We knew it was going to happen. It wasn't a question of if, but when, an Android OEM would copy Apple's Dynamic Island, introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro. Six months later, the first shameless clone is here.

China-based Realme has introduced the Realme C55, a budget phone that's set to debut in Asian and European markets. The phone's headlining feature is something that Realme calls the "Mini Capsule," a pill-shaped black bar that can expand from the phone's front-facing camera and provide users with context such as charging information, step count, and data usage.

Realme

This sounds a whole lot like Dynamic Island, with the only difference being that this looks like it's a little less useful than its Apple counterpart, since it doesn't have integration with third-party apps. The black pill also extends from an otherwise small camera cutout on your screen, contrary to the iPhone 14 Pro, which actually has a pill-shaped cutout --- although this makes sense, considering the iPhone has Face ID hardware to account for while this just has one camera. Last year's Xiaomi Civi 2 had a similar center-aligned pill, but the area was taken up by two cameras, with no screen space between them.

Other than this, this is a standard mid-range Android phone. It's equipped with a MediaTek Helio G88 and a 6.7-inch 1080p 90Hz display, and it can be purchased with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It has a 5,000 mAh battery that can be charged at up to 33W.

You won't be able to get this in the US, but in Indonesia, it'll start at Rp2,999,000 (around $195). Other markets should see similar pricing.

Source: The Verge