Realme had the maximum growth rate in smartphone shipment during festive season in India, according to latest findings by CMR. The Chinese company, which started as Oppo’s entity, has turned out to be the number one emerging brand during September-October period.
During the last two months (up to Diwali), Realme‘s smartphone shipments grew over 600 percent in comparison to July-August period, the report said. This was way above already popular Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Huawei-Honor and even Samsung.
Xiaomi and Samsung shipments grew by 10-12 percent each, while Huawei-Honor smartphones shipment grew around 5 percent, during the same period. CMR also noted that in September and October, both online and offline platforms saw aggressive new launches and better sales because of attractive financing/buyback offers. This resulted in overall mobile handset market growth in India which recorded 9 percent sequential growth in the Q3 period.
“Realme’s breakthrough performance points to the fact that the India market still offers enough growth opportunities for aggressive brands with differentiated marketing strategies. Realme’s focus has been on the very demanding millennials. Since the brand was newly launched in May, it has come up with many attractive products with powerful processor and stylish designs. This, in turn, is driving device upgrades amongst consumers,” said Prabhu Ram, Head – Industry Intelligence Group, CMR.
The report pointed out that online platforms will contribute to an increase of about 60-65 percent year-on-year (YoY), while there will be a decline of 4-6 percent in offline platforms in Q4 2018.
“Our estimates point to a surge in online smartphone sales, predominantly driven by choice and convenience. With online platforms providing attractive offers and value-added services, consumers are spoilt for choice, and resulting in increased online sales,” added Ram.
Watch Video: How Realme phones are made (Noida Factory Visit)
The overall smartphone shipments are anticipated to cross 315 million units by the end of 2018. Juts for the Q4, CMR estimates smartphone shipments touching 36 million units, which will be 16 percent increase in year-on-year (YoY).
