Realme launched a slew of hardware devices across multiple product lines in India on Thursday, April 7. But the showstopper was clearly the Realme GT 2 Pro, its most premium and most ambitious smartphone to date with high-end specs and pricing to match. It is Realme’s answer to the Samsung Galaxy S22+, iQOO 9 Pro, and the OnePlus 10 Pro. It’s just a start, though. Realme, it seems, is just warming up. It has some big plans this year and some of them are already in motion. We know that the GT Neo 3 with whopping 150W fast charging is coming soon to India. Realme is also gearing to open its first flagship store in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
In an exclusive interview with TheSpuzz, Madhav Sheth, CEO, Realme India, VP, Realme and President, Realme International Business Group, takes us through some of these plans, the brand’s new-found focus on the premium segment, GT 2 series future roadmap, and more. Excerpts.
— The Realme GT 2 Pro is Realme’s most premium flagship ever. What are your plans for the premium segment in 2022?
Over the last four years, Realme has become a prevalent brand when it comes to the entry-level and mid segment. Our most recent and significant leap was entering the premium segment. We introduced the Realme GT series last year and added a few products under it. The GT series brings to our users the perfect amalgamation of technology, design, and performance, delivering a bespoke, premium experience to our users. In 2022, we are looking at expanding this portfolio even further, and our first step is to bring in our most premium flagship ever – the Realme GT 2 Pro. This is the industry’s first smartphone to have a bio-based polymer Paper Tech Master design and features the world’s first 2K AMOLED flat display with LTPO 2.0 technology, among other powerful features. Realme will endeavor to be the first to democratise high-end technology to expedite 5G life for young Indians.
With our “Go premium” strategy, we’ll devote more than 70% of our R&D efforts to develop new technologies in display, quick charging, and 5G, to provide users with top-tier flagship experiences. We plan to expand our master designer collaboration, with the goal of creating a stir in the design industry by bringing technology and art together under one roof. We have high ambitions for this year, and I am confident that we will be able to establish ourselves in the premium segment just as easily as we did in the others.
— You are also introducing multiple products in the AIoT segment. What does the roadmap for your non-handset business look like for this year?
Yes, we have introduced three new AIoT products today, which are all additions to our existing categories. The Realme Buds Air 3 is our flagship TWS product with best-in-class ANC and the industry’s first TWS headphones to have received TÜV Rheinland’s high-performance certification. The Realme Book Prime, which is the second laptop from Realme, features a 14-inch 2K full-screen display with a 3:2 screen ratio, stereo sound by DTS, powerful bass sound by Harman and 11 hours of battery life with 65W super-fast charging. We have also introduced our second TV stick, the Realme Smart TV Stick, which features Full HD screen resolution support along with support for 60FPS content and HDR10+ and comes with multiple built-in entertainment platforms.
Talking about what’s coming up, we will be introducing over 50 new AIoT products throughout the year. These will be part of our existing categories such as hearables, wearables, Smart TVs, laptops, tablets, etc. In addition to that, we will enter 15 new categories to expand our TechLife ecosystem offerings and build on our dream of providing all our users with a smart, connected, and trendy lifestyle.
— What kind of research went into the design of Realme GT 2 Pro?
The Realme GT 2 Pro is the company’s most premium flagship to date, with a unique Paper Tech Master Design. For the design of Realme GT 2 Pro, we collaborated with Naoto Fukusawa, a world-renowned industrial designer, he used the element of paper texture to bring the beauty of paper to the mobile. We wanted to build something which was aesthetically pleasing, but also environmentally friendly and durable. Realme worked with Sabic to create the first phone shell made from a bio-based polymer. The ISCC-certified material creates 35.5% less carbon emissions and ensures that the smartphone is indeed environmentally friendly. Here, Realme believes that style and sustainability do not have to be mutually exclusive. Realme believes in the coexistence of technology and the environment. Realme GT 2 Pro features bio-polymer material in rear panel and 0.1mm laser engraving process and went under 12 months of research with 63 prototypes to bring the best to users.
— What’s your online and offline channel strategy to promote products?
We believe, both the channels are equally important for a business to grow and Realme is a well-established brand in both channels. In online channels, Realme has collaborated with Flipkart to bring exciting offers designed to offer benefits to the Realme consumers. We will also bring exciting discounts/EMI/ and special offers on different products from time to time through the bank associations.
Offline expansion is critical for long-term brand growth, and as a result, Realme has over 35,000 retail outlets across India, including experience stores, smart stores, and Realme stores. We are aiming to reach 50,000+ retail stores by 2022. While online, we schedule the first sale of Realme products post-launch and always have received an overwhelming response from our customers. We also plan to invest in our Royal Club outlets to promote the sales for our GT series, given that it will play a significant role in our growth this year.
— What are some of your local manufacturing plans for this year?
Realme is fully committed to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. All our smartphones and smart TVs are 100% Made in India. We have teamed with Bhagwati Products Limited and Videotex International Pvt. Ltd. as part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, and we are pleased to announce that we are now manufacturing our smart TVs entirely in India. In 2021, we partnered with KHY Electronics to manufacture smart wearables and smart hearables. While we have partnered with multiple OEM partners in India till date, we are aiming to achieve 100% local production in smart wearables and hearables in 2022. By this year we are aiming to attain 100% local manufacturing for both smart wearables and smart hearable categories. At the same time, we will be looking at localised production of certain AIOT products.
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