(Update: Official announcement from Realme)
"We wanted to clarify that realme Mobile Telecommunications Private Limited is already an independent brand and legal entitity. realme was officially established on May 4th, 2018 by its founder Sky Li and Madhav Sheth."
Realme Mobiles, a spin-off from Oppo, could be looking to go fully independent from its parent company to build its independent ecosystem of products. According to a report, one of the head executives from Realme has revealed this to DigiTimes.
Realme is one of the fastest-growing smartphone brands and is amongst the top 10 mobile phone manufacturers in the world. The company broke away from Oppo in May of 2018, and in 18 months, the phones made by Realme are available in over 20 major mobile phone markets.
In India, Realme commands close to 14% share of the smartphone market, which is a big feat considering the competition has been around for 4-5 years and more. It is also amongst the top five mobile phone manufacturers in the country.
Isn't Realme already a spin-off from Oppo?
Well, not entirely. While Realme Mobiles operate as an independent brand, it still shares resources with Oppo, such as the ecosystem and assembly lines. Moreover, Realme phones are manufactured by Oppo. The company has also established its Research and Development (R&D) department, along with a dedicated marketing team.
Chung Hsiang-Wei, Chief Commercial Officer of Realme Taiwan, revealed that going forward, it is expected that Realme will build its ecosystem and production lines to be fully independent of Oppo.
Interestingly, Realme is working on a new RealmeUI skin, which is expected to be unveiled in early 2020. It is based on ColorOS 7 and Android 10 and will offer close to the stock-Android experience.
As for the competition between Realme and Oppo, Chung says that he believes that both the brands are targeting different segments of the market and are "not playing complementary roles." He revealed that 60% of people who use Oppo phones are female, while 60% of people who use Realme phones are male.
Moreover, Chung hinted that Realme is also planning to get into the wearables market and also launch its True Wireless Stereo earphones. Realme India CEO teased these during the launch of the Realme X2 Pro earlier this month.
