Over the last five years, Realme has gone from being a very local brand in China to one of the most widespread brands, ranking in the top 5 of the best phone selling companies in many countries (including Spain). One of the biggest architects of this growth chase xu, the current vice president of Realme and a great expert of the mobile phone market. We had the opportunity to talk with him about the industry, the future of the brand and much more.

How difficult has the smartphone market become in the last five years?

Xu started his career at Realme in 2018, just as the brand took a big step and established itself as an independent brand. But we’re talking about an executive with a lot of experience in his industry: He joined Oppo in 2010 and experienced the rise of the smartphone industry firsthand.

Shortly after his arrival at Realme, the pandemic arrived and that changed everything. “It has had a huge impact on many businesses,” explains Xu, speaking of the industry as a whole. “We have experienced many ups and downs in the supply chain, including shortages but also surpluses.” All this was convicted within a few years and without precedent. What’s the big change in the market for it right now? “Uncertainty”.

While talking about Realme, he tells us that his biggest goal in recent years is to create, expand and grow his brand. Xu sees the current result as a success: “We have accumulated more than 200 million users and this number continues to grow,” he explains regarding sales. On its growth: “We’ve gone from being in one or two markets around the world to being in over 50 markets,” and in his words, we’re experiencing “a period of rapid growth.”

Second phase of focusing on top markets and higher ranges

Where is Realme now? Chase Xu is clear: After this first phase, they want to focus on their “key markets”, which includes Europe and especially Spain. “We will focus more on these markets and invest more,” he adds.

There’s another important change: This makes sense, given the importance of high-end phones for Realme and the evolution of the brand’s target audience. Xu explains that initially, its target audience was young people, but Realme has grown and its target audience has also increased (in age): “At first, we focused on students, but they have grown up and are already in the job market,” he tells us. They continue to target this group of younger users, but also those who grew up with them, and therefore have detected an increase in the number of people interested in high-end phones.

“We were initially known for our entry-level phones like our C series,” but this change (or should I say expansion?) in its target audience has led Realme to consider a “dedicated strategy” for phones in the middle of this year. and high range. What can we expect in the short term? A. Strong edition of GT seriesAccording to Chase Xu, he could not reach Europe last year, but he will reach it this year.

Big challenge: Sneaking into Europe’s top 3 brands

In this second phase, Xu says that “the next four years are very important for Realme” and goes further: “we hope to become the fifth brand worldwide in the next five years.” They are even more ambitious, especially in Europe: “We want to be among the top 3 manufacturers within three years”, which will mean 50% growth in sales for them. Your key markets here will be: Italy, Poland, the Balkan region and of course Spain.

Your strategy? Focus on the range between 200 and 500 euros. They will do this with what they call “digital series”, such as the recently introduced Realme 12. As they explained to us, this is their main range, although it is not their upper range. But they will also focus on the GT series, which, as we said before, is finally returning to Europe, and, in Xu’s words, they will do it in style. All this will go hand in hand with agreements with top operators, including Vodafone and Orange, which Realme sees as vital to its consolidation in Europe.

On Latin America, Xu does not specify the goal at hand, but tells us it will happen. Another of the big key markets for them in 2024 and 2025.

Artificial intelligence and surprises for the next Realme GT

In an interview at the beginning of the year, Chase Xu explained that Realme’s R&D investment has increased rapidly recently. The focus is on AI because it couldn’t be otherwise (he admits this is “the main trend in the industry”), but “it’s not on the technology itself, it’s on what consumers need.”

However, Realme focuses its investments on camera and performance as well as artificial intelligence. Realme is particularly proud of its fast charging feature: with its 240W fast charging, you can charge the entire phone in eight or nine minutes. “No one has managed to overcome this yet.” Interestingly, Xu also tell me about the screen: “We will have big surprises with our new generation screens” [de teléfonos] GT.”

No foldable phones or great ecosystem (for now): “simple is better”

When I ask Chase Xu about foldable phones, he’s clear: He says Realme already has the necessary technology and can make a foldable phone, but “is this really what our consumers want?” he asks. They do not rule this out for the future, but for now they prefer to focus on other technologies, not the shape of the phone.

Another thing too excluded for now: build a great ecosystem. Unlike other major brands that use the word “ecosystem” hundreds of times in their presentations, Realme says it prefers to follow a strategy. “simple is best”: “This industry is really competitive,” he says, adding: “Smartphone is our main focus.”

That doesn’t mean they won’t release accessories: we can expect more headsets and tablets in Europe soon, in fact they confirm we’ll be seeing them soon. But Realme’s ambitious goal means its strategy only covers one area: the smartphone. And only smartphone. We’ll be keeping a close eye on them because they have a good (and, to say, complicated) fight ahead of them.

in Xataka | Realme 12+ 5G, first impressions: One of Realme’s 2024 quality-price stars