CMF PHONE 1 VS Realme P1: Which Sub-Rs 20,000 Smartphone Should You Buy?

Apart from that, Realme P1 also offers a 256GB variant, which CMF doesn’t offer. The extra variant and lower price point of the mid variant do make the Realme P1 an obvious choice. But CMF Phone 1 brings a lot more to the table for the price it commands. So, price and variants apart, let’s look at other aspects to see which smartphone is better value for money.

CMF Phone 1 vs Realme P1: Design

The Realme P1 comes with a watchdial design similar to the Realme 12 series. It comes with distinctive feather texture patterns on the back and comes in Phoenix Red and Peacock Green colours. However, the edges are flat and sharp, which makes Realme P1 slippery and uncomfortable to hold.

The CMF Phone 1, on the other hand, lives up to what the brand name stands for – colour, material, and finish. It comes in four colours – Black, Light Green, Orange and Blue (India exclusive). The first two colours have a matte texture, whereas the orange and blue variants have a vegan leather finish. No matter which variant you pick, the smartphone feels comfortable to hold.

Plus, the CMF Phone 1 has a unique approach when it comes to design. With the modular back panel and the Accessory Point (the circular dial in the bottom right), you can customise the back panel and attach multiple accessories using the four proprietary user-removable screws. This modularity comes at a cost though; the swappable panels are priced at Rs 1,499 and accessories at Rs 799.

Between the two devices, the CMF Phone 1 stands out with its unique modular design and soft finish and can be your daily driver if you are willing to spend extra on the accessories. Otherwise, both devices have a similar plastic build.

CMF Phone 1 vs Realme P1: Display

As for the display, both smartphones sport a 6.67-inch AMOLED display on the front. Both smartphones also support HDR but only on YouTube for now. There’s no HDR support for Netflix, Prime Video, or other OTT apps.

The Realme P1 and CMF Phone 1 are neck-to-neck when it comes to colours, brightness, and visibility. They both offer great visibility indoors and outdoors with punchy colours. In short, you can pick one or the other and won’t notice a difference when it comes to the display.

CMF Phone 1 vs Realme P1: Performance

Coming to the performance, the CMF Phone 1 is powered by the 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, while the Realme P1 has the 6nm Dimensity 7050 chipset. The Dimensity 7300 is a slightly upgraded version of the Dimensity 7050 yet the performance gap is significant.

For starters, in our testing the CMF Phone 1 boots up in just 18 seconds, whereas the Realme P1 takes over a minute to boot. Check out the synthetic benchmark scores comparison between the CMF Phone 1 and Realme P1.

As you can see in the benchmark comparison between the CMF Phone 1 and Realme P1 above, the former wins by a good margin. However, instead of relying on numbers we put both devices down to brass tacks and here’s what we found.

Both phones breeze through daily tasks like social media browsing, web scrolling, instant messaging, music and video streaming, etc. There wasn’t any stutter or lag in general usage with the tasks mentioned above and even heavier games like BGMI.

CMF Phone 1 vs Realme P1: Software

The CMF Phone 1 boots the Nothing OS 2.6 based on Android 14, which flaunts minimal bloatware and a slick minimalistic red-and-black theme with dotted font. As we reported in our CMF Phone 1 review, the UI is devoid of stutters except when a heavy app is running in the background.

On the other hand, the Realme P1 comes with Realme UI 5.0 based on Android 14. However, unlike the CMF Phone 1, the Realme P1 has a fair share of bloatware and the infamous Hot Apps and Hot Games folders. While this pre-installed app can be removed and folders can be disabled, having them in the first place is a bit of an annoyance. However, the UI feels smooth and faster because of the absence of app closing animations.

Both Realme and CMF are promising two major Android upgrades and three years of security patches. The CMF Phone 1 edges ahead in the software department because of the clean UI, minimalistic aesthetics, and zero-to-none bloatware.

CMF Phone 1 vs Realme P1: Cameras

The similarity between CMF Phone 1 and Realme P1 continues in the camera department as well. Both phones come with dual rear camera setups with near-identical lenses. Both have a 50MP primary camera and a 2MP secondary camera. However, CMF calls it a portrait lens while Realme refers to it as a B&W lens.

The CMF Phone 1 captures great pictures in the daylight with colour science leaning towards cooler tones. The scenario is the exact opposite in low-light situations with the camera producing images with warmer tones. Moreover, the primary camera blows out the highlights when the backlight is harsh. We suggest clicking pictures facing the sun instead of having them behind you. The selfie camera is decent in daylight but struggles when the sun goes down.

CMF Phone 1 Camera Samples

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With a similar camera setup, Realme P1 also performs decently during the day but not so much at night. The smartphone also fails to detect edges properly in some scenarios and tends to beautify the skin a bit too much in portraits. The device takes good selfies but again with excessive beautification, which might not sit well with those who prefer natural-looking portrait shots.

Realme P1 Camera Samples

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Overall, the lack of over-beautification in CMF Phone 1 makes it a better choice. But again that’s subjective and some might prefer the beautification.

CMF Phone 1 vs Realme P1: Battery and Charging

Both CMF Phone 1 and Realme P1 are powered by a 5,000mAh battery. However, while the former supports 33W fast charging, the latter features 45W fast charging. Surprisingly in our charging test, both devices took around 1 hour and 12 minutes to fully charge from zero. These smartphones can easily last a day or a day and a half on a full charge.

Having said that, you need to purchase the charger for the CMF Phone 1 separately as you won’t get one in the box. On the other hand, the Realme P1 comes bundled with a 45W charger.

CMF Phone 1 vs Realme P1: Verdict

The CMF Phone 1 with its one-of-a-kind design, accessories ecosystem, and cleaner software, comes across as the better deal here. It also has a better imaging system, making it a better deal for the price.

That said, the Realme P1 isn’t a bad option and is for those who care about the bundled charger, a rather simple design, and more RAM/Storage options. However, bear in mind, that there will be bloatware in the UI and beautification issues in the camera.