Realme promises a January 7 reveal for the X50, its first 5G phone

The phone is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765G and will likely come with a Lite variant.

What you need to know

• Realme has finally set a launch date for its upcoming X50 smartphone.
• The 5G-powered phone will be revealed on January 7.
• The phone will sport a Snapdragon 765G under the hood and an enhanced variant of Super VOOC 4.0 fast charging.

After a string of budget releases that have made Realme a force to be reckoned with, the former OPPO subsidiary has turned its sights toward the higher end of the smartphone space. The Realme X2 Pro was the company's first true flagship, featuring a top-of-the-line Snapdragon 855+, a 90Hz display, and a price that undercut almost every other flagship in its competition. However, it lacked the big buzzword that's been making the waves in 2019 — 5G — and the company's looking to get in on the next-gen networking action.

The Chinese brand had already teased its upcoming 5G-powered smartphone via social media last month, but we now have a firm release date for the upper-midrange phone from Realme. We'll need to wait for the new year to see an official launch, but not too long, as the X50 5G is slated for a reveal on January 7.

The phone will support both standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) connectivity, offering some of the broadest 5G support available on a smartphone. Unfortunately, while the X50 5G one-ups the X2 Pro in the connectivity department, it will eschew the latter's flagship processor for the more affordable Snapdragon 765G. That's the same processor as the one found in OPPO's upcoming Reno 3 and, much like that phone, the X50 is also expected to sport ColorOS 7 right out of the box.

In addition, the company's teasers mention the inclusion of an enhanced version of OPPO's Super VOOC 4.0 fast charging tech that'll allow the phone to go from 0% to 70% in a mere half-hour. While Realme has made no mention of it so far, industry rumors suggest the phone will be accompanied by a Lite variant of the same; perhaps we'll hear more about it in the lead up to the reveal on January 7.

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