The upcoming Realme 9 series of smartphones have leaked multiple times over the past month, but now we've had the phone's existence confirmed by the brand itself, and it's set to release at least two devices.
Realme has confirmed the existence of both the Realme 9 Pro and Realme 9 Pro Plus smartphones, but there's currently no word on a standard Realme 9. The Pro Plus series will be new for 2022, as in previous iterations the Pro model has been the top-end handset.
The brand will be including 5G connectivity on both of these handsets, and each will run on the MediaTek Dimensity 950 5G processor. This is the first smartphone revealed to feature that new chipset.
We've been told these new smartphones will be launching "in the coming days", but we've yet to hear exactly when that'll be and what information we'll get for each of the handsets.
We would still expect a standard Realme 9 model, but this heavily suggests it won't be launching at the same time as its Pro siblings. It's also unclear if that phone will come with 5G connectivity or the same MediaTek chipset.
Earlier in January, a report from @OnLeaks and Smartprix provided images of the upcoming phone as well as some specs. Those included a 6.59-inch 120Hz display with an in-display fingerprint scanner, 128GB of storage, and a rear camera with 64MP, 8MP and 2MP elements.
Weirdly, this leak also said the smartphone would launch with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G processor inside. We now know that isn't the case, so take this leak with a big pinch of salt as it may mean the rest of the information is inaccurate too.
Analysis: Goodbye, Dare to Leap
If the leaked images of the Realme 9 Pro are correct, we won't get the bold branding that we saw on the Realme 8 series. Those smartphones came with a "Dare to Leap" slogan emblazoned along the rear of the device.
It was a bold design decision, and it's likely to have put some potential buyers off investing in that series of Realme devices.
The leaked images of the Realme 9 Pro don't show this, but that doesn't mean it won't make a return. It may be exclusive to the upcoming Realme 9 Pro Plus (we've only seen imagery of the Realme 9 Pro), or it may be that these images are inaccurate.
We'll have to wait for more official details from Realme before we'll know any of these details for sure.
