Striking for a fast and stylish smartphone? Check out the realme C51 – youthfully designed with a solid battery, big storage, large display, and AI camera.
realme has a new budget phone and as a successor of last year’s model, the realme C51 comes with a clearer and faster camera, bigger storage, and a new class of charging speed.
Unboxing
The realme C51 is housed by a typical package albeit yellow-colored. Once you unwrap it, you’re greeted with the “Dare to Leap.” slogan. Inside the box is everything you need to get started, including the handset, a 33-watt charging brick, a USB-C cable, a user manual, an ejector pin, and a jelly case.
Design
The realme C51 features a 6.74 inches of IPS LCD display with 90Hz refresh rate. Looking at the front, the only obvious difference compared to its predecessor is the smaller overall bezel, especially the chin and waterdrop notch.
But when inspected, realme C51 has a slimmer form of 7.99 millimeters. The edges were rounded to give you an easy grip. At the back, the smartphone looks sporty, thanks to the glittering finish, despite having a plastic material.
To target different audiences, realme C51 is available in two color families. The Mint Green for a sporty, trendy, and youthful vibe, and the Carbon Black for a sophisticated, urban, and professional tone.
Camera
realme C51 has two cameras at the back and a single camera at the front. The dual-rear cameras are powered by AI to produce great images. Check out the samples below.
Based on some of them, the Bokeh effect seems overeager but that is manageable. Make sure that the subject is clear and take your time before pressing the capture button. However, you may encounter low-quality pics if there’s not enough light to illuminate details.
The primary 50-MP rear shooter lets you record videos up to 1080p at 30FPS. It also features Photo Mode, Night Mode, 50MP Mode and more. It has a secondary black and white monochrome and depth sensor for optimization as well. Check out the videos captured by the rear camera below.
The 5-MP selfie camera has an aperture of f/2.0 and FOV of 78 degrees. It can record videos up to 720p at 30 FPS.
Performance
The realme C51 is powered by the Unisoc Tiger T612 processor and Mali-G57 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and 5000mAh battery. The 4GB can dynamically expand up to 4GB for smoother experience, which you may need for demanding apps and games.
Unlike its predecessor, realme C51 now has a bigger storage of up to 128GB. If you want more, you can utilize the microSD slot that supports up to 2TB of expansion.
The smartphone runs Android 13 and Realme UI T, and our experience when scrolling and navigating throughout this UI is good. The phone responded fast and transitioned smoothly between apps.
On our AnTuTu testing, realme C51 scored 252,404 and it indicates its limited processing power. To give it more context, we tested the phone on these popular games.
| Games | Settings and FPS | Actual FPS (Average) |
| Mobile Legends | Ultra graphics, Super refresh rate | 60 FPS |
| Call of Duty | High graphics, Medium refresh rate | 30-35 FPS |
| Genshin Impact | Lowest graphics, 30/60 refresh rate | 24-28 FPS |
On Mobile Legends, realme C51 ran smoothly at Ultra graphics settings and Super refresh rate and it sustained 60 FPS across multiple matches. Despite having the shadows on, the phone handled everything well during clashes.
On Call of Duty: Mobile, the realme C51 can only support High graphics and Medium refresh rate, which isn’t a surprise. You can play the game on these settings but don’t expect a solid 60 FPS. Still, the game is playable and doesn’t dip below 30 FPS, which is good for its price range. On Low graphics and High refresh rate, you can definitely achieve 60 FPS all the way.
On Genshin Impact, the smartphone is limited to the Low and Lowest graphics settings. Actually, the device struggles at reaching 30 FPS when exploring or fighting. The only time the FPS rises is when you look at the sky. But then again, this is a very demanding open-world game for such a humble phone.
Battery
The 5000mAh battery unit on realme C51 is big for its 6.74 inches screen with 720p resolution. This device won’t consume a lot of power even if you use it casually for a day.
But if you need to charge up, the handset will get it done via SUPERVOOC technology. realme C51 supports 33w SUPERVOOC that can charge up to 50% battery level in 28 minutes and 100% in 70 minutes.
Of course, gaming is also connected to battery life. So, we did a simple series of trials to see how much power is consumed during short playthroughs.
On Mobile Legends, a match at Ultra graphics and Super refresh rate may consume 3% to 4% of the battery. If you lower either or both settings, you can cut down that consumption.
On Call of Duty: Mobile, a very short match at High graphics and Medium refresh rate may consume 1% to 2% of the battery. But if you’re playing a longer match like Hardpoint, the consumption will be higher. On Low graphics and High refresh rate, a Hardpoint match for seven minutes consumed around 2% of the battery.
On Genshin Impact, realme C51 managed to hold its battery life. For a 10-minute session, the game only drained 3% of the battery at the Lowest default graphics settings at 30 FPS.
What We Liked
The waterdrop notch isn’t just to house the selfie house. It’s also where the Mini Capsule is hiding. This feature is a dynamic notification area for the most important alerts, such as battery status and daily usage.
As a charging champ, realme C51 really has a 100% improvement in charging speed with 33w than the 10w on its predecessor. You won’t have to wait long to juice this one up.
Another likable aspect on this phone is the higher support for the microSD slot, now at 2TB max. Users can now store more music, photos, and movies on their realme C51.
While this isn’t easy to spot, realme C51 supported Wi-Fi 5GHz, which is becoming the mainstay. Older phones can only support Wi-Fi 2.4GHz which is too slow these days.
What We Disliked
The processor is a letdown because it wasn’t different from its predecessor. Though, realme C51 made up for it with its bigger storage and dynamic RAM expansion.
It’s also a surprise to find that realme C51 didn’t have a 1080p display for crisper experience when watching full HD videos.
And lastly, the mediocre brightness in broad daylight. The 560 nits versus its past is definitely an improvement but the phone has a large battery. It shouldn’t be a problem if the peak brightness is pushed to at least 750.
