Oppo’s sister smartphone brand realme has passed the 200-million units mark just two years after reaching the 100-million sales milestone in 2021.
It has become the fifth-fastest brand to achieve the 200-million shipment milestone in an increasingly competitive market.
From its emergence in the highly saturated global market of 2018, which featured over 701 smartphone brands and a stable hierarchy of leading brands, realme has been struggling to explore the global market but now steadily established itself. It says it is committed to offering superior experiences for young people worldwide, and this focus has led to it being among the top ten global sellers for five consecutive years.
It took just 37 months to amass 100-million users. In 2022, Realme introduced a ‘Simply Better strategy’, streamlining its product line and focusing on the GT and Number series. The brand also continues to invest in research and development, establishing the realme Global Institute of Leap-forward Technology to focus on groundbreaking technologies in four key areas: display, photography, gaming, and charging.
In 2024, realme says, it plans to significantly increase its investment in research and development, with a planned 470% increase in spending. The brand will focus on breakthroughs in leap-forward technologies, specialising in imaging, gaming, display, and charging, and collaborating with over 33 leading international tech partners.
The brand will also expand its pool of tech talent, with an expected 400% increase in research personnel next year.
The company’s founder and CEO, Sky Li, said in the brand’s fifth-anniversary open letter that the era of “elevator-style” development in the smartphone industry is over. Future steps will be more challenging.