realme 9 Pro renders, specs leak: Two steps forward, one step back?

realme was forced to postpone the realme 9 series launch last year due to the global chip shortage, opting for a 2022 launch instead. The company has been mum on details about the new phones, but veteran leaker Steve ‘OnLeaks’ Hemmerstoffer and SmartPrix have now dished out apparent realme 9 Pro renders and specs.

The purported realme 9 Pro renders (seen above) show a phone with a left-aligned punch-hole cutout and a visible chin. Take a look at the back and we’ve got a triple rear camera system dominated by two sensors with a smaller third camera in tow as well.

Thankfully, realme seems to be avoiding the garish ‘Dare to Leap’ branding it used on some phones last year. Hopefully, the standard realme 9 (if it’s indeed coming) avoids this branding too. Otherwise, we can also see volume buttons on the left edge and a power button on the right side.

realme 9 Pro specs

Hemmerstoffer also revealed some apparent specs too, claiming the phone has a 6.59-inch 120Hz display with an in-display fingerprint sensor (presumably OLED, then), a Snapdragon 695 SoC, 6GB to 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery with 33W charging.

The realme 9 Pro is also tipped to arrive with a 64MP main camera, 8MP ultrawide lens, and 2MP shooter. Meanwhile, a 16MP camera is expected to handle selfies.

If these specs bear out, then that means the new phone will have a bigger battery and a higher refresh rate compared to the realme 8 Pro (as well as 5G). But it also would also mean the older phone still has faster charging and a higher resolution main camera (108MP). Then again, there’s way more to smartphone photography than a high-resolution camera, so we’ll have to wait and see what the new phone can do.