Realme 9 Pro+ to come with heart-rate sensor, leak says it will be affordable

Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth has confirmed that the 9 Pro+ will come with a heart-rate sensor embedded under the display, giving users a feature that once existed in Samsung's flagship phones.

Realme 9 Pro+ will be the company’s first smartphone with a heart rate sensor. Madhav Sheth, CEO of Realme India, announced on Twitter that the upcoming 9 Pro-series phone will use an optical sensor on the screen to measure user’s heart rate patterns. In a short clip posted on Twitter, Sheth revealed the phone will support heart rate readings recorded through the phone into the Health section of Realme Link app.

Heart rate sensors on smartphones is not a new technology. Samsung used to equip its flagship phones with heart rate sensors some years back. The Samsung Galaxy S10 series was the last one though. Samsung removed the heart rate and SpO2 sensors from its flagship phones with the Galaxy S20 series. With smartwatches and fitness bands becoming more popular among people, it made sense to remove these sensors from the phone, but Realme wants to spurt a fresh interest in vital-measurement on smartphones.

The Realme 9 Pro+ will be a value flagship phone. This is a new category of devices that have flagship-like features but cost much less. Realme has already revealed that the 9 Pro+ will come with a MediaTek Dimensity 920 processor and a flagship Sony sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS) in the rear camera system. While the official information is not that abundant, leaks have left nearly nothing to the imagination. According to the leaks, the Realme 9 Pro+ will come with a Full-HD+ AMOLED display with a high refresh rate. The phone may come with two 50-megapixel cameras on the back, while the selfie camera may reside inside a punch-hole on the display.

Separately, the price of the Realme 9 Pro series has been leaked. According to RMLeaks, the 9 Pro will start at Rs 16,999, while the 9 Pro+ will be available at a starting price of Rs 20,999. The base variant of the 9 Pro may come with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, while that of the 9 Pro+ will have 6GB of RAM instead. Realme will announce the prices at the launch event. Realme has not said anything about the date yet, but a tipster recently suggested that the European launch of the phone will take place on February 15, while the Indian launch, according to a report, will happen on February 16.