If we talk about a company like Realme, the whole company was there to fight against Xiaomi. But if we talk about today, if I mix Xiaomi and other companies phones together, then Realme literally launches a lot of phones every month and a new phone comes in two weeks.
A Turning Point: Madhav’s Exit and the Entry of AshTech
Although the twist in the story came when in 2023, Mr. Madhav left Realme and he introduced his company Honor or AshTech here. But Honor and AshTech could not show their strength and after that it seemed that what will happen to Realme’s story here.
The Comeback: Realme’s Saturation Strategy
But then what did Realme do, came back to the same strategy. Buy so many phones in the market that your phone is in every price range, you get to see the phone in every range of 500 rupees and try to sell as many phones as possible.
The GT Series Returns with a Bang
But Realme did some good things with this, like Realme brings its GT series to the market, which was missing from the Indian phone market for some time and Realme was just running its number series and pro series. But GT series did a good smart thing, because here GT6 was there, GT6 was a good phone and recently Realme’s GT7 Pro was also a very good phone that came out in the market.
Aggressive Flagship Moves
With GT7 Pro, it was felt that Realme is really playing very aggressively and can play very well here if it works in the right direction. Like Snapdragon 8 Elite phones, we often get to see them from January, they took it in November, they became India’s first brand that is bringing a flagship phone here.
Early Market Entries and Fast Development
With this, Realme started with the GT series, they also put out a lot of phones in their number series and pro series. And see one thing with Realme, Qualcomm and MediaTek do not announce their new processor, before that their phone is ready here in the market.
Innovation or Overload?
But if you look at it, are all these things right or is there a problem? See, let me tell you a good thing, people are getting new products in the market, they are getting to see a new processor, they are getting to see new things, this is very good with Realme.
Hardware Highlights
Periscope cameras are given inside their phones, they are giving it by putting a telephoto zoom lens, they have even worked on displays. On top of that, they are also bringing the latest flagship processor. These are some things I like about Realme, that Realme brings products to the consumer as soon as possible.
Confusing Product Line
The GT series that we have been waiting for so many years, Realme has finally introduced it here. But if you look at it with this, it also has a negative aspect. That is, when you bring so many phones in the market, the consumer also gets confused. And even I don’t know exactly how many Realme phones are in the market and which phone does what here.
Rebranding and Repetition
Because most of the Realme phones look identical and sometimes it seems that by changing one phone and changing the back panel, they are reintroducing their phones. Because 3-4 of their phones look like this, which have the exact same processor, but it comes in different brands. Sometimes the number series will come, sometimes the P series will come, sometimes the Narzo series will come.
Offline Focus and Premium Aspirations
On top of that, the majority of the phones that are being sold here today are basically their C series and Narzo series are sold here. And mostly these people focus a little more on offline today in terms of sales. But Realme is also trying to change all these things here.
Climbing the Premium Ladder
Because Realme has started removing its expensive phones this year and is hoping that slowly it will also jump into the premium segment. But this small thing, the premiumization thing, may backfire Realme a little.
Brand Perception Challenges
First of all, the problem with Realme is that the brand perception of Realme is made of very cheap phones here. Do you remember Realme’s Realme 1? Its price was under Rs. 10,000. And after that, every phone of Realme used to undercut Xiaomi’s phone.
Budget Image and Pricing Confusion
Because they used to lower the price of their phones. Its negative impact in the long term was that people started associating Realme with budget and affordability. And if any phone of Realme is more expensive, then people do not consider it with so much interest here.
And even this thing can be seen in their sales. Even when the majority of Realme phones are sold here, what happens when they get a discount? Because 12 Pro series came, 13 Pro series came, they were good phones. But when the discount came, it was sold for less than Rs. 25,000.
Flagship Struggles
And it has a disadvantage when they bring their flagship level phones here. Like GT60, it was a very good phone. But its sales were not as much as expected. OnePlus’s Nord 4, a similar phone, made a few changes to the design and display. But they were identical phones.
Cost Cutting and Feature Sacrifices
Nord 4 was more expensive because it was a OnePlus brand. But after Realme’s GT60, they calmed down a bit in the market. You can see that they have brought a flagship-like processor in their phones. But still, they have cost-cutting in many places. 8 megapixel ultrawide camera, people like it so much.
Software Update Concerns
Along with this, a small problem I am facing with Realme is the software update. When a new phone is launched, it gets a software update. But when it is 6 months or 1 year old, the software update gradually decreases in Realme phones.
Inconsistent Update Delivery
I have seen this in many Realme phones. Although there are some exceptions where Realme has delivered updates on time. But the majority of phones are such that Realme is unable to provide updates on time.
Camera Performance Variability
Along with this, if you look at the camera quality, then the camera quality is good in expensive phones. But after a point, the camera quality becomes very inconsistent. Even in similar phones in the price range, the camera quality is not that consistent.
Value for Money Erosion
With Realme, the price to performance value for money that people used to bring at one time is not that much.
After-Sales and Service Gaps
Along with this, another thing is the after-sales service. When you take out multiple products, multiple phones, then there is a problem of giving software updates and services to each phone. I have told you in the software update that there are problems, but in the after-sales service, people start having some issues.
Too Many Products, Too Little Support
Due to which the after-sales service of each phone is not the same as that of the product. Because if you take out so many phones, then how will you provide service to everyone consistently? This is also one thing.
Product Line Confusion Beyond Phones
And I saw one more thing with Realme. Realme took out multiple products along with the mobile phone. TV used to come, laptop used to come, vacuum cleaner used to come. I don’t know how many things used to come from Realme. But what happened, gradually everything started disappearing from the market.
Failed Diversification Attempts
That at the same time, you have to expand everywhere with the help of a mobile phone, but after that things will not work, you back out from there.
Struggles With Premium Identity
Along with this, I have also seen in Realme that Realme tries to make itself a little premium, but people are not able to accept it. Whether we talk from the perspective of software or from the perspective of the brand.
Oversaturation in Product Releases
And if you look at Realme, it will launch a lot of products, a lot of phones. I have seen a problem that suppose you bought a phone from Realme today, but its next version comes from 3 months to 6 months. This year you have seen Realme P1 and P2. You have seen Realme 12 Pro series, you have seen Realme 13 Pro. By next month, Realme 14 Pro will also come here.
Consumer Confusion and Fast Obsolescence
In every 6 months, their requirements change. And if you think according to a consumer that I just bought a phone and in 2 months a new phone came, my phone got old.
Quantity Over Quality
That you can sell more models in more quantity, but if you think according to a normal consumer, he will feel that his phone got old in a few months. Suppose he bought a phone on Diwali sale in October, but now it’s time for 14 Pro.
Updates and Repetition
If you look at it from the top, every phone feels that the new model is being taken out only because it is giving a new name. Like 12 Pro series, 13 Pro series were very much identical. There are no major changes, sometimes the software remains the same, sometimes the hardware changes, sometimes the back panel changes.
What Realme Needs to Focus On
So in total, Realme should slow down a bit in phone launches. And you should focus a little more on quality products.
Final Thoughts and the Road Ahead
Although if we talk, Realme is also quite good in its own way. He knows that if we take out a large number of products, then we will sell something or the other in the market. That’s why I have seen that Realme sells more phones than a company like Xiaomi.
Future of Realme
But the same thing is, Realme’s market is also centric to the budget at the moment. Realme will take a lot of time to shrink in premium. And if you take out good phones, limited phones, then maybe a very good job will be done in the market. It is to be seen what happens in the coming time, what things remain with Realme.
