Realme eyes to sell 30mn phones by 2020-end in India

Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth has refreshed his target for the rest of the year, eyeing 30 million smartphones and 8 million Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIOT) products going off the shelves.

Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth admitted the lockdown has impacted the sales and demand for smartphones. (Madhav Sheth/Twitter)

As India gears up to enter unlock 2.0 from June 30, realme India CEO Madhav Sheth has refreshed his target for the rest of the year, eyeing 30 million smartphones and 8 million Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIOT) products going off the shelves.

According to him, another demand surge is round the corner which is mostly towards the mid-range and budget smartphones and the company has a stronghold in that price segment.

"Some of our best-in-class products like realme 6 series, and the Narzo series are part of the bracket and we believe that we may even grow faster than other competitive brands in the rest of the year," Sheth told IANS on Friday.

He admitted the lockdown has impacted the sales and demand for smartphones.

"But it hasn't diluted the fact that smartphones have now become a necessity for people more than ever. While some of the consumers might delay their purchase at the moment due to shrink in their income, we are optimistic that things will be back on track by the time festive sales begin," elaborated Sheth who is also Vice President, realme.

According to the IDC, the Indian smartphone market is expected to follow a U-shaped curve, from Q3 onwards.

"While the slowdown was prominent throughout H1 2020, the accumulated demand will shift to H2 2020. We can expect higher sales than last year this festive season. We are still positive on maintaining a 100 per cent (year-on-year) growth goal in 2020," he emphasised.

With realme X, the company brought the first mid-range pop-up camera in the segment and with realme XT, "we delivered India's first 64MP ultra-high resolution quad-camera smartphone".

"I am happy to share that both of these devices received a 4.5 rating on Flipkart by our fans, one of the highest among its competitors," Sheth told IANS.

He envisions realme being the tech trendsetter smartphone brand in India.

"Which is why we have adopted our new '1 4 N' strategy. Through this strategy, we want to look beyond just smartphones and explore the gigantic AIOT opportunity in the country," said Sheth.

The new strategy is detailed into three main foundations. First is '1 Core' that caters to the smartphone market. The second mantra is called '4 Smart Hubs'. This has been divided into four sub-categories - Smart TV, Smart Earphone, Smart Watch and Smart Speaker.

The third and final foundation of the new product strategy is 'N AIOT' products.

"The 'N' here represents Realme's commitment to bring a plethora of new AIOT and lifestyle products for our fans, including various accessories ranging from in-car chargers, backpacks, luggage cases, to smart home gadgets," said Sheth.