Realme confident of 25-30mn units smartphone sales in India this year

Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth said 2020 was a "phenomenal year" for the company, and despite losing about a quarter worth of sales, Realme clocked a 25% rise in smartphone sales at about 19 million units.

Realme India and Europe CEO, Madhav Sheth  (Realme)

Chinese tech major Realme is confident of its smartphone sales growing over 30% to about 25-30 million units this year in India as well as strong demand for its wearable and audio products.

Speaking to PTI, Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth said 2020 was a "phenomenal year" for the company, and despite losing about a quarter worth of sales, Realme clocked a 25% rise in smartphone sales at about 19 million units.

"Even though we lost a quarter of sales due to supply chain disruptions, I believe there was an opportunity in disguise and Realme grew by around 25% (from 15 million in 2019 to 19 million in 2020). I think the minimum would be nothing less than 25-30 million handsets, that's what we are targeting for 2021," he said.

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He noted that the belly of the market has always been ₹15,000 smartphones, and the pandemic has seen the replacement cycles expand.

India smartphone market shipments grew 17% year-on-year (y-o-y) with record shipments of 54.3 million units in the September 2020 quarter, as per research firm IDC.

Xiaomi led the tally with 25% share of September quarter shipments, followed by Samsung (22.3%), Vivo (16.7%), Realme (14.7%) and Oppo (11.3%).

In the month of October, India's smartphone market grew 42% y-o-y with shipments at 21 million units.

"People are looking for more value for money, it's not about the cheaper phone, but one that gives them the value for money...We have always been a product driven company and we understand consumers well..

"The replacement cycles have got longer and consumers are looking for a long term product, something that involves lesser visits to service centres, gives them value for money and brings in innovations," Sheth said.

"And Realme checks all these boxes and that gives us the confidence for growth this year," he added.

Sheth, who is also responsible for the European market, said since starting its operations in India, Realme has expanded to other markets.

"We started with India and so, it is going to be one of the most strategic businesses. Being a global company, India is always going to be relevant, but yes we are expanding further and we want to expand further to different geographies.

"Right now, India is more than 50% of our global revenue and we would like India to continue contributing over 35% over the next many years," he added.

The company, which competes aggressively against players like Xiaomi and Samsung in the Indian market, is also focused on expanding its hold in the AIOT (artificial intelligence based Internet of Things) space with its wearables and smart audio products.

Realme's AIOT products include smart TVs, smart watches and fitness bands and earbuds.

"AIoT has been a wonderful category and we have performed exceptionally well in these categories. People are looking for more technology help to ease up their life, and this will only increase further...We will be expanding our portfolio of AIOT products in wider price segments to give consumers better choices," he said.