Realme aims to be tech lifestyle brand in India

With an aim to break the notion of just being a smartphone player, Realme which entered India last year aspires to be a tech lifestyle company next year, as it forays into the fintech segment with Internet of Things (IoT) products in the pipeline, a top company executive said here on Tuesday.

"We are in line with our outlook of being a tech lifestyle company targeted towards the millennials. We will build a new 'Realme tech and lifestyle ecosystem' with our own software experience. We'll start from Realme 'PaySa' -- our venture in the fintech segment and Realme user interface (UI) as well," Madhav Sheth, Chief Executive Officer, Realme India, told IANS.

"With the Buds wireless and Air series, we are aiming to become a tech lifestyle brand in 2020. We are especially focusing on introducing IoT-based products in the coming year which will include audio and wearables," Sheth added.

The company is also mulling to launch its offline-only series which will ensure that buyers can get the touch, feel and aesthetics of Realme's line up of products.

According to Sheth, the company currently has a monthly production capacity of 3.5 million handset units in India.

"We are in line to achieve 15 million customers by year-end and targeting to double this figure by next year. We will also introduce new offline-only series for consumers in India," Sheth noted.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the smartphone player rose from 6 per cent market share in Q1 of 2019 to 14.3 per cent market share at the end of Q3, 2019.

According to Sheth, Realme is now the second-largest online mobile phone brand and the fourth-largest smartphone brand (overall) in India.

Taking a dig at close rivals like Xiaomi, the Realme CEO said: "It is exciting to see that we are giving tough competition to others and offering more options to our consumers".

The Chinese handset maker introduced Realme X2 smartphone which features 4,000mAh battery and comes equipped with low-voltage and high-current proprietary 30W VOOC flash charge 4.0.

The smartphone player also launched its first true wireless earphones -- the Realme Buds Air -- that sports 12mm dynamic bass boost driver.