Another sub-brand is coming
It looks like Realme, OPPO’s sub-brand that first appeared in India is coming to the Philippines. While the official PR kit sent over to us only mentioned Realme’s Southeast Asian expansion and didn’t specifically say anything about the Philippines, the fact that it was sent by a local PR firm that represents Lazada, the most likely destination for the e-commerce only brand is very likely not a coincidence.
For people who don’t know, Realme was first established this year in India, “looking to bring performance and design that the young generation needs from a smartphone.” Their first phone, the Realme 1 racked up around 400,000 unit sales two months after its launch, with their Realme 2 racking up a more impressive 200,000 sales in under 5 minutes.
“With very few options available in the market to meet the ever-changing customer demand, Realme is focusing on bridging the gap by providing products with the latest innovations along with strong performance and stylish designs. As Realme is targeting the global market, we aspire to inject fresh momentum into the global smartphone industry,” said Sky Li, Founder and Global CEO of Realme.
From the looks of things, Realme’s first device in the SEA and the PH will be the Realme 2, a 6.2-inch smartphone with an HD+ display, notch as well as the same diamond-textured back as its older brother. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor and is paired with 3GB/4GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of storage. The phone has a dual camera at the rear with a 13-megapixel sensor and a 2-megapixel depth sensor, along with an 8-megapixel front camera.
The RealMe 2 is priced at just Rs 8,990 in India for the 3GB/32GB variant, which is around Php 6.7K here without factoring in taxes or duties. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of impact Realme will have in the local market considering it’ll likely be an online-only brand, mimicking Xiaomi’s first foray in the Philippines. Obviously just being an online brand didn’t work for the company, and they’ve adjusted their strategy accordingly to deal with the realities of the Philippine market.
