Realme to Enter European High-End Smartphone Market

Sky Li, the founder and CEO of smartphone brand realme, revealed on Wednesday that the company plans to enter the European high-end smartphone market with its most expensive models next month. This move aims at expanding its product line and increasing its global smartphone sales by 50% this year, Reuters learned.

Li pointed out that realme plans to start selling high-end GT 2 Pro phones all over Europe in February, at a price of $700-800.

According to the report, this is about twice the price of 349 euros ($395) for the GT Master Edition currently sold through Amazon, and is comparable to the price of other high-end smartphones offered by market leaders such as Apple and Samsung.

A report released by Counterpoint Research in September 2021 pointed out that Apple still maintains its dominant position in the high-end smartphone market. According to the report, since the fourth quarter of 2020, the iPhone has occupied more than 50% of the market for smartphones priced over $400. In the second quarter of 2021, the sales volume of high-end smartphones increased by 46% year-on-year, and Apple accounted for 57% of the total sales volume. The top five high-end markets are still Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and OPPO.

Samsung’s performance in the high-end market continues to decline. In addition, Xiaomi and Huawei are competing for third place, having accounted for 6% of the sales of high-end smartphones in the second quarter of 2021. The Xiaomi 11 series has helped the brand expand in Europe and even within its native China, approaching Huawei in terms of market share.

SEE ALSO: Realme’s Global Sales Exceeds 60 Million Units in 2021, GT2 Series Released

In addition, OPPO, Vivo and other smartphone manufacturers are eyeing the high-end smartphone market. Liu Bo, the vice president of OPPO and president of its Chinese market operations, recently revealed at an autumn product launch that the brand has made preparations in technology, organization, operational system and ecosystem. In addition, OPPO and the OnePlus team will integrate to form a dual-brand and dual-flagship combination aimed at the high-end market.

Vivo is also targeting the high-end market. Recently, the firm launched its Vivo X70 series, equipped with an independently developed professional imaging chip, the V1. As a domestic high-end model, the price of the Vivo X70 series reaches 6,999 yuan ($1,103).