Realme GT Neo 5 is world’s first phone with 240W charging

Realme, which claims to be the ‘world’s fastest-growing smartphone brand’, has unveiled the GT Neo 5 with ultra-fast 240W charging which is the fastest seen on any phone yet. 

Previous efforts from other companies include 210W Redmi Note 12 Discovery Edition and last year’s 150W OnePlus 10T. 

If you think you’ve heard 240W before, you’d be right. Oppo first showed off 240W SuperVooc charging at MWC 2022 almost a year ago claiming it could charge a 4500mAh battery in just nine minutes. However, no phones with the tech have gone on sale yet.

Realme has beaten its sister brand Oppo – both owned by BBK Electronics – to the punch and says it will be the first company to mass produce a 240W device, albeit with the caveat that it will only be sold in mainland China. 

The company says the GT Neo 5 can provide you with two hours of continuous phone calls from just 30 seconds of charging. 

The industry firsts don’t end at the breakneck 240W speed either. The phone also comes with the first 12A custom cable and the world’s first 240W dual GaN (Gallium Nitride) mini charger. 

According to GSMArea, the GT Neo 5 can charge to 20% in 80 seconds, to 50% in 4 minutes and 100% in under 10 minutes. The battery has a 4600mAh capacity but there’s also a version with a larger 5000mAh battery and slower 150W charging. 

It also claims to retain 80% battery capacity after 1600 charging cycles, which Realme says is double the industry standard. “The certification also sees over 60 layers of safety protection to ensure a safe and healthy charging system,” said the firm. 

Charging specs aside, the GT Neo 5 has a flashy design, quite literally. A rectangular RGB pulse light is found on the back as part of the camera module. It can act as a notification light and is customisable for different apps and will glow red once the battery level reaches 20%. 

The phone is available in three colours – White, Black, and Purple – with a fourth transparent casing that means you can see “a metal plate for the chipset with a customized logo design, a part of the mainboard, an NFC sensor, and a C-shaped RGB lighting ring.” 

It’s fitted with a 6.74in 144Hz OLED display, last year’s flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset and a 50Mp main camera.

The phone is available to buy immediately in mainland China starting from 3,199 yuan (around $470/£390)for a 16/256GB model. 

If you’re outside China, then don’t worry because Realme has confirmed that its 240W charging will reach global markets by way of the flagship Realme GT 3. That phone will be unveiled later this month, presumably at MWC which begins on 27 February in Barcelona. 

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