Realme is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer that was founded on May 4, 2018 and can look back on an eventful company history in the few years of its existence. During this time, however, he also managed to climb into the top ten of the most successful smartphone manufacturers in the world.
If you look closely, the story of Realme begins in 2010. At that time, Oppo’s subsidiary brand was still called Oppo Real. Oppo itself is a subsidiary of the mega group BBK Electronics, which, as the name suggests, produces electronic devices and smartphones and, in addition to Oppo and Realme, includes other well-known smartphone brands such as OnePlus, Vivo and Iqoo.
In a short time in the top ten best-selling smartphones
As early as 2016, BBK was the fifth largest smartphone manufacturer in the world with a share of around ten percent, and in 2017 it even rose to number two. About half a year later, on May 4, 2018, Oppo Real became today’s Realme. Just another twelve days after this renaming/establishment, on May 16th, the new brand’s first mobile phone was presented, which was simply titled Realme 1. A feat that only a Chinese company was able to achieve in this infinitesimally short time frame.
Realme’s slogan is “Dare to leap”. The company sees itself as an offer for “the younger generation” – which is expressed not least in the design and the fresh colors of the products. Realme has been present on the European market since the launch of the Realme 3 Pro in June 2019. It is now one of the ten largest smartphone manufacturers in the world. The mobile phone provider 1&1 sees Realme on the best way to challenge Redmi, a subsidiary of Xiaomi, for the position as the most successful provider of budget smartphones. As evidence, reference is made to the almost undeniable similarity between the Redmi K30 5G models here and the Realme X50 5G there. Especially in India, where Realme was able to push Samsung to third place on the sales charts in December 2021, this plan seems to have already worked.
Also read: What you should know about the smartphone brand Poco
Realme offers good and cheap devices
In Germany, Realme is represented with several product series – including Standard, X and GT – and thus covers almost all segments from “cheap” to “premium light”. Most Realme smartphones use at least 6.5-inch displays, and the devices are also equipped with a second SIM slot. Although the idea behind Realme – to offer cheap, yet powerful, high-quality smartphones for young people – refers more to the mere purchase of devices without a cell phone contract, some of the flagship devices are also available from cell phone providers with/via a cell phone contract. The prices are usually below those of comparable Oppo devices that are higher up on the market.
Speaking of Oppo: Measured by the share of the total request for smartphones on idealo.de, Realme was able to overtake not only Huawei and OnePlus, but also Oppo in the first quarter of 2022 and thus move up to fifth place.
Also read: The best smartphones under 200 euros
Reviews in the usual trade magazines show that the quality at Realme is right. But what about security? “Good” is the answer. At least if you equate “good” with the fact that the data protection officers have not heard of any negative anomalies so far.