realme C100 5G review – Tough & Big Budget Battery Behemoth Tested
The latest addition to their value-oriented C-series phones, the realme C100 5G is built around a massive 7,000mAh battery and a large display along with quite a few interesting features up its sleeves that even flagship phones lack.
Ahead of its official Malaysia launch, we managed to get our hands on a realme C100 5G review sample for field testing where its more salient qualities make it an easy shoe-in for a rather unique segment of phone users – delivery drivers. Here’s what we think…
realme C100 5G review – Build and Design
Table of Contents
In terms of build and design, our realme C100 5G review sample bears all the hallmarks of contemporary smartphone design with rounded corners, straight edges and a flat backplate with the notable divergence being chamfered edges around the 2.5D display bezels.
The chassis is made primarily from polycarbonate and features a metallic finish with a blooming flower motif across the backplate that lends it a distinctive look and which also helpfully resists smudges and fingerprints to some degree.
The rear also sports what resembles a triple camera array though the design only has one actual camera with the other two camera housings being there for mostly aesthetic effect. This arrangement does tend to make the phone wobble a bit though if you place it camera-side down on a table though the provided case mitigates this effect.
The left side is otherwise unremarkable with the right side featuring the customary volume rocker and a power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader which is a decidedly rare design option for smartphones that makes it easier for one-handed use.
Up top, our realme C100 5G review sample has a vanishingly rare feature that is almost extinct even in flagship phones – a 3.5mm audio jack which lets you use wired headphones. The base of the phone features a USB-C slot for charging duties, a grille for one of the two speakers and a SIM card tray that also supports a rare feature in current-day phones – a microSD card slot that allows for expanded storage.
Up front, the realme C100 5G has a large 6.8-inch IPS LCD screen with HD+ resolution which is protected by an unspecified type of Corning Gorilla Glass that is rated for 900 nits peak brightness in high brightness mode and features up to a 144Hz refresh rate and features a quoted 120Hz touch sampling rate.
Up top is a teardrop notch for a single 5MP selfie camera as well as a slit for the earpiece and which also acts as a second speaker to form a stereo pair with the one at the bottom.
While it looks fairly normal, the phone has what realme refers to as an ArmorShell structure. In essence, this is a shock absorbing chassis that makes the phone more resistant against everyday misadventure especially impacts and bending such that it is officially rated with a MIL-STD-810H rating for shocks and modest drops. That’s not all, the phone also has an IP64 dust and water resistance rating, allowing it to shrug off dust and splashes of water like rain and sweat.
To be fair, the realme C100 5G does strike a rather posh look about it though its nature especially given its faux triple camera array on the rear but its plasticky nature is apparent when you hold it in your hands. Fortunately, the design is sturdy and has a pleasant heft to it for one-handed use
To add extra value, realme has also tossed in a 45W fast charging, a USB-C cable and a rather robust looking casing that adds an extra measure of protection to the realme C100 5G. Interestingly, realme has also preinstalled a screen protector onto the display itself which adds a bit of extra value for what you pay for.
realme C100 5G Review – Performance and Benchmarks
In terms of the hardware running under the hood, our realme C100 5G review sample for the Malaysia market comes with a set of specifications that make it fit squarely within the performance profile expected of a budget phone.
Powering the phone is a MediTek Dimensity 6300 octacore processor. Built on a 6nm process and intended for midrange phones, the Dimensity 6300 first saw deployment in phones in mid-2024 and also saw service in the earlier realme C85 that was released last year.
To keep the chipset cool under sustained loads, the realme C100 5G also has a 5300mm2 vapour chamber. realme’s UI 7.0 firmware also has a Flux Engine that offers long-term system optimisation to ensure that the phone continues running fast and smooth up to 48 months after purchase which works out to 4 years of real-time usage.
Also included is their Mini Capsule that supports an dynamic island near the selfie camera for notifications from a selected but increasing pool of apps that now includes Grab.
As a proven design, the chipset is power efficient, features 5G connectivity and has sufficient performance for day to day tasks expected of a budget smartphone.
This is paired with 6GB RAM and up to 12GB of virtual RAM off the onboard 128GB storage which can be further augmented via a microSD card slot. Another variant of the realme C100 5G also exists with a similar amount of storage with 4GB RAM and 128GB of expandable storage at a lower price.
Here’s how our realme C100 5G review unit stacks up on paper:
| Price | RM1,099 | Promotional price of RM899 if purchased before 7 June 2026 in Malaysia |
| Display | 6.8-inch IPS LCD, 720 x 1,570 pixels, 144Hz, 900 nits high brightness mode, 83% NTSC, 8-bit colour depth |
| Processor | MediaTek DImensity 6300 |
| OS | Android 16 w/ realme UI 7.0 |
| Memory | 6GB LPDDR4X RAM / 128GB eMMC 5.1 + microSD card |
| Camera | 50MP f/1.8 AI Main Camera w/ autofocus [rear] / 5MP f/2.2 [front] |
| Battery | 7,000mAh w/ 45W wired charging + reverse wired charging |
| Size/Weight | 166.47 x 78.23 x 8.88mm /224g |
Closer inspection reveals that the realme C100 5G runs on the latest Android 16 with their own realme UI 7.0 that also supports Circle to Search with Google and Gemini AI Assistant.
When subjected to synthetic benchmarks with the full 12GB of virtual RAM, our realme C100 5G review unit managed to get the following benchmarks:
| 3D Mark WildLife Extreme | 386 |
| 3D Mark WildLife Extreme Unlimited | 372 |
| Geekbench 6 Single Core | 782 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi Core | 2,008 |
| Geekbench 6 OpenCL | 1,404 |
| Geekbench 6 Vulkan | 1,423 |
| Geekbench AI (CPU quanticed) | 1,065 |
| Geekbench AI (GPU quantised) | 469 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 Performance | 10,021 |
| PCMark Battery Life | 32 hours 3 mins |
In terms of benchmarks, the power efficient Dimensity 6300 performs adequately with benchmarks that fall within the parameters of phones with a similar chipset.
In day to day performance, our realme C100 5G review unit offered fast multitasking and smooth app switching between multiple open apps, web browsing ran in a fluid manner without apparent stuttering, with the sheer amount of 12GB virtual RAM contributing to its fluidity.
The provided LCD display does the job with adequate brightness for use in daytime scenarios. The HD+ is on the lower end for panel sharpness but is more than sufficient to read text, watch YouTube videos and otherwise get your directions on Waze or Google Maps.
While the display does have a 144Hz refresh rate, few apps are able to support that high a refresh rate and most of the time you’ll encounter 60Hz refresh rates for most apps and games and 120Hz when you’re navigating the menus.
However, the screen only maxes out at 83% NTSC colour gamut which means that colours displayed onscreen aren’t fully accurate though this is something only serious content creators would require. For viewing normal content like movies, games and web browsing, colour rendition has sufficiently punchy colours and adequate whites and decent contrast.
Of note are its stereo speakers which are able to ramp up to a whopping 300% volume. When tested at maximum volume playing a combination of Spotify tracks and YouTube, the speakers managed to sound clear without distortion.
However, sound staging isn’t the best with the bottom speaker sounding louder than the top one though this isn’t a deal breaker. In noisy environments, you can default to wired headphones via the top 3.5mm audio jack which is something almost all flagship phones lack.
Where the realme C100 5G excels and outclasses the competition is in terms of battery life. Its combination of a relatively energy efficient chipset and HD+ display along with its massive 7,000mAh battery allows it to last shy of two days of normal use with a combination of data and WiFi with web browsing, liberal social media use, video calls and some light gaming while setting the refresh rate to auto select and dynamic screen brightness.
Naturally, your mileage will vary and endurance will drop if you use it liberally for gaming and max out screen brightness.
Interestingly, the realme C100 5G also benefits from bypass charging, allowing you to charge the CPU and other hardware directly while bypassing the battery entirely which allows for longer battery health and reduced heat in components which helps reduce wear and tear on the phone over time..
In PCMark, our realme C100 5G review sample managed a whopping 31 hours and 3 minutes which is among the best tested.
The phone also has a fast 45W wired charging speed which allows for quick top-ups in the field with the provided 45W SUPERVOOC charger allowing for enough power for about an hour and a half of videos on screen with a 5 minute juicing.
Of greater concern, especially for heavy users is realme’s inclusion of battery aging control technology that optimises battery health and which ensures that the battery capacity of the realme C100 5G remains at 80% or greater even after 6 years of continuous use.
realme C100 5G Review – Cameras
For imaging duties, the realme C100 5G has a single rear 50MP f/1.8 camera with autofocus, 2X lossless digital zoom by cropping the sensor and up to 10x digital zoom and up to 1080p@30fps video capture. The front 5MP f/2.2 camera is capable of selfies and can also capture up to 1080p@30fps video.
In daylight conditions, the rear 50MP camera is able to deliver shots with good colour rendition and detail out to 2x zoom.
In low light conditions, the lack of optical image stabilisation and the modest sensor size mean that there’s a bit of shutter lag and shots are serviceable if underwhelming. The front selfie camera needs good lighting to deliver decent results but otherwise does the job.
Video capture isn’t the realme C100 5G’s forte and at 1080p@30fps, videos require a very steady hand and good lighting for best results.
Should you buy the realme C100 5G?
The realme C100 5G features a large HD+ LCD display, exceptional battery life and a robust MIL-STD-810H and IP64 dust and water resistance rating. Even better, it is one of the few phones in the market which have a 3.5mm audio jack and microSD card support.
This combination of features makes it particularly appealing for delivery drivers who require a large display and long battery life in a durable chassis. However, it’s not all a bed of roses and camera performance is middling at best.
At the time of writing, there’s no official word on pricing save that it costs more than RM500 and is expected to be priced slightly north of that price band. If you’re on a tight budget, the realme C100 5G’s unique combination of features is worthy of consideration.
realme C100 5G review sample courtesy of realme Malaysia. For more details please visit Make it real – realme (Malaysia)