Are the Realme C100 and C100i official? Who can say, but someone over in Thailand posted a fairly detailed hands-on with the two phones and the C100 is up on at least one retailer.
The Realme C100 is a large and relatively cheap phone – retailer BaNANA has the 4/128GB model at THB 7,000 ($215) and the 6/128GB model at THB 7,500 ($$230).
Realme C100
The C100 has a 6.8” display, a 720p+ LCD with 144Hz refresh rate and 900 nits of brightness. The phone measures 166.3 x 78.1 x 8.45mm and weighs 210g. It is rated IP64 (dust proof, splash resistant) and has a drop-resistant design.
Inside it is a large 7,000mAh battery that only supports slow 15W charging. Besides the USB-C port, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and even a microSD slot.
The Realme C100 has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot
The phone is powered by the Dimensity 6300 and, as we mentioned above, you can choose between 4GB and 6GB of RAM. The built-in storage is fixed at 128GB, but you can expand it if necessary, which is a rare privilege these days.
The C100 has a 50MP rear camera and a 5MP selfie (inside a notch). There is no word on the fingerprint reader placement, but there should be a reader somewhere.
Realme C100
At this point you are probably wondering what makes the C100 different from the likes of the Realme C85 and Narzo 90X. And if you weren’t, we were. A quick comparison shows a few differences, most notably the slow charging (the C85 and 90X do 45W and 60W, respectively, which is much more fitting of a 7,000mAh battery) and worse water resistance (the C85 and 90X have IP68/IP69K and IP65 ratings, respectively). Those two also have 8MP selfie cameras, but 5MP, 8MP, whatever.
You may also have been wondering – we were – whether the C85 is available in Thailand. Indeed it is and an 8/128GB unit costs THB 8,000. That’s THB 500 more for 2 extra gigs of RAM plus all the other advantages of the C85. It looks odd, but the math is clear – C85 > C100.
We couldn’t find the Realme C100i at a retailer, so we turn our attention to the hands-on post. Apparently, the C100i is the cheaper variant that also has a 6.8” 120Hz 720p+ LCD (900 nits) and a 7,000mAh battery.
Realme C100 and C100i (source)
The C100i is a bit thinner at 8.35mm while retaining the 3.5mm headphone jack and the durable build – the phone has passed MIL-STD-810H testing and has survived drops from 2m. It’s also rated IP64.
Our tipster pointed us to a Geekbench result (thanks!) that shows a Unisoc UMS9230 chipset, which is usually labeled T606 or T616. This is a 12nm chip with low clocks for the Cortex-A75 and A55 cores. Crucially, the modem only supports 4G.
Realme C100 and C100i (source)
You shouldn’t be surprised when we tell you that the Realme C85 4G exists – it’s powered by the venerable Snapdragon 685, which has even older CPU cores (Cortex-A73 and A53), but at least it’s fabbed on a more recent 6nm node. We don’t know the price of the C100i, but the C85 4G is THB 6,000 for an 8/128GB model over on BaNANA.