Realme will launch its first 5G smartphone later this year, confirms CEO Madhav Sheth

Realme might be a brand that’s existed for a little more than a year now but has made a considerable dent in India’s budget segment. The brand that broke away from Oppo also launched its first smartphone in China and Europe recently — the Realme X **(read first impressions here)** , which is expected to **arrive in India by July** . But what’s next for the brand? Realme CEO Madhav Sheth, who’s got quite a presence on Twitter, has just tweeted saying that his company is now setting its sights on the premium segment with a 5G-enabled phone that’s slated to launch sometime in 2019. [caption id=“attachment_6774041” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Realme’s CEO Madhav Sheth. Image: Twitter/ Madhav Sheth[/caption] Sheth even appears to have changed his profile name on Twitter to ‘Madhav 5G’ which does seem funny but does get Realme’s future focus across. In a roundtable held in China last month, the Realme CEO did show intent to bring a 5G-enabled device to India at some point once the infrastructure is in place.

#5GisReal .... Straight out of meeting room with Mr. Sky Li. Glad to share you our latest R&D updates: #realme will be among the first brands to bring 5G products globally this year. And we are determined to bring the best of technology to India as early as possible. pic.twitter.com/cVNOA6f9Iw

— Madhav Sheth (@MadhavSheth1) June 6, 2019

The CEO didn’t reveal any more details, but given Realme’s reputation for launching affordable phones, we could possibly expect Realme’s first 5G phone to be cheaper than 5G devices from the likes of Huawei, LG, and Samsung. Prime competitors, Xiaomi, meanwhile, hasn’t spoken about a 5G phone being readied for India yet but did **launch the Mi Mix 3 5G** earlier this year. With Realme aping Xiaomi’s bang for your buck strategy, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar or even cheaper price for its first 5G device. Similar to Xiaomi, Realme could also choose to launch its first wave of 5G phones in China and the UK where commercial 5G networks are rolling out later this year. All of this is mere speculation though and we’ll have to wait for Realme to confirm what’s in store.