Realme sets sights on 100 million smartphone users

Smartphone maker Realme expects its global user base to surpass 100 million people this year, with expansions in middle and high-end market segments, company officials said on Friday.

The average smartphone price increased 10 percent in 2020 though overall industry sales decreased, requiring “changes and hopes” in middle and high-end markets, said Xu Qi, Realme’s vice president.

Realme currently has 70 million users and sold more than 42 million smartphones last year with a 65 percent growth year on year, the only major smartphone company with more than 50 percent growth in 2020, Xu said during a new product release conference.

The company is launching Realme GT models with a flagship Snapdragon 888 chip, 64-mega-pixel camera, professional graphics processing unit and eSports display, super capacity battery and flash charging. The models will debut next week with a starting price of 2,799 yuan (US$437).

By comparison, most of Realme's previous models sold for less than 2,000 yuan.

China and Europe are key strategic regional markets for the company.