Realme reportedly sold over 15 million phones in the very first year of its operations. The company’s CEO Madhav Sheth revealed that Realme is aiming to double the sale number by 2020. The Chinese smartphone maker began operations in May 2018 and has emerged as one of the fastest-growing smartphone brands in India. Realme has emerged as a formidable opponent to Xiaomi and Samsung in the Indian smartphone market.
“We will end 2019, the first full year of our operations, with sales of 15 million handsets. We are targeting to at least double this in 2020,” Sheth told PTI. Realme has 14.3 percent market share, as per industry data by IDC. Xiaomi, on the other hand, is leading the market with 27.1 percent share. It is followed by Samsung (18.9 percent) and Vivo (15.2 percent) in the third quarter.
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Realme has now risen to become the fourth biggest smartphone brand in India in the third quarter, according to IDC. Unlike Vivo and Oppo, Realme aped the strategy of the market leader closely and focussed on online from the start. Both Vivo and Oppo are offline-focussed with investments in channel marketing and offline distribution. Sheth, who founded the company together with BBK Group, also said that Realme is currently the seventh fastest-growing smartphone brand globally.
Starting from India, Realme today is present in 20 markets. These include China, Southeast Asia, Russia, Europe, he said. “We have sold 5.2 million smartphones during Diwali month alone,” Sheth said. During the festive season sales, some of the best-selling phones were Realme C2, Realme 3i and Realme 5. As per Counterpoint Research, Realme shipped 10 million phones in the third quarter of 2019, an 808 percent year-on-year growth in shipments.
Sheth also confirmed that Realme will soon roll out an offline-only series for India, which will be named by the end of this year. Aimed at the mid-premium range, the new series will focus more on all-rounder user experiences such as a better battery, touch, and feel (aesthetics). “We are lining up with more smart accessories with great performance and trendy design. Realme will become a tech lifestyle brand in 2020,” he said.
The Chinese company is eyeing 30 percent sales from offline and 70 percent from online market, he said. “We wanted to clarify that Realme Mobile Telecommunications Private Ltd is already an independent brand and legal entity,” he said adding the brand was set up by him and founder Sky Li on May 4, 2018.
– With inputs from PTI
