realme, the international smartphone brand that has taken over established industry giants to rank 7th place in terms of global market share was announced as the world’s fastest growing major brand in 2020 for the fifth consecutive quarter.


This milestone was announced by research company, Counterpoint, in its latest smartphone report for Q4, where realme reported an impressive 65% YoY growth and 42 million smartphones shipped in 2020.


realme has been an overachiever in the highly saturated smartphone industry, aggressively growing its market share by employing innovative approaches to creating products and appealing to young consumers. Last year, when nearly all major industry leaders were suffering a loss, realme was one of the only two major smartphone brands to continue positive growth throughout the year. Being available in only 35 markets at the start of 2020, realme ended the year with approximately 100% growth, totaling 61 active markets by the end of the year. During the same period, realme also doubled its user base from 25 million to over 50 million.


Part of the ethos of the company set by realme’s CEO, Sky Li, is the ability to respond quickly to changing market conditions. realme’s employees and team who are young consumers themselves, are quick to understand the changes in the market and adapted accordingly, and this is reflected through the sales numbers and positive reviews of the products.


The outstanding performance of realme is also underpinned by strong consumer trust and understanding. “At realme, we live out our philosophy to dare to leap into the forefront of innovation, design and product value, which is something young people can identify with,’ says the CEO of realme, Sky Li. Global youths and young professionals have kept realme going strong and contributed to making the company a truly global mainstream brand. realme surpassed the 50 million sales milestones in merely nine quarters since its inception, making it the fastest growing smartphone brand in the world.


realme also takes a bottom-up approach in innovation, taking the marketing and conversations to where its consumers are at. realme products are sold online with an emphasis on e-commerce, and staffs are encouraged to lead their own communities of realme users.


“This created brand authenticity, and the brand value is seen by the consumers first-hand,” says the CEO of realme, Sky Li. “The changing environments has allowed realme to live out our values in plain sight of our consumers. During the pandemic, we upgraded our after-sales services such as warranty extensions, created live online support, and shortened waiting and delivery times to maintain the high-quality service to our users that we are known for”.


In 2021, realme aims to the global leading populariser of 5G technology amongst users. realme has consistently led the market in decentralising and introducing 5G-enabled products to consumers at great value, such as the launch of the realme 7 5G which costs less than S$500. realme will look to continue its outstanding performance in 2021 through its 5G and AIoT products.