Realme 8 5G: Malaysia’s most affordable 5G smartphone?

If you’re looking for a budget smartphone that supports 5G, the Realme 8 5G will be introduced in Malaysia next week. On the surface, this looks like a direct competitor to the Poco M3 Pro 5G and it’s expected to be priced under RM1,000.

The Realme 8 5G Malaysian launch is happening on the 27th May 2021 at 12pm. You can watch the virtual launch event on the official Realme Malaysia Facebook page.

The Realme 8 5G is already launched in India with a retail price of INR13,999 (about RM792). The spec-sheet is almost identical to the new Poco M3 Pro 5G. It features a 6.5″ Full HD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate and it runs on a 7nm MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G processor. In India, the device is configured with 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage which is expandable via microSD.

In terms of cameras, it gets a triple-camera setup with a 48MP main shooter and two 2MP shooters for macro and depth effects. Upfront, the punch-hole on the top-left corner houses a 16MP selfie shooter. Powering the device is a 5,000mAh battery which supports 18W fast charging via USB-C.

Unlike the Poco M3 Pro 5G, the Realme 8 5G appears to be lacking NFC and an infrared blaster. It supports 5GHz WiFi, Bluetooth 5.1 and it also comes with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. Out of the box, it runs on Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0 skin on top.

According to Realme, this is the lightest 5G phone in the segment at 185g and it has a thickness of 8.5mm. The Poco M3 Pro 5G was announced globally last night but there’s no info about its availability for the Malaysian market.

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