China is getting a Naruto phone, and we want in on the fun, too
Believe it!
In the latest news from “collaborations we didn’t know we wanted”, Realme is releasing a Naruto edition of its GT Neo 3. The phone isn’t an upgrade or anything, just a fun new spin on the 4-month-old mid-ranger.
The standard GT Neo 3 (we gave a preview of the phone a thumbs up) features a MediaTek Dimensity 8100, up to 12GB of ram, up to 256GB of storage, and a 6.7” 1080p 120Hz display. 80W and 150W charging configurations of the standard phone are available, but the Naruto edition phone will only be available in the 150W configuration.
The phone has some newly-themed elements on it. The back, for instance, is designed to mimic Naruto’s clothing as seen throughout the show with orange and black elements and a silver accent in the camera area with a hidden leaf village symbol. The included case features a few stylized graphics on the back as well.
The phone comes in a box that mimics the design of the scrolls in Naruto and comes with a themed charger brick, hidden leaf village symbol SIM card remover, and a power bank with a Naruto graphic on it. The whole package is riddled with the orange and black color scheme of the main character. The software of the phone is also decorated with Naruto wallpapers, sounds, app icons, and a special charging animation.
Availability outside of China isn’t yet detailed, but the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration of the Naruto edition is going for CNY 2,799 (~$415) in China starting on May 31.
Can we have one?
Even if you’re not a big fan of Naruto or anime, it’s hard to deny how sweet this looks. Not only is the phone themed and comes with cool wallpapers, but the rest of the experience, down to the SIM remover tool, is centered around the show. It’s a great tribute, but phones in the West typically don’t get to have that same type of fun.
Whether it’s snazzy new colorways or fully themed tributes to iconic pop culture phenomena, we in the States, for example, rarely get any cool collaborations like this. If any smartphone maker wants to hook us up with a Kirby-themed smartphone experience or something, we wouldn’t be mad at it. Just saying.
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Luke is a nerd through and through. His two biggest passions are video games and tech, with a tertiary interest in cooking and the gadgets involved in that process. He spends most of his time between those three things, chugging through a long backlog of games he was too young to experience when they first came out. He'll talk your ear off about game preservation, negative or positive influences on certain tech throughout its history, or even his favorite cookware if you let him.