Realme 9 Pro launch confirmed, and big changes are in store for the cheap phones

Realme's numbered series of cheap phones were always interesting budget blowers, but the company rarely made a song and dance around them like it did its GT series of mid-rangers - that seems to be changing though.

The brand has been gradually building hype about the Realme 9 Pro series of phones, with a series of teases and feature announcements, and it's now confirmed that the line will debut on February 16.

As part of the announcement, the company also confirmed that the mobile will use a 50MP main camera using the Sony IMX766 sensor, which we've also seen in the GT 2 from Realme as well as the Xiaomi 12, OnePlus Nord 2 and Oppo Find X3 Pro.

The company is calling this the 'Realme 9 Pro series global launch event', and that wording suggests this is just an unveiling for the Realme 9 Pro devices - we've heard there's a Pro Plus too, and there could be more besides.

The implication, then, is that there's a standard Realme 9 series (note: non-Pro) coming at some point too, and if that's true, it seems Realme is shaking up its family of budget phones, and offering many more of them.

Typically, we've seen a standard, Pro and 5G version of Realme's numbered devices, so the existence of a Pro Plus is already new, and if the vanilla version has its own family too, there could be even more devices on the way.

We don't know quite what to expect from the wider Realme 9 series, but we'll cover the Pro launch in mid-February and bring you everything that's important, so check back then for all the news.

• What are Realme phones? Our guide to the brand