Realme (stylized in all lowercase as гealme) is a multinational Chinese

consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...

manufacturer based in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. It was founded by Li Bingzhong (known as Sky Li) on May 4, 2018, who was a former

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Oppo Oppo (sometimes stylized as OPPO) is a private company, private China, Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong. Founded in 2004, its major product lines include Oppo phones, smartphones, Smart device, sm ...

. Starting originally as a sub-brand of Oppo, Realme eventually ventured as its own brand. Realme then became the fastest-growing 5G smartphone brand in Q3 2021. In June 2020, the number of Realme's global smartphone users reached 35 million, and AIoT product sales broke a record of 1 million. According to Counterpoint Statistics, Realme ranked 7th in the ranking of the number of smartphones produced globally in the first quarter of 2020, with an annual growth rate of 157%, ranking first in the world. Currently, Realme has entered 27 markets worldwide, including

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Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and

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History

* Realme company was founded on May 4, 2018. Before that it was a sub-brand of

, which is itself a subsidiary of BBK Electronics, until its formation as a spinoff on May 4, 2018. * In May 2018, they released their first phone, Realme 1. * On July 30, 2018, Sky Li announced his resignation from Oppo, and his intention to establish Realme as an independent brand, on Sina Weibo. * On November 15, 2018, Realme adopted a new logo. * On November 22, 2018, Realme became an emerging brand in the Indian market. The sales of Realme devices in India have since surpassed the sales of

. Realme has been the fourth largest smartphone brand in India since 2019, behind Xiaomi, Samsung, and Vivo. Realme holds records in India for fastest-charging smartphone and India's first 5G smartphone. * On May 15, 2019, Realme held its first conference in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

to enter the Chinese domestic market, launching the Realme X, Realme X Lite and Realme X Master Edition. * By July 2019, Realme had entered markets including

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and

. * By August 2019, Realme surpassed 10 million users. * On May 16, 2022, Francis Wong takes over as CEO of Realme Europe. * By April 7, 2023, the parent company, BBK Electronics, went defunct leaving

and Vivo to take over as the parent company of their previous sub-brands. As a result, Realme became an Oppo subsidiary alongside OnePlus.

Products

The company has a large number of products such as phones and TV particularly in the Indian market.

Marketing

Realme's popularity online can be attributed to its successful utilization of community-driven resources such as

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. In November 2018, Realme Philippines created the Squad Leader Program. In 2024, Realme's Squad Leader Program consists of 14 members, two of whom were part of the original trio of Squad Leaders. As part of this program, Realme has been consistently providing the Squad Leaders with Number Series devices since 2018 in exchange for their services.

Thailand

In 2025, Oppo and Realme phones came with a preinstalled illegal loan app that cannot be uninstalled but can be disabled. Following public outcry, the companies announced that they would stop this practice.

References

External links