Realme loves its limited edition partnerships, with the best being reserved for its GT series phones. The company’s GT 8 Pro is the latest to get the limited treatment, even if we saw something very much like it not so long ago.
Like the GT 7 Dream Edition, the Realme GT 8 Pro Aston Martin Limited Edition is taking the Aston Martin Formula One team’s branding and making it its own. More or less. The same green hues, the same branded badges on the back, but it’s a completely different set of hardware.
Racing to get a GT 8 Pro
The limited version of the phone incorporates yellow highlights over the turquoise backplate we saw in the GT 7 Dream Edition, along with the Aramco Aston Martin badge on the rear. Swappable carbon fibre camera bumps, along with compatible cases for each setup, are included in the themed box. A few other customised elements, including a SIM tool, are included. Other than that, Realme’s limited edition device is the same as its standard GT 8 Pro.
Which, incidentally, keeps the swappable camera lumps. It just won’t be Aston Martin carbon fibre, but the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, 6.79in AMOLED (with up to 7,000 nits of peak brightness), 12GB to 16GB of RAM, and 256GB to 1TB of storage could take your mind off of that.
If more is needed, Realme will outfit its newest GT with three Ricoh-lensed rear cameras — a 50MP main, a 200MP periscope telephoto (with 3x optical zoom), and a 50MP ultrawide. The first two include phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilisation, with the latter covering a 116° arc for its snaps. A massive 7,000mAh battery and 120W recharge speeds will also lift a few eyebrows. It may well be fast enough to justify the Aston Martin partnership. The IP68/69 rating doesn’t hurt either.
The tricky bit is laying hands on one. The Aston Martin-branded phone has been released in China, with no plans known to bring it to other markets. However, you might manage to snag the stock GT 8 Pro, which is expected to have an international release. Where this will be isn’t certain, but a launch event in India on 20 November this year should spill a few more beans for us to count. Hopefully, they’ll add up to the handset launching here. The R19,000 Realme GT 7 Dream Edition actually made it to Vodacom’s storefront, so perhaps South African Aston Martin (and Realme) fans will get lucky this time around, too.
