The first phone with 240W charging is now official - 0% to 100% in less than 10 minutes

The Realme GT Neo 5 is equipped with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset (which is now outshined by the Gen 2). As stated above, it comes in two versions, one with 240W charging and one with 150W support.

The 240W version boasts 16GB of RAM and either 256GB or 1TB of storage. Meanwhile, the 150W version has the option of 8GB, 12GB, or 16GB of RAM and only one memory option: 256GB.

The phone features a 6.74" 10-bit AMOLED display with a high 144Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2772 x 1240 pixels. The display also boasts 100% DCI-P3 coverage and a lightning-fast 1,500 Hz touch sampling rate.

The Realme GT Neo 5 240W comes with a 4,600mAh battery and a 20V/12A charger in the box. The 150W version sacrifices charging for battery capacity; it comes with a bigger 5,000mAh battery and a 20V/8A adapter.

Now to cite some numbers. The 240W charger can charge the phone to 20% in just 80 seconds, 50% in 4 minutes, and 100% in under 10 minutes. According to the company, 30 seconds of charging can provide up to 2 hours of talk time. The GT Neo 5 is also compatible with legacy VOOC and SuperVOOC chargers and can access their maximum charging power via the USB-C port.

The phones come in three colors: White, Black, and Purple, and also feature a unique RGB rectangle on the back, next to the camera system. Speaking of the camera, the Realme GT Neo 5 comes equipped with a 50MP, 1/1.56" Sony IMX890 sensor, OIS, and a 6P lens with an f/1.9 aperture on its main camera.

Realme GT Neo 5 price and availability

The phone is China-only at the moment, with prices for the 240W variant starting at CNY3,199 ($470) for the 16GB/256GB version and CNY3,499 ($515) for the 16GB/1TB edition.

On the other hand, the Realme GT Neo 5 150W starts at CNY2,499 ($368) for the base 8/256GB variant, CNY2,699 ($400) for the 12/256GB variant, and CNY2,899 ($427) for the 16/256GB top model.

We've always placed a premium on battery life and charging, especially when it comes to smartphones. The convenience of being able to just plug your phone in and have it fully charged in less than 10 minutes is just amazing.

There are a few caveats, of course. The first, and also the most obvious one, is battery health and charging cycles. According to Realme, the 240W phone can withstand up to 1,600 charges from 0 to 100% while keeping 80% of its capacity, roughly four years of usage.

The second one is just safety: charging a small battery at 240W generates a huge amount of heat, and we've seen many phones explode in such scenarios over the years. We also don't know how the battery and charging will degrade over time. The good thing is that such achievements push smartphone innovation further. What do you think about it, do we need 240W fast charging on a phone?