Realme GT3 debuts at MWC 2023 with 240W battery charging speed

After Xiaomi and Honor, another Chinese smartphone vendor took the stage at MWC 2023 to unveil the international version of one of its newest phones. The Realme GT3 is the world’s first phone to support 240W battery charging speed, a handset the company has already released in its home market. The flagship is ready to hit international markets following the launch in Barcelona. But unfortunately, the US isn’t one of the markets that will get the handset.

Fast battery charging is Realme’s top marketing priority because the GT3 is the only phone in the world to offer such charging speeds. The company says no other smartphone will top the GT3 in the coming years, mainly because 240W is the maximum charging speed possible via USB-C. It should be noted, however, that other vendors are rumored to be looking at 300W charging speeds.

The Realme GT3 needs only 80 seconds to reach a 20% capacity at 240W charging. The handset features a 4,600 mAh battery, a typical size for current Android handsets.

The phone needs just 9 minutes and 30 seconds to reach 100% using that maximum charging speed.

Also, the Realme GT 3 needs a custom 12A charging cable to reach that charging speed. The phone’s charger is a 240W dual GaN brick that’s about the same size as a 150W adaptor.

Realme also highlighted other features built into the GT3 to ensure the safety of users and maintain battery longevity. The phone can go through 1,600 charging cycles at 240W before the battery health drops to 80%. That’s more than four years if you charge once a day, and Realme says it’s double the current industry standard.

The handset features a 6580 square-mm liquid cooling system that covers 61.5% of the battery to help with heat dissipation. Moreover, Realme built into the GT3 13 temperature sensors and 60 layers of protection. The phone has a PS3 fireproof design, and the company says the GT3 is the first to have received a TÜV Rheinland fast-charging safety certification.

Regarding specs, the Realme GT3 is a flagship that matches the Android standards for late 2022. That means a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor instead of the newest Gen 2 model. The handset also rocks UFS 3.1 storage, starting at 128GB and going up to 1TB. Expect either 8GB or 12GB of RAM to go with that.

The rear camera setup delivers three lenses, a 50-megapixel wide, 8-megapixel ultra-wide, and 2-megapixel microscope camera. On the front, there’s a 16-megapixel selfie camera.

Realme GT3’s back also rocks a translucent window next to the camera module. In it, you’ll find an NFC chipset and the “Pulse Interface System,” which has a C-shaped RGB lightning ring.

The ring will show different colors depending on various factors. For example, when the battery drops below 20%, it’ll show a “breathing” red light. The color changes to pulsating purple as the phone recharges between 21% and 100%. It’ll then become static purple when charging is finished.

The lighting system will flash during incoming calls and show a white color for notifications. The ring will change colors while taking photos with a countdown, moving from blue to white and orange.

Finally, Realme GT3 owners can customize the lighting effect on the back from the phone’s settings.

Buyers who can’t wait to get their hands on the Realme GT3 will have to pay at least $649 for the 8GB/128GB variant. However, the handset vendor hasn’t specified a launch date for the phone in international markets.