Smartphone market: Realme becomes more and more successful

There is hardly a more competitive market in the tech industry than the smartphone segment. But it is not the battle for first and second place that is being fought out. Both podium places have already been divided between Apple and Samsung. Rather, there is a relentless battle for the following places. Chinese companies in particular are challenging each other. One of them is Realme. In the past few months, this company has transformed itself from an inglorious manufacturer of cheap devices to a serious competitor for Xiaomi, OnePlus and other Chinese manufacturers.

One man’s sorrow is another man’s joy

Let’s take a little trip back in time. A few years ago, Samsung was about to give up its top spot as the most successful Android smartphone manufacturer to another company – Huawei. The Chinese conglomerate scored with state-of-the-art technology at a fair price back then. Especially the state-of-the-art camera technology made the manufacturer’s flagships extremely popular among consumers. However, before Huawei could overtake Samsung, the Americans intervened in the competition. They imposed an embargo on Huawei and its products due to US national security concerns. When Huawei found its inglorious way onto the dreaded U.S. embargo list, it was not only its share price that plummeted. After all, the embargo not only meant that Huawei devices had to suffer an import ban for the US in the future.

On top of that, US companies were prohibited from working with the Chinese electronics manufacturer. Among other things, this meant that Huawei had to set up its own chip production overnight. It also had to develop its own operating system and app store. Finally, Google was no longer allowed to cooperate with Huawei, which banned Android and the Google Play Store from Huawei’s devices. Last but not least, the embargo still ensures that Huawei is not allowed to deliver its smartphones with a 5G chip on the Western market. This is a gigantic disadvantage in times when even mid-range devices offer the latest mobile standard. But while Huawei experienced probably the biggest downturn of its existence as a company, other manufacturers benefited.

Realme’s recipe for success

The void left by Huawei was quickly filled by other Chinese companies. These included Xiaomi and OnePlus in particular at the beginning. In the process, both companies divided the market fairly among themselves. While Xiaomi was especially successful in the field of entry-level and mid-range devices, OnePlus scored with its flagships. However, the competition did not sleep, of course. The Chinese company Realme, which became known with the motto “Dare to Leap”, took many risks and was ultimately successful. Realme is still a very young manufacturer, which makes its success all the more amazing. The company was only founded in 2018 and initially competed with not very glorious devices. The company apparently wanted to convince with low prices at first.

It also succeeded in doing so. The first Realme devices, which were launched here in 2020, sold very well. A closer look reveals that the company’s strategy is similar to that of Xiaomi. First and foremost, Realme tries to position itself broadly. A look at the product range makes it clear what that means. Besides inexpensive entry-level devices, Realme also offers mid-range smartphones. However, the manufacturer, which belongs to the BKK Electronics group, did not produce high-priced flagships in the beginning. In the end, they did not want to offer customers high-end technology, but solid hardware at a fair price. And the plan now seems to bear fruit. After all, the company is enjoying growing popularity in this country.

Giant sales increases at Realme

The fact that Realme is also becoming increasingly popular in our climes is no mere gut feeling. Here, a simple look at the statistics is enough to make this clear. No other smartphone manufacturer was able to record such a sales increase in 2021 as Realme. The company delivered 548 percent more smartphones than in the previous year. As a result, it is now one of the most popular smartphone manufacturers on the European market. This success story is quite exciting.

After all, it is anything but easy to compete against the numerous other Chinese companies. Realme has succeeded in doing so. Thus, it initially “only” passed rather unknown companies to be even more popular than Oppo or even OnePlus in the meantime. This is from a list of the price comparison portal Idealo. There, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer now ranks 5th among all providers for corresponding devices.

Slight losses for Apple

But it is not only the look at Realme that is exciting. There have also been some changes at the other manufacturers. And not only in the positive. For example, iPhone inventor Apple has to take a small hit. Idealo talks about a loss of about 4 percentage points. The eternal competitor Samsung benefits from this. Thus, the South Koreans can claim victory in the direct comparison of demand shares on idealo. With just under 38 percent, it is now two percent ahead of the US company. Idealo itself attributes this to the presentation of the Galaxy S22.

However, one should not lose sight of the fact that Apple also introduced a new smartphone last week with the third-generation iPhone SE. So it can’t be due to too little attention. Xiaomi, by the way, comes in a distant third. Thus, 9.2 percent of Idealo users requested a corresponding price comparison. Android inventor Google occupies the ungrateful fourth place. With its Pixel smartphones, the Californian tech company, like Xiaomi, is almost consistently popular compared to the previous year.

The Realme 8 is providing a boost

One device that is responsible for the lion’s share of Realme’s success is undoubtedly the Realme 8. The Chinese manufacturer was able to win over many new customers with the mid-range device. This is hardly surprising when you take a closer look. Already in our review, the device could convince us with its impressive value for money. In particular, the brilliant 6.4-inch AMOLED screen scored points with us. If you pay a bit more, you can even get the entry-level device with 5G on board. That is a real challenge for the competition. However, even though Realme bases its success on inexpensive entry-level smartphones, this does not mean that the manufacturer cannot also offer premium devices. In the meantime, a lot has happened in this regard.

So the company no longer just makes entry-level devices like the C series or mid-range smartphones like the GT series or Realme 9 series. Realme is now also active in the high-performance flagship segment. The Chinese company recently launched a real competitor for Samsung’s Galaxy S22 with its Realme GT 2 Pro. However, the device’s performance and features are not the only ones that are unusually extensive. With a starting price of just over 700 Euros, the device is also surprisingly expensive – at least by Realme standards. However, considering that the Galaxy S22 costs just under 150 Euros more in its cheapest features, it once again becomes clear that Realme is primarily capable of one thing – a lot of performance for little money.