Realme May Become Fully Independent From OPPO

Chinese smartphone brand Realme may soon branch off from its parent company OPPO entirely and operate independently, one of its head executives revealed recently.

Realme Taiwan’s Chief Commercial Officer, Chung Hsiang-Wei, said on Thursday that the company expects to “build up its own ecosystem and production lines” shouldRealme’s business continue its rapid expansion.

The company was recently named the fastest-growing smartphone brand and ranked #7 in terms of global smartphone shipments.

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While Realme still shares certain resources with OPPO, the company already set up its own R&D and marketing departments, slowly increasing its self-sufficiency.

Chung added that he doesn’t believe Realme and OPPO are in direct competition. He explained that with the new Reno series, OPPO is transitioning to focus on the premium segment while Realme is focusing on affordability and fashion-centric phones.

Established in 2018, Realme is currently one of the top five brands for online sales in the Indian smartphone market, and has broken into more than 20 countries and regions including Indonesia, Spain and Russia.

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Chung also hinted that the company plans to enter the smart wearable market and release a pair of wireless earbuds before the year’s end. The company is rumored to be working on its own 5G handset.

According to a report by market research firm Counterpoint, in the third quarter of 2019, Realme occupied a 16% market share in the Indian smartphone market, a drastic increase compared to the 3% it had in the same period last year.