Editing by Kate Yuan

Realme, an emerging Chinese smartphone brand, will enter Europe's high-end handset market next month with its priciest device, as several Chinese handset firms are making aggressive moves to seize global market share from Huawei Technologies after the U.S. sanctions hit it hard and forced it to retreat,  Reuters reported on January 26.  

Source: Reuters

Sky Li (李炳忠), Realme’s CEO told Reuters that Realme plans to sell its premium GT 2 Pro phone across Europe in February for $700-$800. "We think it's a very important market, and a big market for high-end phones," Li said. This move looks to expand beyond its budget offerings and sell 50% more smartphones globally this year.

According to Chinese press reports, Sky Li founded Realme in August 2018. He was the former vice president of Chinese smartphone maker OPPO. During his service there, Li led the OPPO overseas team start from scratch and made forays into over 30 countries and regions.

Realme is the world's sixth-biggest smartphone seller position, according to Counterpoint’s last year report. It has strong sales in India, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. It sold 60 million handsets in 2021 globally and aims to sell 90 million this year and over 100 million in 2023, Li said. 

With the pandemic affecting economic conditions, demand for smartphones is sluggish and consumers are waiting longer to upgrade, but as the world's fastest-growing smartphone company, Realme can buck that trend, Li added.

Li said he expects the G2 Pro phone to appeal to European customers because it is one of the first phones to launch with Qualcomm's new flagship Snapdragon 8gen1 processor, which promises higher speed and power efficiency.

Realme’s new phone is almost double the 349 euros ($395) suggested price of the GT Master Edition it currently sells through Amazon and near the prices of other high-end phones from market leaders Apple and Samsung, Reuters reported.

Counterpoint Research estimates Europe's smartphone market generated revenues of $80.65 billion in the first 11 months of 2021, of which high-end devices accounted for $55.56 billion.

"Almost all of the growth is driven by the high-end, which can be attributed mainly to the successful premium models of Apple and Samsung," Counterpoint senior analyst Yang Wang said.

Apple, whose prices for its iPhone 13 start at around $850, was Europe's best-selling manufacturer last quarter, followed by Samsung and Xiaomi, whose phones are priced at around $900 and $700 respectively, according to Counterpoint.

Data from consultancy IDC shows the European market was comparable to the United States in the first three quarters of 2021 in terms of smartphone revenues but lagged behind China.