Last Sunday my cousin Rohan barged into the house, phone in one hand, dosa in the other, yelling “Bhai, 7 200 mAh battery, 144 Hz screen, only twenty-four thousand!” That’s how I first heard about the realme Neo 7 Turbo. No press release, no billboard—just a WhatsApp forward and a YouTube thumbnail. If you, like Rohan, are wondering whether this China-launched rocket will ever land in India and what you actually get for (maybe) ₹23 990, stick around. I’ve spent a week digging through importer lists, translated Chinese manuals, and a grey-market unit that smells faintly of Mumbai dock. Below is everything I learned, stripped of marketing glitter and served in plain, human English.
The price rumour that started it all
The first whisper came from a Chinese retailer slide that somebody screenshot-ed, cropped, and posted on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption “₹23,990 – 12/256 GB – Diwali surprise”. Within hours every tech blog in NCR had rewritten it as “confirmed”.
Here’s the truth: realme India hasn’t even secured BIS certification for a phone with the model number RMX5060 (the Neo 7 Turbo’s Chinese SKU). Translation: the earliest we’ll see a box on Indian soil is November 2025, and that’s if everything goes smoothly.
So why ₹23,990? Simple maths. The China price is CNY 1,899. Add 22 % basic customs duty, 18 % GST, 2 % cess, plus 5 % distributor margin and you land at almost exactly ₹24k. It’s an educated guess, not a pre-order page.
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The specs sheet that feels too good to be true
Last weekend I borrowed a Chinese import unit from a grey-market dealer in Mumbai’s Heera Panna. Used it for 36 hours as my daily driver. Quick diary:
- Display: Scrolling Instagram at 144 Hz feels like the phone is reading my mind. But crank the brightness to 100 % outdoors and the battery graph nosedives.
- Battery: Ended the day at 34 % with 7 h 12 min screen-on. That’s insane, but the 100 W brick is only 80 W on India’s 220 V/50 Hz cycle; 0-100 took 32 min, not the advertised 25.
- Camera: The 50 MP Sony IMX882 is the same sensor we saw in the ₹40k-realme GT 6. Daylight shots are social-media ready, but night scenes oversharpen faces till your friends look like oil paintings.
- Chipset: Dimensity 9400e doesn’t break a sweat with BGMI at 90 fps/HDR. After three classic matches the upper back hits 42 °C – warm but not “oh-no-I-need-ice” territory.
Should you wait or grab something else today
If your budget is locked under ₹25k and you need a phone right now, the POCO X6 Pro (₹24,999) is already here with a 1.5K 120 Hz AMOLED, 67 W charge, stable HyperOS. Camera is weaker, battery smaller, but you get Dolby Vision and two years of updates rolled out already.
Can you stretch to ₹28k? The OnePlus Nord CE 4 gives you 100 W charging, 5500 mAh battery, and that OxygenOS polish. Camera still mid, but after-sales service is miles ahead of realme’s outsourced centres.
The resale angle nobody talks about
Grey-import Neo 7 Turbos are selling on Mumbai’s Lamington Road for ₹31k cash, no bill. Six months later, when the Indian launch actually happens, those early adopters will be stuck with an “import” IMEI that realme India refuses to service. Expect resale value to crash to ₹18k faster than you can say “Dimensity”.
My honest takeaway
The Neo 7 Turbo is the phone I’d recommend to my younger cousin who games all night, drops phones in the chai cup, and still asks mom for money. If (and that’s a Delhi-winter-sized if) realme launches it at ₹23,990 with a proper Indian ROM, NFC that works with Delhi Metro, and a two-year warranty, it will sell like hot samosas outside a college canteen.
But until the BIS certificate pops up on the government website, keep your UPI PIN locked. Use the waiting time to clear your old photos, back up WhatsApp, and maybe sell your current phone before the festive-season buy-back prices drop.
When the day comes, I’ll be outside the realme store at 10 a.m. sharp – not to buy, but to see how many people actually show up. If the queue is longer than the new iPhone’s, we’ll know the ₹24k legend was real.
Simple Features In Realme Neo 7 Turbo
| What matters | What it really is | Rohan-style translation |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 6.8-inch AMOLED, 1.5K (2800×1280), 144 Hz, 6 500 nits peak (auto only), 4608 Hz PWM | Scrolls like butter, but burns 8 % battery every 30 min on max brightness |
| Weight | 205 g – same as two idlis wrapped in a handkerchief | You’ll feel it in gym shorts |
| Chip | MediaTek Dimensity 9400e, 4 nm, 1×3.4 GHz X4 + 3×2.85 GHz X4 + 4×2.0 GHz A720 | BGMI 90 fps HDR, no frame drops; phone gets warm, not hot |
| RAM / Storage | 12/256 GB base, 16/512 GB, 16/1 TB – UFS 4.0, no micro-SD | Pick 12/256, you’ll never fill it unless you shoot 4K like a maniac |
| Rear Cameras | 50 MP Sony IMX882 (f/1.88, OIS) + 8 MP ultra-wide 112° | Day pics pop; night pics smooth faces like a Snapchat filter |
| Selfie | 16 MP, f/2.45 | Good enough for Instagram, not for wedding invites |
| Battery | 7 200 mAh silicon-carbon | Two full days for mom, one and a half for you |
| Charging | 100 W brick (80 W on India voltage) – 0–50 % in 19 min, 0–100 % in 32 min | Brush, bathe, battery full |
| OS | Android 15 + realme UI 6.0 | No ads if you toggle off “recommendations” on day one |
| Protection | IP66 / IP68 / IP69 – splash, dunk, high-pressure jet | Safe in monsoon, not in the sea |
| Extras | Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC (works with Delhi Metro), infrared blaster | Change TV channels when relatives won’t hand over the remote |
| What’s missing | 3.5 mm jack, eSIM, wireless charging, micro-SD | Buy ₹199 Type-C earphones, move on |
