Realme Set to Announce New Phone in India on January 3, Could Be Realme 12 Series

Realme is gearing up for a host of new smartphone launches in 2024. Most recently, the Chinese electronics manufacturer debuted the Realme C67 5G in India last month, with a 4G variant of the handset also following suit. Now, Realme India has confirmed that it would share a new update on an upcoming phone soon. It is speculated that company’s next smartphone launch in the country could be the Realme 12 series or the Realme GT 5 Pro, which was unveiled in China in December.

Realme India shared an update New Year’s morning on X (formerly Twitter), teasing an upcoming smartphone launch. “Stay tuned for the real update,” the post read, marking January 3, 7.30 AM IST for a possible launch date reveal for an unnamed handset. While the company did not share any details or teaser images of a device in the post, it invited other users to guess what the update was about.

It has been speculated that the update post could be alluding to the upcoming launch of the Realme 12 Pro and Realme 12 Pro+. The two phones were recently spotted on the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) website, suggesting an imminent launch. The Realme 12 series handsets were reportedly listed on the TDRA website with model numbers RMX3842 and RMX3840, respectively. The listing confirmed the monikers for the smartphones and indicated 5G connectivity on the handsets.

The Realme 12 Pro and Realme 12 Pro+ were earlier also spotted on the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) website, hinting at an upcoming India launch. The high-end Pro+ model was also reportedly spotted on Indonesia’s SDPPI certification site.

It’s worth noting that Realme has not officially announced the 12 series yet. The company has, however, teased a new flagship smartphone with a periscope camera. Realme posted a teaser on X last week, hinting at the launch of a new smartphone with enhanced zoom capabilities in the country. The phone is speculated to be the Realme 12 Pro+.

Tipster Abhishek Yadav (@yabhishekhd) had reposted the teaser image and claimed that the phone would be Realme 12 Pro+ and would debut by the end of January or in February. The Redmi 12 Pro+ is also tipped to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 series chipset, most likely the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 SoC.

The latest Redmi update referring to a January 3 announcement could also be related to the Realme GT 5 Pro. The handset launched in China on December 7, packed with flagship specs like Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, a 1.5K resolution display with 144Hz refresh rate and up to 4,500 nits of peak brightness, and a triple rear camera unit led by a 50-megapixel primary Sony LYT-808 sensor. The Realme GT 5 Pro starts at CNY 3,298 (roughly Rs. 40,000) for the base 12GB RAM + 256GB variant. The company has not yet confirmed an Indian launch timeline for the phone.