Yesterday OPPO announced their new flagship phone the Reno Ace. At the same time, they announced the OPPO K5 which looked suspiciously similar to the Realme X2.
While the Realme X2 has been announced, it officially launches in the EU next week at an event in Madrid, where they will also launch the X2 Pro. The following day OPPO will launch the Reno2 in the EU at a London event.
Both OPPO and Realme are owned by BBK Electronics, who also owns Vivo and OnePlus, so all these brands inevitably share some DNA.
In the case of the Realme X2 and the Oppo K5 they are almost the same phone in all but the name. The only real difference is that the K5 has 128GB storage as its base model vs 64GB. The phones also come in different colours.
So how do the phones compare to the Oppo Reno2 which also shares many of the specs?
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Display & Build
The Reno2 has one big difference, and that is its display, there is no notch and it uses that sharkfin pop-up we first saw with the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom.
This also gives it a slight edge with resolution, with 1080 x 2400 pixels vs 1080 x 2340 pixels.
The Reno2 is marginally larger too, at 6.5-inches compared to 6.4-inches of the other phones.
The K5 build has not been confirmed yet, but the X2 uses Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back. It then uses a plastic frame, which does give it a slightly cheaper feel that premium models that use aluminium. The Reno2 uses Gorilla Glass 6 on the front, 5 on the rear then an aluminium frame.
Chipset
All the phones use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G which is the upper mid-range chipset from Qualcomm, just before you get to the SD855 and SD855+. It is a superb chipset and I have been using the Realme X2 for a few days and I can't say I notice much performance difference between that and my Huawei P30 Pro.
The X2 has a base config of 6GB and 64GB. The K5 starts at 6GB/128GB and the Reno2 starts at 8GB/128GB. All the phones have microSD.
Camera
The rear camera is an interesting difference, and first glance the X2/K5 look the best with its 64 MP, f/1.8, wide lens but the Reno2 will be more versatile.
The X2/K5 both have 64MP wide lens as the main lens then 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, and 2MP depth sensor.
The Reno2 has a 48MP wide lens, but then a 13MP telephoto lens with 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP B/W. This will allow the Reno2 to achieve a 5x hybrid zoom and 20x digital, whereas the others can only do 5x digital.
Battery
The Reno2 falls behind slightly here, while all the phones have a 4000 mAh battery the X2/K5 has the new 30W VOOC Flash Charge 4.0 which can charge the phone to 67% in 30 mins.
The Reno2 uses the older VOOC Flash Charge 3.0 which is 20W. This still charges your phone very fast though.
Price and Availability.
There has been no mention of the Oppo K5 coming to the EU, and I wouldn't get my hopes up, but it is possible. The current Chinese pricing is CNY1,899 (£220/€240/$266)
The Realme X2 has launched for 2990-Euros, this places it at the same price as the Xiaomi Mi 9T, not cheaper. However the RRP of the Xiaomi Mi 9T is 329-Euros, so technically it is cheaper.
For the Reno2 we also don't know the official pricing, but it launched at Rs. 36,990 (£419) with grey importers selling it for £579 so I would expect the price to fall somewhere between these two points.
This could put the Reno2 at double the price of the Realme X2. It will be a better phone, that's for sure, but is it twice as good? I have to admit, I do love that pop-up selfie, but it is a steep price to pay, especially when the OnePlus 7T is £549.
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Specification Comparison Table
| Realme X2 | Oppo K5 | Oppo Reno2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Announced | 2019, September | 2019, October | 2019, August |
| Dimensions | 158.7 x 75.2 x 8.6 mm (6.25 x 2.96 x 0.34 in) | - | 160 x 74.3 x 9.5 mm (6.30 x 2.93 x 0.37 in) |
| Weight | 182 g (6.42 oz) | - | 189 g (6.67 oz) |
| Build | Front/back glass (Gorilla Glass 5), plastic frame | Front glass (Gorilla Glass 6), back glass (Gorilla Glass 5), aluminum frame | |
| SIM | Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) | Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) | Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| Display | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| Size | 6.4 inches, 100.5 cm2 (~84.3% screen-to-body ratio) | 6.4 inches, 100.5 cm2 | 6.5 inches, 104.1 cm2 (~87.5% screen-to-body ratio) |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~403 ppi density) | 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~403 ppi density) | 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~401 ppi density) |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Unspecified | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 |
| OS | Android 9.0 (Pie), planned upgrade to Android 10.0; ColorOS 6 | Android 9.0 (Pie), planned upgrade to Android 10.0; ColorOS 6 | Android 9.0 (Pie); ColorOS 6.1 |
| Chipset | Qualcomm SDM730 Snapdragon 730G (8 nm) | Qualcomm SDM730 Snapdragon 730G (8 nm) | Qualcomm SDM730 Snapdragon 730G (8 nm) |
| CPU | Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver) | Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver) | Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver) |
| GPU | Adreno 618 | Adreno 618 | Adreno 618 |
| Card slot | microSD, up to 256 GB (dedicated slot) | microSD, up to 256 GB (dedicated slot) | microSD, up to 256 GB (uses shared SIM slot) |
| Internal | 64GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM | 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM | 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM |
| UFS2.1 | UFS2.1 | ||
| Front Camera | 64 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/1.7", 0.8µm, PDAF | 64 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/1.7", 0.8µm, PDAF | 48 MP, f/1.7, 26mm (wide), 1/2.0", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS |
| 8 MP, f/2.3, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/4", 1.12µm | 8 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/4", 1.12µm | 13MP, f/2.4, (telephoto), 1/3.4", 1.0µm, PDAF | |
| 2 MP, f/2.4, 1/5", 1.75µm (dedicated macro camera) | 2 MP, f/2.4, 1/5", 1.75µm (dedicated macro camera) | 8 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/3.2", 1.4µm | |
| 2 MP, f/2.4, 1/5", 1.75µm, depth sensor | 2 MP, f/2.4, 1/5", 1.75µm, depth sensor | 2 MP B/W, f/2.4, 1/5", 1.75µm | |
| Features | LED flash, HDR, panorama | LED flash, HDR, panorama | Dual-LED flash, HDR, panorama |
| Video | [email protected], [email protected]/60/120fps, [email protected], gyro-EIS | [email protected], [email protected]/60/120fps, [email protected], gyro-EIS | [email protected], [email protected]/60fps (gyro-EIS); video rec. only with main camera |
| Selfie | 32 MP, f/2.0 | 32 MP, f/2.0 | Motorized pop-up 16 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide), 1/3.1", 1.0µm |
| Features | HDR | HDR | LED flash, HDR |
| Video | [email protected] | [email protected] | [email protected] |
| Loudspeaker | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dolby Atmos | Dolby Atmos | Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic | |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE | 5.0, A2DP, LE | 5.0, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
| NFC | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No | No |
| Radio | FM radio | FM radio | FM radio |
| USB | 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector | 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector | Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go |
| Sensors | Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass | Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass | Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery | Non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery | Non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery |
| Charging | Fast battery charging 30W: 67% in 30 min (VOOC Flash Charge 4.0) | Fast battery charging 30W: 67% in 30 min (VOOC Flash Charge 4.0) | Fast battery charging 20W (VOOC Flash Charge 3.0) |
| Pearl White, Pearl Blue | Green, White, Blue | Luminous Black, Ocean Blue, Sunset Pink | |
| Price | CNY 1,499 (£172/$210) | CNY1,899 (£220/€240/$266) | Rs. 36,990 (£419) |