Realme 3 India launch set for March 4, MediaTek Helio P70 confirmed

Oppo spinoff brand Realme made its India debut in May 2018 with the Realme 1, and already the company is gearing to launch its third iteration – the Realme 3. Realme will launch the Realme 3 in India on March 4 and much like the Realme 1, it will also be powered by a MediaTek Helio processor. 

Realme has confirmed that the Realme 3 will pack MediaTek Helio P70 – a processor that it says offers more value for money at its price point over the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660. Based on a more efficient 12nm process, the Helio P70 offers 40 per cent lower power consumption in heavy loading games and 3 per cent better CPU performance in multi-core tasks over Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 which is a 14nm-based processor. Realme phones run Oppo’s ColourOS, and Oppo is already working on Colour OS 6 with an app drawer – the Realme 3 could be one of the first few phones to run the new Pie-based OS.  

The original Realme 1 came with a Helio P60 while the Realme 2 had a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 on the inside. There has also been a design upgrade over the course of two generations (although both Realme 1 and Realme 2 came with Oppo’s signature diamond-cut design) in that the Realme came with a conventional screen with single camera while the Realme 2 came with an iPhone X-style notch and dual rear cameras. Something similar is expected from the Realme 3 as well – could be a teardrop-style notch like the Realme 2 Pro and Realme U1.  

Realme is teasing ‘a sky of stars’ for the Realme 3 and the accompanying teaser image seems to hint at a gradient finish.  

Whatever be the case, going by the history of the Realme 1 and Realme 2, the Realme 3 should be also priced aggressively – taking on phones like the Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 along with phones from Asus and Xiaomi.  

There have been rumours that Realme’s next phone will come with a Redmi Note 7-like 48MP camera, something that Realme India CEO, Madhav Sheth has already denied.  

“For Realme, we are not going to adapt the high megapixel just for the sake of launching it because we believe that camera tuning and software optimization is even more important. We always strive to give our users the best combination of both hardware and software,” is what the Realme India CEO said during an AMA session adding that “a very high megapixel like 48MP doesn’t necessarily stand for 4 times enhancement comparing to a 12MP sensor. This number doesn't necessarily mean high quality images.” 

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