Skip to main content

An $81M painting inspired the design of this unusual phone

A render of the Realme 13 Pro in Monet Gold.
Realme

We’ve recently welcomed Realme back to the global phone market with the Realme GT 6, and it has wasted no time in getting us ready for its next release. It has teased the forthcoming Realme 13 Pro series and revealed it has worked with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on a Claude Monet-inspired color scheme for a pair of special-edition models.

The Realme 13 Pro phones use colors and a design inspired by two of the impressionist painter’s most recognizable works, Grainstack (Sunset) and Water Lilies. The Monet Gold phone influenced by Grainstack is the only one the company has shown off at this stage, and you can see the subtle gold tones and the reflections on the surface of the device, which evoke the sunset in the scene from one of  Monet’s famous and incredibly valuable paintings. How valuable? Auction house Christies sold Grainstack (Sunset) for $81,447,500 in 2016 to an anonymous buyer, while another in the series painted by Monet reached $110,747,000 in 2019 at Sotherby’s to become the most valuable piece of impressionist art in the world at the time.

It will be joined by a second special-edition phone in a color called Monet Purple, which is inspired by the Water Lilies painting. Both phones will have a frosted glass finish, which Realme says will be “crafted with a unique flash gold process, reproduced by millions of shimmering particles coming together to emulate Monet’s brushstrokes on the frosted high-gloss glass, capturing the fleeting moments in his paintings.”

Amber en CG Video 15s 1920x1080 super gold

Realme often excels at design, something we’ve noted with its other collaborations, beginning with those made with Japanese designer Fukasawa Naoto and spanning right up to its special editions made with well-known brands like Coca-Cola. It’ll be interesting to see how a collaboration with an art museum works, particularly when it’s referencing such well-known works.

What else do we know about the Realme 13 Pro series? It’s going to have two Sony Lytia camera sensors on the back, with one of them being the latest LYT-701, and some more AI technology inside the camera too. The Realme 13 Pro will be accompanied by a Realme 13 Pro Plus model, and it looks like all versions of the Realme 13 Pro series will be available in the Monet colors. The only release information on the new phones is they will be released in India in the near future.

Andy Boxall
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
The Google Pixel Watch 3 won’t play nicely with old Android phones
A top view of someone wearing the Google Pixel Watch 2.

If you're planning on ordering a Pixel Watch 3 when it’s announced next month, you might want to hold off. Looking through design leaks we reported on yesterday, 9to5Google has discovered that the Android requirements between it and the Pixel Watch 2 have changed — which could leave some folks with older Android phones left out.

According to leaked marketing images, the Pixel Watch 3 will require an Android phone with Android 10.0 or higher to work. The current model requires Android 9.0.

Read more
Google Pixel 9 rumors: Everything we know so far
Renders of the Google Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL.

The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are Google's latest and most powerful devices, but it won't be that way for long. While the more recently released Pixel 8a is the latest addition to the Pixel 8 lineup, it isn't quite as powerful as its siblings. Regardless, the Pixel 9 series is just a few weeks away, and it will supplant the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro as the "most powerful" Pixels yet.

The Pixel 9 family looks to be a quadruple threat that's sure to be a big hit. Leaks for the Pixel 9 family have been trickling in at a steady pace, and it seems like Google is planning on making some big changes this time around. If leaks are correct, we expect a new look and some exciting new AI features that go beyond what we've seen before.

Read more
iPhone SE deals: Refurbished 2nd and 3rd Gen iPhones
apple iphone se 2020 news new black camera and touch id 04152020

The iPhone SE is Apple’s most affordable iPhone, and it’s the phone to turn to if you’re hoping to land one of the best iPhone deals and best Apple deals. Even more savings can be yours if you’re willing to shop refurbished iPhone SE deals, which for the most part is where you’ll find all of the best iPhone SE deals. In fact, a refurbished iPhone SE may even be one of the best phone deals overall, as the starting prices are quite low as iPhones go. We’ve tracked down all of the best iPhone SE deals out there right now, and you can find your way to them below. Read onward for those details and you can find some similar phones deals among the best iPhone 14 deals, best iPhone 15 deals, and best refurbished iPhone deals.
iPhone SE 2nd Gen deals

The second generation of the iPhone SE was initially launched in 2020, but it still manages to keep up with the needs of many phone users today. It utilizes the body of the Apple iPhone 8, which means it will have a home button and fingerprint ID instead of the Face ID technology in current iPhone models. That’s not much to give up, however, as the second generation iPhone SE still has a great display, a 12-megapixel camera with the ability to shoot 4K video, and wireless charging capability.

Read more