When Realme first released the GT 7 teaser with the “007” branding, I thought, “Hey, Realme is about to launch the next Bond phone.” Shortly after, the company put out another poster with the text “Realme GT 7 Dream Edition” and what seemed like an image of an F1 race car, covered in green cloth. That’s when my colleagues and I thought: “This must be a collaboration with the Aston Martin F1 Team, right?”
And it turns out we were right. The Realme GT 7 Dream Edition is the result of a collaboration between Realme and the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team. The device sits above the rest of the GT 7 series, which includes the regular GT 7 and the GT 7T, but below the GT 7 Pro, which launched in Malaysia in late 2024.
Being a product that bears the Aston Martin silver badge, you can’t blame me for having high hopes for the phone, right? In fact, you could even say the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition has unofficially replaced the Aston Martin Cygnet as the most affordable way to own something with the iconic wings on it.
But before I move on any further, it needs to be clarified that the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition was made available in an undisclosed but limited number of units in Malaysia, and has been sold out since late May 2025. With all that said, here’s what I’ve learnt after using the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition as my daily driver.
Here’s the GT 7 Dream Edition’s specs at a glance:
| Display | 6.78” Quad HD+ (2780×1264) 120Hz LTPO AMOLED |
| Chipset | MediaTek Dimensity 9400e |
| RAM | 16GB |
| Storage | 512GB |
| Cameras | 50MP main, 50MP telephoto, 8MP ultra-wide, 32MP front |
| Battery | 7,000mAh |
| Charging | 120W via USB-C |
| Software | Realme UI 6.0 (Android 15) |
| Connectivity | 5G, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC |
| Ingress Protection | IP69 |
A special phone made for the fans with an unboxing experience to match
If it isn’t obvious enough already, the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition is made for fans of the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team. Realme even hired Fernando Alonso, one of the Aston Martin F1 Team’s racing drivers, as the phone’s ambassador.
Priced at RM2,999, the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition costed RM400 more than the regular GT 7. Both models share the same specs, which means you get the same display, camera, and performance experience. But what makes the Dream Edition special is its exterior and software design, as well as its unboxing experience.
Let’s start with the unboxing experience, which is a fancy one, especially for the price. You’re first greeted with a huge cardboard box featuring the Aston Martin F1 Team and Realme branding.
Don’t worry, as this is just to protect the real star of the show. Simply tear off the tab, and you’ll be greeted by a cover coated in Aston Martin Racing Green, topped with the Silver Aston Martin F1 Team badge, and of course, the ‘Realme GT 7 Dream Edition’ inscription. Lift the cover off, and you will then see the main box in black.
Unfold its side panels, and a green envelope rises into view. Inside is a booklet reflecting on the Aston Martin Racing team’s legacy, a reminder that the phone you’ve bought is the result of that collaboration. Sitting beneath it is the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition itself.
That’s not all. There’s also a tray at the bottom, where you will find a USB-A-to-C cable, a USB-A wall charging adapter, and a black case that comes with a cutout that’s intentionally designed to allow the Aston Martin Racing Team badge on the phone to shine through. Last but not least is the F1 SIM ejector tool, which Realme says is inspired by an Aston Martin F1 racecar — a bona fide collector’s item.
Realme GT 7 Dream Edition: A GT 7 wearing an Aston Martin F1 racing suit
Now, let’s pull our focus back to the main character itself, the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition. Essentially sporting the same specifications as the regular GT 7, what’s so special about the Dream Edition? Aside from the special packaging we covered earlier, it’s all down to design.
Matching the Aston Martin F1 Team branding, the GT 7 Dream Edition is coated in the brand’s proprietary green colour, contrasted by lime accents on the power button and rear camera island. The rest of the special goodies are all found in its software. Out of the box, the GT 7 series runs on Realme UI 6.0, which is based on Android 15.
With the limited-edition GT 7, Realme, in collaboration with the Aston Martin F1 Racing Team, has further customised the design of its software. First off, you get a bespoke theme and a series of app icons that sport the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team designs.
To my delight, all of the apps that came together with the phone feature icons matched to the bespoke design and theme. These include the Google apps that came out of the box, Lazada, Shopee, Fitbit, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. But as expected, the apps that I installed afterwards basically look the same as they do on any other phone.
And of course, special Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team wallpapers are also available. In fact, the lockscreen wallpaper even features dynamic effects when the display lights up.
That’s not all. The phone also features unique animations, including one for when it powers on. You’ll also see a custom animation and hear a matching sound effect when charging or when activating GT Mode.
Just in case all of the above still isn’t enough to remind you that you’re holding an Aston Martin F1 Team-branded phone, the GT 7 Dream Edition also comes packed with three exclusive watermarks featuring the silver badge branding. Aside from the SIM ejector tool, this is certainly my personal favourite of them all.
How did it perform as a phone?
Looking beyond its unique branding and design, how did the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition perform as a phone? Overall, my experience has been pretty positive.
First off, the 6.78” 2780×1264 AMOLED screen has been a breeze to look at. It’s vibrant, bright, and is plenty smooth too with its 120Hz refresh rate. Much of that smoothness is down to Realme’s UI 6.0. Priced at RM2,999, it’s not a premium flagship, so you get an LTPS display instead of an LTPO — a trade-off I’m happy to accept.
Performance with the MediaTek Dimensity 9400e chipset, along with 16GB of RAM, was also more than sufficient for my usage, which mainly consisted of texting, social media, word processing, and media consumption on YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix. I also spent quite a bit of time gaming on this phone with popular titles like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
To improve cooling, Realme has fitted the GT 7 series with a graphene panel, which helps spread heat more evenly across the surface rather than concentrating it near the chipset. Indeed, the phone’s thermal performance was decent, and it rarely ran hotter than I would deem comfortable.
Battery life was exceptional for mostly casual use, namely social media and media consumption. Over one day of use, it gave me slightly over 10 hours of screen-on time (SOT). With hours of constant gaming and media consumption mixed in, the SOT figures dropped below the three-hour mark, though the phone lasted over 13 hours before shutting down completely.
The cameras on the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition were also pretty decent. You get a versatile setup, consisting of a 50MP main shooter, a 50MP telephoto camera, and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens.
The result? Vibrant, punchy photos that should satisfy most users — especially those who love snapping pictures for social media. In fact, shots taken with the GT 7 often look social media–ready straight out of the camera and require little to no editing.
If I’m nitpicking, photos can sometimes look a bit too contrasty or oversaturated in dynamic scenes, causing darker areas to lose detail or appear crushed. But again, that’s just me being picky.
A great Realme, but maybe not an Aston Martin?
As a smartphone, the Reame GT 7 Dream Edition is solid. But given that it carries the Aston Martin badge, I honestly expected a bit more, especially in terms of design. Just like how Aston Martin cars are known for their impeccable craftsmanship, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect the same level of finesse from the GT 7 Dream Edition, right?
For its price, it’s well-built. But as an Aston Martin–branded device? It could’ve been executed better. Take, for example, the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition from a couple of years back. Fans loved it, and for good reason.
Like the GT 7 Dream Edition, the OnePlus came in a fancy box with exclusive extras, including a glass plaque featuring a carbon fibre McLaren logo. But more importantly, the 6T McLaren Edition felt genuinely premium, at least on par with, if not better than, other flagships of its time, complete with convincing carbon-fibre-like textures beneath the rear glass.
The GT 7 Dream Edition, in comparison, feels more like a mid-ranger. In fact, there are mid-range phones that feel sturdier, like Samsung’s Galaxy A56. The camera island on the GT 7 Dream Edition also looks a bit too flat, and when paired with the lime accents around it, the design ends up looking somewhat cheap.
Another area where I expected more is in its bespoke app icons. I genuinely appreciate the design team’s effort here, but for a phone wearing such a prestigious badge, I was hoping for a more cohesive, polished visual experience.
Forgive my bluntness, but this is a phone carrying the name of a luxury car brand that typically settles for nothing but the best — well, most of the time. The Realme GT 7 Dream Edition reminds me of a certain Aston Martin that raised quite a few eyebrows: the Cygnet.
Much like the GT 7 Dream Edition, the Aston Martin Cygnet was a decent product at its core — a perfectly serviceable city car, just as the GT 7 is a capable daily smartphone.
But the Cygnet disappointed fans because of the badge it wore, a badge associated with precision-crafted, V12-powered grand tourers. Underneath, it was essentially a rebadged Toyota iQ: practical and efficient, but not exactly what you’d expect from Aston Martin.
Similarly, the GT 7 Dream Edition doesn’t represent the pinnacle of smartphone craftsmanship. It doesn’t boast the most premium materials, the best display, top-tier performance, or class-leading cameras — things one might reasonably expect from a product bearing the silver wings.
That said, the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition does have one major advantage over the Cygnet: its price. At RM2,999, it’s relatively affordable. The Cygnet, on the other hand, launched at around 40,000 US Dollars — more than triple the price of the Toyota iQ it was based on.
Verdict: A premium mid-ranger for the fans
So, is the Realme GT 7 Dream Edition a buy or a bin? I’d say it’s a buy — even if I’m not personally sold on its design. Then again, maybe I’m just not the target audience.
For RM400 more than the standard Realme GT 7, you get a fancier unboxing experience, extra goodies, and exclusive Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team design touches inside and out. But as mentioned above, it’s been sold out since May this year.
All’s not lost, though — the regular Realme GT 7 is still available for RM2,499 via Realme’s official stores on Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.
If you’re shopping around, you might also want to consider alternatives like the Vivo V60, Honor 400 Pro, Oppo Reno 14 Pro, or Samsung Galaxy S25 FE — or simply wait for the next-gen Realme GT 8, which should make its global debut soon.
Buy or Bin? | Realme GT 7 Dream Edition: Forget the Cygnet, this is the true budget Aston Martin
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