed altogether, so Realme can focus on delivering two really good cameras.

2. More polished software

While the interface on the Realme GT 2 is generally both clean and customizable, it’s not quite as polished as we’d like, and suffered from a number of bugs during our review.

This lack of attention to detail was disappointing, and while improvements may have been made since launch, we’d like to see a polished, bug-free interface from day one on the Realme GT 3.

3. Improved battery life

The Realme GT 2 doesn’t have terrible battery life but nor is it great, especially when using a 120Hz refresh rate – which you’ll likely want to do if you’ve spent the money on a phone that has this feature.

So we’d like to see improvements there for the Realme GT 3. The good news is that might easily be achievable, because at 4,500mAh, the Realme GT 2’s battery isn’t massive, so there should be space for a bigger one in the next model.

4. Wireless charging

The bottom edge of a Realme GT 2 Pro

There’s no wireless charging on the Realme GT 2 Pro. (Image credit: TechRadar)

While the Realme GT 2 charges at a respectable 65W when plugged in, it doesn’t charge at all wirelessly, which is a shame for a phone that has a number of other high-end specs and features.

This omission is probably one of the ways in which Realme kept the cost down, and the relatively affordable price is one of the GT 2’s main selling points, so we’d like to see that continue. But if it’s at all possible to also add wireless charging to the Realme GT 3, then we’d like that as well.

5. Water resistance

Another likely cost-cutting measure comes in the absence of a water resistance rating on the Realme GT 2, but while this isn’t a super expensive phone, it’s still pricey enough that we’d like to be confident it can survive a splash.

So hopefully the Realme GT 3 will have water resistance, especially as that’s now a fairly common feature in mid-range-and-above phones. It’s certainly a feature that would help the Realme GT 3 stand out from its predecessors and rank among the best Realme phones.

Advantages of local domestic helper.