realme Neo8 smartphone: flagship performance and transparent design

realme has officially launched the realme Neo8 smartphone, marking one of the most notable releases in early 2026. The device is already on sale in China, starting at 2,399 yuan, and is available through all sales channels. The manufacturer describes the Neo8 as the culmination of the entire Neo lineup, focusing on aggressive design, flagship performance, and record-breaking specifications for its class.

A key feature is the transparent casing with RGB lighting. The back panel uses a multi-layer transparent structure with eleven design variations, allowing light to refract differently depending on the viewing angle. The lighting supports gaming, music, and other effects. The phone features a metal frame, a glass cover, and symmetrical ultra-thin bezels.

The realme Neo8 display was developed in collaboration with Samsung Display. It is a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with a 165 Hz refresh rate, based on the flagship M14 material. The screen delivers peak local brightness of up to 6,500 nits and up to 3,800 nits in sunlight mode, while maintaining an extended P3 color gamut. The smartphone supports native output of 165 frames per second in over thirty popular games. It also includes DC dimming, hardware blue light reduction, and intelligent eye protection features.

Performance is driven by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor with Oryon architecture and Adreno graphics, paired with LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.1 storage. The phone is equipped with an enhanced cooling system and a gaming engine that ensures stable 165 fps in shooters and high frame rates in MOBA and large open-world games. Users have access to an extended performance tuning panel without needing root privileges, including adjustments to temperature limits and CPU and GPU frequencies.

Battery life is supported by an 8,000 mAh battery with increased silicon content and support for pass-through charging, along with a wide range of fast-charging standards. The camera system uses a 50-megapixel Sony IMX896 sensor with optical image stabilization, plus a 50-megapixel telephoto lens with 3.5x optical and 120x digital zoom.

The smartphone runs on realme UI 7.0 and offers maximum water and dust resistance with IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings. It includes an ultrasonic 3D fingerprint scanner, stereo speakers, an infrared port, NFC, and an X-axis vibration motor.