The last few years have brought a lot of cheer for Realme in India. Owing to its strategy of launching aggressively priced phones, the company has managed to make a significant mark in the budget and mid-range segments of the smartphone market. But in 2022, the company has plans to go premium and at the same time also make a major push for the 5G space of the market.
We recently sat down with Madhav Sheth, CEO, Realme India and President, Realme International Business Group, to understand what the company has in store for the Indian market this year.
Q: How important is the push for 5G for Realme? What milestones have Realme reached in the 5G segment, and the ones that it plans to further reach this year?
Being a tech disruptor, Realme always aims to provide best-in-class technology products to its users. We believe that 5G devices not only provide faster connectivity but also bring innovation, which is something that many users are looking for these days. As a brand, Realme wants its users to have an astonishing experience of using 5G smartphones and has been working towards it for quite some time now.
Realme was the first brand to introduce a 5G-enabled device in India in early 2020, and over the last two years, has launched numerous 5G enabled devices across price segments. Realme wants its users to experience the power of 5G in all segments, which is why the Realme 9 Pro series 5G comes with the latest and most powerful 5G processors, delivering an unparalleled experience to our users in the mid-range segment. Additionally, we are also actively and closely working with chipset makers to ensure that our smartphones get equipped with the latest 5G processors.
Talking about the milestones we have achieved and witnessed in the 5G, we sold more than 2.5 million 5G smartphones in 2021. In Q3 2021, Realme led the 5G segment in the sub-INR 20,000 price tier with the highest ever shipments and was the Fastest Growing 5G Android Smartphone Brand, as per Counterpoint Research. These success figures have given us the confidence of expanding our 5G portfolio, which is why all Realme smartphones launched above INR 15,000 in 2022 will support 5G, i.e., more than 50% of the smartphones that we launch in 2022 will be 5G-enabled.
Q: What are Realme's plans for bringing 5G to mid-range and budget segments of the smartphone market in 2022?
To embrace the 5G trend, the entire industry is working to bring 5G smartphones to market. 5G is an irreversible trend, and Realme understands the importance of preparing consumers for the future and giving them exactly what they are looking for. Being a brand that is constantly working towards bringing the latest technology to its consumers, Realme introduced the first 5G smartphone in India in 2020, and in less than two years, has become the fastest-growing 5G smartphone brand.
Realme aims to be a 5G leader and a democratizer in India and will therefore equip all smartphones above INR 15,000 with 5G. Currently, 90% of Realme’s R&D resources have been converted to develop 5G technology and products. It was because of our close, working relationship with chipset makers that we were able to equip both smartphones under the Realme 9 Pro series 5G with the latest 5G processors. While the Realme 9 Pro+ comes with MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G processor and is one of the world’s first smartphones with this chipset, the Realme 9 Pro 5G has Snapdragon 695 5G. Throughout 2022, Realme will continue to democratise the market with its 5G smartphones.
Q: How has the response been for Realme's 5G phones in the offline segment?
Being one of the first smartphone brands to introduce a 5G smartphone, we had our share of doubts in terms of the response we would receive from our users. But we were truly surprised by how adoptive they were of a 5G device. When we brought a 5G smartphone to the market, we believed that users were ready to experiment with newer technologies, and we were right. Overall, the response in the offline segment has been quite stupendous and we have the dominated market space with the Realme 8s and Realme 8 5g. We saw sales of 5G units at 90 percent of our outlets and are expecting 5g to be a harbinger of good fortune in 2022.
Q: Could you elaborate on Realme’s ‘Go Premium’ strategy for 2022?
In the last three years, Realme has carved a niche for itself in the smartphone industry. We have introduced multiple smartphones in the entry-level and mid-range segment, and have established ourselves as a reliable, trustworthy brand that is well-adored by users. Our next step is to disrupt the premium smartphone segment, and we have already started our journey towards it. We launched the Realme GT series in 2021 embodying speed, master design and cutting-edge technology, and the response was exhilarating! We also launched the GT series Master Edition and sold 70k units on the first day of Big Billion Day sales, strengthening our faith in ourselves.
In 2022, we want to expedite our leadership in the premium segment and provide a wider array of premium smartphones to our users. For the same, we will be expanding our GT series portfolio and will bring in flagship smartphones above INR 50K. We will also bring the much-awaited GT2 Series to India, which is powered by Snapdragon® 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform and features three industry-first technologies.