The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra could soon be under threat from an unlikely rival: the Realme Race Pro. Not only does this phone have some impressive specs, but it could also launch in less than a month.
That release window is "after the Spring Festival" according to a post from Xu Qi Chase, Realme's president. Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year as we often call it in the West, begins on February 12 this year, which could point to a launch date in just over three weeks.
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Realme is still a fairly new company, and one that hasn't made landfall in the U.S. yet. However, its offer of well-priced phones with flagship-level parts means it can easily catch your eye.
The most recent example was at the end of last year when Realme launched the £279 ($383 converted) Realme 7 Pro, which offered 65W charging. That's a charging speed only found on the OnePlus 8T in the U.S., which is worth considerably more at $749.
The Realme Race Pro will beat that though, with the company claiming via a specs tease that its new flagship is going to offer 125W charging. With a 5,000 mAh battery also on offer, it sounds like you'll not have to worry much about running out of battery too quickly.
The rest of the specs are equally impressive. There's a 6.8-inch QHD display capable of a 160Hz maximum refresh rate, while on the back there are three cameras with 64MP, 13MP and 13MP lenses.
On the inside, it offers a Snapdragon 888 chipset with 12GB RAM, either 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage, and an Android 11-based operating system. There's no doubt that the Race Pro is offering a flagship experience, at least when it comes to hardware.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra recently became our favorite Android phone thanks to its long battery life, impressive display, photography capabilities and its stylus support. But the Realme Race Pro has a much better display on paper because of its higher resolution, and an equally-sized battery with a much faster charging speed. So it could be a stealthy Android rival to Samsung's new flagship phone.
Although it looks like the Race Pro only offers three cameras instead of the Galaxy S21 Ultra's four. But the Race Pro's size, storage, RAM and chipset are the same. And if it can undercut the S21 Ultra on price, the Race Pro could be onto a winning combination.
There's no guarantee the Realme Race will be a killer phone just because of the specs sheet. However, if it gets most of its features right and offers a strong software experience, then we could see a big upset at the top of our best phones list in the near future.
