Sales are down for realme.
Eight years since realme’s establishment, Oppo has decided to reabsorb the brand onto their own line, thus becoming a sub-brand. What this means for consumers is that they will see realme Phones getting Oppo’s R&D and tech, without sacrificing quality.
The brand was originally an Oppo sub-brand, until its CEO, Sky Li, split it to become an independent brand after the success of the realme 1 (basically a rehashed Oppo F7 with small tweaks and cheaper price) in India. It has seen massive success during the pandemic and after, selling over 100 million units globally and was the number one brand in the Philippines for three consecutive years. Its main selling point was similar to OnePlus. That is, offer phones with very high specs but at a price any working class can afford. Since then, their phones increased in quality but increased too high in price, akin to phones like Vivo’s V series or Oppo’s Reno, which might have thrown off some consumers.
Oppo said that this move was to reduce cost and consolidate resources as the two share the same designs and philosophy, becoming intertwined with each other. In other words, realme is losing its real me.
In the future, consumers might see realme-branded phones with Hasselblad cameras, especially in their flagship lines. Though this means that OnePlus might lose its edge even more in Philippine and other SEA markets.
Source: Leiphone (in Chinese), Reuters
You must be logged in to post a comment.