Realme recently launched the Realme 6i as its latest offering in the sub Rs. 15,000 price range. The company has based this new smartphone on the Realme 6, which was launched earlier this year. While the Realme 6 was a good smartphone at launch, its price has gone up thanks to recent currency value changes, putting it out of reach for a few people. The Realme 6i borrows some key hardware from the Realme 6 but starts at a much lower price of Rs. 12,999. With toned-down specifications and the lowered price, has Realme managed to strike the right balance? Let’s check out our Realme 6i review to find out.

Realme 6i: Design

The design of the Realme 6i is one that we have seen time and again on Realme phones. It doesn’t offer much in terms of uniqueness, but it is still a good-looking phone, especially in the Eclipse Black colour option that we received for review. It is a pure black shade on the rear panel that gives the phone an elegant and appealing look. The rear panel is plastic and will collect scratches and scruffs if you’re not using a protective case. 

We found that the Realme 6i is a fairly lightweight phone that’s easy to use in one hand. The phone stands out in black, but it does miss out on that premium glass finish. We also feel that the buttons on the sides lack that tactile feel when pressing it. 

Realme 6i: Display

On the front, you get a 6.5-inch Full-HD+ LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate. It is higher than the usual 60Hz, which means scrolling on the display and other animations appear much smoother. It is of great help when you are playing games such as PUBG Mobile where every millisecond of the gameplay matters and 90Hz refresh rate is able to show you whatever happened in that millisecond. But otherwise, if you are going to buy this phone for listening to music, browsing the internet, using WhatsApp and Instagram, the 90Hz display does not really make a difference. But why am I saying that?

I believe if you are not a heavy gamer or do not care about ultra-smooth displays, a 90Hz might seem overkill for the regular tasks you would expect out of your phone. You can easily settle for a 60Hz display, which is available on the Narzo 10 for Rs 1,000 less.

Realme 6i: Performance

The Realme 6i did not show any signs of slowing down while using it. The UI feels super smooth when the display refresh rate is set to 90Hz. It's set to Auto by default but you can lock it at 90Hz or 60Hz. This panel has good viewing angles and it does let you tweak the colour output in the Settings app.

The Mediatek Helio G90T is a powerful processor and is capable of handling heavy apps and games. General usage was not an issue and I could load multiple apps and multitask between them. The side-mounted fingerprint scanner is quick to unlock the smartphone and so was the face recognition feature.

I played PUBG Mobile and it defaulted to the High preset with graphics set to HD and the frame rate set to High. I did not notice any lag while playing the game but the device did get slightly warm to the touch after playing for 20 minutes.

Realme 6i: Battery

The Realme 6i houses a 4,300mAh battery much like the Realme 6. It’s an average-sized battery, which will get you close to a full day on a single charge if you’re not using it intensively. We found ourselves having to charge the phone by the end of the day even on average usage. With 90Hz refresh rate enabled constantly, the battery does drain faster. in the PCMark battery test, the phone lasted 7 hours and 46 minutes on 90Hz and 8 hours and 21 minutes on 60Hz. We have seen phones perform much better in this segment.

But where the Realme 6i loses out on battery life, it makes up for in fast charging. The phone supports 30W fast charging, which is among the fastest you will find at this price point. You should note, however, that the company bundles the phones with a 20W charger, which is kind of a bummer, but understandable as a cost-cutting measure. You can purchase a 30W VOOC flash charger from Realme’s online store for Rs 1,399. That being said, even with the 20W charger, the phone can be fully charged in about an hour and 20 minutes, which is pretty fast. 

Realme 6i: Camera

The Realme 6i comes with a quad camera system that’s as powerful as the setup on the Realme 6. The main camera is a 48MP f/1.8 sensor as opposed to the 64MP primary camera on the Realme 6. Other cameras are more or less similar on the two phones. There’s an 8MP wide-angle lens (119-degree), a 2MP B&W portrait lens, and a 2MP macro lens (4cm). Up front, the Realme 6i gets a 16MP selfie camera, integrated into the punch hole on the corner. Camera features include Super Nightscape, Ultra 48MP mode, Chroma Boost, 4K video at 30fps, and selfie portrait mode, among other things. 

Talking about the camera performance, the Realme 6i offers decent photos in most conditions for its price point. We were pleased with the daylight shots, which captured good amount of detail and generally accurate colour reproduction with Chroma Boost disabled. If the mode is enabled, colours get enhanced and saturated, which can sometimes lead to a pleasing outcome and sometimes a bit too jarring for your taste. Dynamic range is satisfactory and contrast is passable. You can get some pleasing close up shots with an attractive background blur with just the main camera, which we often preferred over the 2MP macro lens. The macro lens changes the colour tone and doesn’t offer the best details.