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Realme C15: Does It Make Sense in Realme’s Budget Lineup?

Realme C15: Does It Make Sense in Realme’s Budget Lineup?

It’s very similar to the C12, except for the cameras and faster charging

By Roydon Cerejo | Updated: 21 August 2020 14:00 IST

Realme C15: Does It Make Sense in Realme’s Budget Lineup?

The Realme C15 starts at Rs. 9,999 in India

Highlights

The Realme C15 has a 6,000mAh battery
It has four rear cameras
It also supports 18W fast charging

Realme recently launched the C12 and C15 smartphones as part of its budget line. The aim of these smartphones is to offer users the largest possible battery, which they do. But moreso, they are also here to fill the widening price gap between the company's C-series and its number series. Realme's new C1x models, including the C11, however do overlap with the budget C3 and Narzo series in terms of pricing.

Today, we'll take a quick look at the Realme C15, but more importantly, explore Realme's budget lineup to see which phones are actually worth considering.

What is the Realme C15?

The Realme C15 is a budget smartphone from Realme, priced starting at the Rs. 10,000 mark. Just like the Realme C12, the C15 isn't meant to replace any existing model, but rather compliments them. I'm not going to go into too much detail about the design and specifications of the C15, as it's virtually identical to the C12 and you can read all about that right here. However, in order to justify the higher starting price of Rs. 9,999 (compared to the C12 at Rs. 8,999), Realme has bundled an 18W fast charger with the C15.

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The cameras are also slightly different — the C15 has four rear cameras, rather than three. You get the same 13-megapixel primary camera, but also an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle, a monochrome and a “retro” camera. The Realme C15 skips the dedicated macro camera, which is present on the Realme C12. The C15 also gets an 8-megapixel selfie camera instead of 5 megapixels.

The Realme C15 has a textured, gradient pattern on its back just like the C12

Other than these differences, the C15 and C12 are identical. But how does it fit into Realme's overall budget portfolio?

Realme C12 First Impressions

Making sense of Realme's budget lineup

Realme's C-series is the company's entry-level series, so let's begin here. We'll be going in the order of the starting prices of the various phones.

	Price (RAM/Storage)	SoC	Battery (mAh)	Fingerprint sensor	Rear cameras
C2	₹6,499 (2GB/16GB) ₹6,999 (2GB/32GB) ₹7,499 (3GB/32GB)	Helio P22	4,000	No	2
C11	₹7,499 (2GB/32GB)	Helio G35	5,000	No	2
C3	₹8,999 (3GB/32GB) ₹9,999 (4GB/64GB)	Helio G70	5,000	No	2
C12	₹8,999 (3GB/32GB)	Helio G35	6,000	Yes	3
Narzo 10A	₹8,999 (3GB/32GB) ₹9,999 (4GB/64GB)	Helio G70	5,000	Yes	3
C15	₹9,999 (3GB/32GB) ₹10,999 (4GB/64GB)	Helio G35	6,000	Yes	4
Narzo 10	₹11,999 (4GB/128GB)	Helio G80	5,000	Yes	4

The Realme C1 (Review) and Realme C2 are still listed on the company's website, although you can't buy them easily. The Realme C2 (Review) is more than a year old, but at Rs. 6,999 (2GB+32GB), it's still not too bad if all you need is a basic Android phone. However, the 3GB+32GB variant at Rs. 7,499 doesn't make sense anymore with the arrival of the C11.

The Realme C11 (Review) is only available in one configuration at Rs. 7,499. It offers a big 5000mAh battery and a newer SoC. However, in our experience, the 2GB of RAM felt inadequate and performance in general wasn't up to the mark. I think we could see a 3GB variant of this phone in the future, since there's still a small price gap between this and the next offerings.

Realme C12 vs Realme C11: What's the Difference?

Here, we have a complicated situation with the Realme C3 (Review), Realme C12 and the Narzo 10A (Review) all starting at the same price of Rs. 8,999. The Realme C3 is the oldest, relatively speaking, and has effectively been made obsolete by the Narzo 10A. Both models have the same MediaTek Helio G70 SoC and 5000mAh battery, but the 10A has a third rear camera and a fingerprint sensor.

The Realme C12 on the other hand has a bigger battery and a fingerprint sensor, but has to make do with the relatively weaker Helio C35 SoC. Between the Narzo 10A and the C12, the latter definitely has the battery advantage but I think the Narzo 10A would offer a better usage experience due to its faster SoC.

At Rs. 9,999, we have the top-end variant of the Realme C3 (4GB+64GB), the base variant of the Realme C15 (3GB+32GB) and also the top-end variant of the Narzo 10A (4GB+64GB). I think the C3 can be safely ignored at this price, as once again, the Narzo 10A offers better features. Between the C15 and the Narzo 10A though, it's a tough call. On one hand, the Narzo 10A offers a better SoC, but the C15 has faster charging, an ultra wide-angle camera, and a bigger battery. Hopefully, I'll have a clear answer for you once I'm done reviewing the C12 and C15.

The top-end variant of the Realme C15 (4GB+64GB) at Rs. 10,999 seems like a hard sell, as for Rs. 1,000 more, you could instead grab the Narzo 10 (Review), which is better in most ways.

We hope this article has helped bring a bit of order to Realme's chaotic budget lineup.

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Realme C15

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Excellent battery life
Built well

Bad
Big and heavy
Weak overall performance
Sub-par cameras
4GB variant isn’t good value

Read detailed Realme C15 review

Display 6.50-inch

Processor MediaTek Helio G35

Front Camera 8-megapixel

Rear Camera 13-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 3GB

Storage 32GB

Battery Capacity 6000mAh

OS Android 10

Resolution 720x1600 pixels

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