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Reasons to Buy and Not to Buy the Realme 6i

The Chinese smartphone maker Realme has now announced another phone in its 6-series in India, dubbed as Realme 6i. Since the Realme 6 now lands in the Rs 15,000+ bracket, the new toned-down version is meant to cater to users in the sub-12K segment. That said, there are certain things that you should keep in mind if you’re planning to buy the device. To make things easier for you, we are here with the top reasons to buy and not to buy the Realme 6i.

Reasons to Buy Realme 6i

90Hz Punch-Hole Display

Reasons to buy Realme 6i

Despite being cheaper, the Realme 6i retains the beautiful 90Hz punch-hole display from the Realme 6. Following the same, it now stands as the most affordable phone in India to offer a 90Hz screen.

The high refresh rate not only makes the UI smoother but also improves the gaming experience. Moreover, the 6.5-inch Full-HD+ LCD is quite sharp and produces good colors and viewing angles. It uses Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for protection.

Helio G90T, Dedicated Memory Card Slot

The Realme 6i gets powered by the MediaTek Helio G90T processor, coupled with 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB UFS 2.1 storage for the base variant. Furthermore, you get a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion.

For starters, Helio G90T is a 12nm-based octa-core chipset that deploys two Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.05GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0GHz. It is quite powerful and can handle most games with ease, including PUBG and Call of Duty Mobile.

Versatile Cameras

Reasons to buy Realme 6i

Realme has included a quad-camera setup on the phone, comprising a 48-megapixel primary shooter with f/1.8 lens and a 119-degree wide 8-megapixel wide-angle camera. Besides, there’s a 2-megapixel macro lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.

For selfies, there’s a 16-megapixel snapper with f/2.0 aperture, housed in the punch-hole cutout to the top left. It is capable of recording 120fps slow-motion selfie videos.

Big Battery, Fast Charging

Realme 6i packs in a 4,300mAh battery, which is adequate to get you through a full day of moderate to heavy usage. Plus, the phone supports fast charging for a quick top-up. Realme claims that the phone can charge from 0-100% within 55 minutes using a 30W charger (more on it below).

Reasons Not to Buy Realme 6i

Plastic Build

The phone gets an all-plastic body with a glossy finish at the rear, which is easy to scratch in day to day use. Anyway, that’s quite understandable since the costlier Realme 6 and X3, too, come with a polycarbonate body.

However, competitors like Redmi Note 9 Pro and Poco M2 Pro offer glass backs that feel much more premium in hands. Moreover, Realme has used Gorilla Glass 3 protection for the screen while others have moved on to Gorilla Glass 5.

Bundled Charger

Reasons Not to Buy Realme 6i

A lot of you might get tempted to buy the Realme 6i for its 30W charging. While the phone does support the 30W flash charge, it comes with a 20W charger in the box, claimed to full charge in about 73 minutes.

The 30W VOOC Charger costs Rs. 1,399 on Realme Store, buying which increases the overall cost. This defies the whole purpose of going for the Realme 6i over Realme 6 in the first place.

So, if you’re planning to get the Realme 6i just for the advertised 30W charging, think again. However, it’s good if you already have the charger.

Price Difference for the Higher Variant

Realme 6i’s base variant looks pretty good for Rs 12,999, counting in the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. But at the same time, you have to shell out Rs 14,999, i.e., an extra sum of Rs 2,000 for the top-end variant, which has nothing special except for an additional 2GB of RAM.

So yeah, the top-end variant doesn’t make much sense, in my opinion.

Conclusion

The Realme 6i stands at the same price at which the original Realme 6 was launched. Comparing both the phones, there are subtle compromises in the new device counting in the toned-down camera and bundled charger.

Anyway, looking at the recent GST hike, Realme 6i seems to be an overall good phone under Rs 13,000. The closest alternative would be the Poco M2 Pro, which offers a larger battery and faster charging but lacks a high refresh rate screen.

Also, read- 4 Reasons To Buy and 2 Reasons Not To Buy POCO M2 Pro

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Ritik Singh

Ritik is the Managing Editor at GadgetsToUse. He manages the website and oversees the content to ensure it's as informative as possible. He also heads the sub-sites in the network. Putting work aside, he has a great interest in personal finance and is also a keen motorcycle enthusiast.