realme, the world’s fastest-growing smartphone brand, has officially announced that its global smartphone shipments have surpassed 200 million units. Since reaching the 100 million sales milestone in 2021, realme has continued to leap forward while growing against all odds, becoming the fifth-fastest brand to achieve the 200 million shipment milestone and officially joining the elite ‘200 Million Club’ in the international arena. Amidst an increasingly competitive market, realme has steadfastly progressed, repeatedly achieving “miracles against the wind.”
To add to that accolade, realme C51 gave a chart-topping performance in Pakistan raking in sales in the first three days to outnumber all previous sales records set by realme in Pakistan since entering the market in 2019.
From Red Ocean to Record Highs, realme officially join the elite ‘200M Club’ in the international arena:
From its emergence in the highly saturated global market of 2018, which featured over 701 smartphone brands and a stable hierarchy of leading brands, realme has been struggling to explore the global market but now steadily established itself. Committed to offering superior experiences for young people worldwide, realme has been among the top ten global sellers for five consecutive years, emerging as a market leader.
Driven by product innovation and deep consumer insights, realme has continuously created sales legends. It took just 37 months to amass 100 million users globally, gaining widespread recognition and embarking on the next phase of growth. In 2022, realme introduced a ‘Simply Better strategy’, focusing on superior resources to deliver lead-forward product experiences. Streamlining its product line, realme focused on the GT and Number series. In 2023, the brand launched its ‘Simply Better Strategy’, ensuring that each generation of global products features leap-forward technology, positioning realme at the apex of the industry. This strategy, underpinned by design, performance, and experience, is aimed at delivering a leap-forward tech, design, and performance experience to users. realme also continues to invest in R&D, establishing the realme Global Institute of Leap-forward Technology to focus on groundbreaking technologies in four key areas: display, photography, gaming and charging.
Despite a shrinking global smartphone market over the past two years, realme has maintained healthy and steady growth even facing the market competition and pressure from external environment. Its leap-forward products have helped establish a strong presence in most global regions, making realme a key player in emerging markets, with a market share from emerging markets (88%) far exceeding other members of the ‘200 Million Club’.
Growing alongside its global young consumers, realme is more capable than ever of providing superior products:
Since its inception, realme’s mission has been to offer products with robust performance and leap-forwarded design, delivering enjoyable experiences to young people worldwide. Over five years, realme has deeply understood and catered to young people’s needs, continuously engaging with and listening to its users, and consistently refining its brand and products. The diverse demands of global users have propelled realme’s growth, evolving from a comprehensive product lineup to adhering to a Simply Better strategy. As realme gains value recognition from users, it grows alongside them, achieving mutual success.
With the milestone of 200 million global shipments, realme has truly become a mainstream international smartphone brand. The weight and influence of its stance in the international market have increased, empowering it to remain true to its original mission and bring even better products to young people worldwide.
In 2024, realme plans to significantly increase its investment in research and development, boosting its technological capabilities with a planned 470% increase in R&D spending. Continuing the mission from the beginning of the year of realme Global Institute of Leap-forward Technology, the brand will focus on breakthroughs in leap-forward technologies, specializing in imaging, gaming, display, and charging. Collaborating with over 33 leading international tech partners, realme aims to develop cutting-edge technologies. The brand will also expand its pool of tech talent, engage in Research & Technology team expansion, with an expected 400% increase in research personnel next year.
realme’s founder and CEO, Sky Li, expressed in the brand’s fifth-anniversary open letter, the era of “elevator-style” development in the smartphone industry is over. Future steps will be more challenging, but each step brings realme closer to its next destination. As it climbs towards new milestones, realme remains committed to its original vision, continually scaling new heights, listening to its users, and growing with them worldwide, creating more realme miracles together.
