Former Oppo sub-brand Realme is the world's fastest-growing smartphone manufacturer with good reason — its phones offer insane specs for not a lot of money. The company first got into the 5G game in its homeland China back in January thanks to Qualcomm's new upper mid-range 5G mobile platform, the Snapdragon 765G, and it's now bringing the X50 5G to other markets. The standout feature is the bump up to a 120Hz display, something you rarely find in handsets this cheap.

The X50 5G may sound like a modem, but it's a rather dashing looking phone with a 6.57-inch 1080p LCD display with a double hole-punch camera cutout containing a 16MP main selfie cam with a 2MP portrait lens beside it. The 4,200mAh battery can be topped up to 70% from zero in about 30 minutes with 30W Dart Charge. On the back, there are four cameras headlined by a 48MP main sensor and backed up by an 8MP, 119-degree wide-angle lens. Less exciting are the B&W portrait lens and 2MP macro lens.

Until recently, Realme phones used a largely unchanged version the Color OS Android skin also found on Oppo phones, but the X50 5G offers a more personalized Realme UI software experience. All of the same features are still there, and it's based on Android 10 just like Color OS 7, but Realme now injects a little more of its own visual style into the mix.

The configuration available in the UK and Europe for just £299/€349 has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which should be plenty for most people. It comes in Ice Silver and Jungle Green, and you can buy it from Realme UK, Amazon.co.uk or Realme Europe from tomorrow (although it seems you can already order it from Amazon today).

If you buy the phone tomorrow, you'll get a pair of Buds Q true wireless earbuds thrown in for free. They retail for just £30/€30, but I've tried them out and they sound surprisingly good considering. They offer 4.5 hours of music playback on a single charge, with up to 20 including the juice in the case (which is teeny tiny, by the way). Bluetooth 5.0, an IPX4 rating, and touch controls all make for a set of earbuds that certainly seem like they should cost more. They are the first pair with a MicroUSB port that I've seen in a while, but that's not unexpected at this price. You can also get them from Realme UK, Amazon.co.uk, or Realme EU in black, yellow, or white.

Source: Realme