realme Brings the realme 16 in the Philippines Featuring a Google Pixel-like Design… and a Head-Scratching Price

You guys alright?

realme Philippines officially launched the realme 16 series, including the Pro and Pro+ in the Philippines yesterday, April 23rd after multiple teasers. These phones feature a premium metallic design and, for the realme 16, features a visor-looking camera array that resembles the Google Pixel series, a trend that’s continually rising. Although realme calls it “Air Design”. In fact, the colors are called “Air White” with a feathery color-changing back, and “Air Black” which is a lot simpler.

That mirror beside the camera bar isn’t just for show. realme calls it “selfie mirror” so you can take selfies with the rear camera while the brand avoids implementing an expensive secondary display as with flippable phones. It’s a good workaround really. This mirror is where the flash is also located.

And speaking of cameras, the realme 16 features a 50MP Sony IMX852 wide camera intended for trendy bokeh shots. It also features a 50MP camera for selfies which realme claims is a rare feature within the segment. The realme 16 technically only has one rear camera, as the other two are auxiliaries, including a 2MP macro and monochrome. realme goes after aesthetics after all. One feature realme consistently mention in its materials is “LumaColor”, which is realme’s interpretation of True RGB. LumaColor makes your images much more vibrant, closer to real-life colors.

The phone features a flat 6.57″ OLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate. Nothing unusual here. It also features an IP66/68/69/69K rating, allowing you to use it as an underwater camera. As a common courtesy, you shouldn’t use it to shoot under seawater as, even with the IP rating involved, the salt may corrode the parts. Repairs can be costly.

The reason why realme called it “Air Design” isn’t a gimmick. It’s to highlight how thin and light the realme 16 is while also being jam-packed with features, including a 7000mAh battery paired with 60W fast charging. The phone is only shy of 200g in weight and measures 8.1mm in thickness, so it will indeed feel like you’re holding air.

The realme 16 features a MediaTek Dimensity 6400-Turbo chipset. realme is most likely aware of how this chipset is a mismatch with the phone’s asking price so they rarely, if ever, mention it in its source materials, and focus instead on the phone’s large battery and fast charging. The “Turbo” name is just a label and performance-wise, should not differ to a regular MediaTek Dimensity 6400 chipset. The phone comes with 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage, which could raise some eyebrows. The phone runs Android 16 with realmeUI 7.0 on top.

Among other specs, the realme 16 has an in-display fingerprint scanner, stereo speakers, Bluetooth 5.3 LE, Dual-band Wi-Fi, and 5G.

We mentioned in the title that the price can be head-scratching. Ready to hear it? The realme 16 costs drum roll please… PHP 25,999. Yes. It is competing with the Vivo V70 FE which is far less expensive (PHP 23,999) and features a better set of cameras. including a 200MP primary. Within the same price range is the Honor 400 (PHP 22,999) which features a stronger chipset and 12GB RAM.

SPECS:

• 6.57″ FHD+ (2380x1080px) OLED, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate
  • IP66/68/69/69K dust/water resistance
• MediaTek Dimensity 6400-Turbo (6nm)
• CAMERAS:
  • 50MP (Primary), f/1.8, 75° FOV, Sony IMX852
  • 2MP (Monochrome), f/2.4
  • 2MP (Macro), f/2.4
  • FRONT: 50MP, f/2.4
• realmeUI 7.0 based on Android 16
• 7000mAh, 60W fast charging
• USB-C, Stereo Speakers, In-display fingerprint scanner
• 5G services, 4G LTE, Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC
• Air White, Air Black
• PRICE:
  • 8/256: PHP 25,999

The phone is available to purchase starting today via Shopee. It is available as a pre-order until May 5. If you pre-order the realme 16, you can get a PHP 1,000 discount, a 5000mAh powerbank, and realme Buds Air7 included in the package. If you pay through home credit and major credit cards nationwide, you can enjoy 0% interest installment for up to 18 months. During the pre-order period, the phone is priced at PHP 22,499.