Realme X coming to India soon, Xiaomi not the only competition: Realme CEO Madhav Sheth

Kshitij PujariMay 16, 2019 17:26:31 IST

Realme is a fast-growing smartphone brand in India and also in South-east Asia. On 15 May, the company opened its doors in China as well with the launch of the Realme X and Realme X Lite smartphones, the latter of which is sold as the Realme 3 Pro in India and the former will begin to sell in India soon.

I had the opportunity to have a chat with Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth and here’s what he had to say about Realme’s future in India, the ongoing feud with Xiaomi and the Realme X’s arrival in India.

Realme CEO Madhav Sheth. Image: Twitter/ Madhav Sheth

What are Realme’s future plans for India?

Sheth: We want the best technology for users for the best of prices. We have launched four series’ and now we have launched another series. So for us, the customer is very important and we particularly target the youth audience which is why even our motto is “Proud to be Young”.

How is the Realme X different from the Realme 3 Pro?

Sheth: Realme 3 Pro was a product which gives you the specifications of a Rs 25,000 – Rs 30,000 phone for a price of Rs 15,000. This is something that cannot be improved so we are trying to improve on this smartphone by giving more aesthetics to the Pro series. The Realme 3 Pro (review) already has great hardware and to improve on the aesthetics side we are announcing the Realme X.

The Realme X was launched in China just yesterday.

The Realme X is a premium flagship device which is still not in the OnePlus territory. It is a smartphone which is trying to get there with a combination of great hardware and software. The Realme X offers a better camera, authentication and display over the Realme 3 Pro.

How do you see Xiaomi as a competitor?

Sheth: Everybody thinks that Realme is only competing with Xiaomi, but the truth is that every brand that is present in the budget and mid-range eco-system is our competitor. We do not single out Xiaomi as our main competition. This competition is what gives the user a better product which is what we ultimately want for our users.

Where will Realme be expanding globally?

Sheth: Realme has already been active in parts of South-East Asia such as Indonesia but this is the first launch of Realme in China. We are also targeting Europe and Middle-East and within this year, we plan to launch our products in these regions. As a matter of fact, the Europe launch should be revealed by 31 May. Depending on the region we will decide which model to announce. For example, the Realme C-series is only India-specific since the demographic wants more entry-level smartphones.

Any comments on the Twitter war with Xiaomi? Specifically regarding the use of a year old Snapdragon 710 SoC on the Realme vs Xiaomi’s latest Snapdragon 675 SoC

Sheth: Well, in our opinion, Xiaomi’s jab at us for using a year old chipset was not accurate. The difference between the Snapdragon 710 launch and Snapdragon 675 launch is about 3-4 months. However, the point is that the user wants the best performance and does not care how old a chipset is. We are not saying that the Snapdragon 675 is bad. But we can’t say that SD 675 is bad and hence SD 710 is good. Both chipsets are good at different things. People should not see a device just as a chipset phone but as a complete package.

Redmi Note 7 Pro. Image: tech2/Omkar

How well was the Realme 3 Pro received?

Sheth: We sold 1.7 lakh units in less than 8 minutes for the Realme 3 Pro should give you an idea about how popular the smartphone is. Alongside that, the Realme 3 was also the best-selling smartphone in the country in March in terms of online sales figures.

What kind of price range is the Realme X aiming for?

Sheth: For Realme, price is something that is secondary. We want to give our users the best performance so pricing comes at the next stage. We want to make sure that Realme is giving out the best possible performance for the price and not the other way round.

Will the Realme 3 Pro itself be competing with the Realme X?

Sheth: No, the Realme X and the Realme 3 Pro will be in different price segments and there will be no overlapping.

The Realme 3 Pro. Image: tech2

When can we expect the launch of Realme X in India?

Sheth: There is no official date by which the Realme X will come to India but you can expect it to come very soon.

Disclaimer: The correspondent was invited to China for the launch by Realme India. All boarding and travel arrangements were taken care of by Realme India